Cyber forensics is an upcoming field in India and Indian legal and judicial system has to adapt itself according to the same. Till now cyber forensics is not widely and appropriately used by the law enforcement agencies, lawyers, judges, etc in India. As a result most of the cyber criminals are either not prosecuted at all or they are acquitted in the absence of adequate evidence. Cyber forensics
cannot be used in isolation and allied fields like cyber law, cyber security, e-discovery, digital evidence, cyber crime investigations, etc are also applicable in a majority of cases. Perry4Law and Perry4Law’s Techno Legal Base (PTLB) have already covered the Cyber Law Trends and Developments of India 2013, Cyber Security Trends and Developments in India 2013 Cyber Forensics Trends and Developments in India 2013. This is the interim cyber forensics trends of 2014 by Perry4Law and PTLB and we would come up with the complete and annual trend and development analysis subsequently. To start with there is urgent need to ensure cyber forensics skills development of police force, prosecution lawyers and judges in India. There have been incidences in India where the law enforcement agencies of India have not conducted proper e-discovery and cyber forensics exercises. This has made their cases weak and the accused may escape the punishment. Some of the present cases where effective cyber forensics could have been used are E-Bay’s cyber breach case, enforcement directorate’s Bit coins investigation case, Aarushi’s murder case by CBI, IPL match fixing case, Nokia’s software download case, etc. The list is just expanding as cases of improper cyber forensics investigations are in abundance in India. Clearly the Indian approach towards cyber forensics is not up-to the mark and there is an urgent need to change this mentality. The concerned stakeholders must be well versed with techno legal concepts like basics of Internet protocol addresses, IP address spoofing and its defenses, IP address tracking methods and techniques for e-mails, hidden Internet cyber forensics, cloud computing cyber forensics, social media cyber forensics, audio, video and media forensics, etc. We need to develop cyber forensics investigation solutions in India to encourage digital and scientific evidences in India. The cyber forensics best practices in India are also missing as on date and they must be formulated urgently. The regulations and guidelines for effective investigation of cyber crimes in India must also be drafted as soon as possible. While tracking the IP address in question is the first step in cyber crime investigation yet IP address should not be the sole criteria for arrest and conviction. We at Perry4Law and PTLB believe that there is an urgent need to formulate an effective techno legal framework that can take care of techno legal issues of contemporary times. Further, colonial and constitutionally unsound laws like telegraph and cyber law must be repealed urgently and dedicated and suitable laws must be enacted for the fields of cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, e-discovery, etc. Presently, neither technological not legal issues pertaining to cyber forensics are taken care of by Indian government.
