Skip to main content

A Systematic Review of Log-Based Cloud Forensics

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Inventive Computation and Information Technologies

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 173))

Abstract

Inexpensive devices that leverage cloud computing technology has proliferated the current market. With the increasing popularity and huge user base, the number of cybercrimes has also increased immensely. The forensics of the cloud has now become an important task. But due to the geographically distributed nature and multi-device capability of the cloud computing environment, the forensics of the cloud has become a challenging task. The logs generated by the cloud infrastructure provide the forensics investigator with major hints that may follow to reconstruct the crime scene chronology. This is highly critical for the forensics investigator to investigate the case. But the logs are not easily accessible, or they often fail to provide any critical clues due to poor logging practices. In this paper, initially, the importance of log-based cloud forensics has been discussed. Then, a taxonomy based on the survey of the literature has been furnished. Finally, the issues in the existing log-based cloud forensics schemes have been outlined and open research problems have been identified.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Santra P, Roy A, Majumder K (2018) A comparative analysis of cloud forensic techniques in IaaS.Advances in computer and computational sciences. Springer, Singapore, pp 207–215

    Google Scholar 

  2. Santra P et al (2018) Log-based cloud forensic techniques: a comparative study.Networking communication and data knowledge engineering. Springer, Singapore, pp 49–59

    Google Scholar 

  3. Datta S, Majumder K, De D (2016) Review on cloud forensics: an open discussion on challenges and capabilities. Int J Comput Appl 145(1):1–8

    Google Scholar 

  4. Baldwin J et al (2018) Emerging from the cloud: a bibliometric analysis of cloud forensics studies.Cyber threat intelligence. Springer, Cham, pp 311–331

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ruan K et al (2011) Cloud forensics.IFIP International conference on digital forensics. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  6. Sibiya G, Venter HS, Fogwill T (2015) Digital forensics in the cloud: the state of the art. In: 2015 IST-Africa conference. IEEE

    Google Scholar 

  7. Studiawan H, Sohel F, Payne C (2019) A survey on forensic investigation of operating system logs. Dig Invest 29:1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Khan S et al (2016) Cloud log forensics: foundations, state of the art, and future directions.ACM Comput Surv (CSUR) 49(1):1–42

    Google Scholar 

  9. Simou S et al (2019) A framework for designing cloud forensic-enabled services (CFeS). Requirements Eng 24.3:403–430

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kebande VR, Venter HS (2015) Obfuscating a cloud-based botnet towards digital forensic readiness. In: Iccws 2015—the proceedings of the 10th ınternational conference on cyber warfare and security

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kebande VR, Venter HS (2018) Novel digital forensic readiness technique in the cloud environment. Austral J Forens Sci 50(5):552–591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Park S et al (2018) Research on digital forensic readiness design in a cloud computing-based smart work environment.Sustainability 10(4):1203

    Google Scholar 

  13. Datta S et al (2018) An automated malicious host recognition model in cloud forensics. In: Networking communication and data knowledge engineering. Springer, Singapore, pp 61–71

    Google Scholar 

  14. De Marco L et al (2014) Formalization of slas for cloud forensic readiness. In: Proceedings of ICCSM conference

    Google Scholar 

  15. Baror SO, Hein SV, Adeyemi R (2020) A natural human language framework for digital forensic readiness in the public cloud.Austral J Forensic Sci 1–26

    Google Scholar 

  16. Dykstra J, Sherman AT (2013) Design and implementation of FROST: digital forensic tools for the OpenStack cloud computing platform. Digital Invest 10:S87–S95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Marty R (2011) Cloud application logging for forensics. In: Proceedings of the 2011 ACM symposium on applied computing

    Google Scholar 

  18. Anwar F, Anwar Z (2011) Digital forensics for eucalyptus. In: 2011 Frontiers of ınformation technology. IEEE

    Google Scholar 

  19. Roussev V et al (2016) Cloud forensics–tool development studies & future outlook.Digital investigation 18:79–95

    Google Scholar 

  20. Ahsan MAM et al (2018) CLASS: cloud log assuring soundness and secrecy scheme for cloud forensics.IEEE Trans Sustain Comput

    Google Scholar 

  21. Park JH, Park JY, Huh EN (2017) Block chain based data logging and integrity management system for cloud forensics.Comput Sci Inf Technol 149

    Google Scholar 

  22. Khan Y, Varma S (2020) Development and design strategies of evidence collection framework in cloud environment. In: Social networking and computational ıntelligence. Springer, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  23. Rane S, Dixit A (2019) BlockSLaaS: blockchain assisted secure logging-as-a-service for cloud forensics. In: International conference on security & privacy. Springer, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  24. Alex ME, Kishore R (2017) Forensics framework for cloud computing. Comput Electr Eng 60:193–205

    Google Scholar 

  25. Thorpe S et al (2011) The virtual machine log auditor. In: Proceeding of the IEEE 1st ınternational workshop on security and forensics in communication systems

    Google Scholar 

  26. Zhang S, Wang L, Han X (2014) A KVM virtual machine memory forensics method based on VMCS. In: 2014 tenth ınternational conference on computational ıntelligence and security. IEEE

    Google Scholar 

  27. Lim S et al (2012) A research on the investigation method of digital forensics for a VMware Workstation’s virtual machine.Math Comput Model 55(1–2):151–160

    Google Scholar 

  28. Wahyudi E, Riadi I, Prayudi Y (2018) Virtual machine forensic analysis and recovery method for recovery and analysis digital evidence.Int J Comput Sci Inf Secur 16

    Google Scholar 

  29. Mishra AK, Pilli ES, Govil MC (2014) A Prototype Implementation of log acquisition in private cloud environment. In: 2014 3rd ınternational conference on eco-friendly computing and communication systems. IEEE

    Google Scholar 

  30. Gebhardt T, Reiser HP (2013) Network forensics for cloud computing. In: IFIP ınternational conference on distributed applications and ınteroperable systems. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  31. Khan A et al (2017) Secure logging as a service using reversible watermarking.Procedia Comput Sci 110:336–343

    Google Scholar 

  32. Muthurajkumar S et al (2015) Secured temporal log management techniques for cloud. Procedia Comput Sci 46:589–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Liu J-Y et al (2019) An anonymous blockchain-based logging system for cloud computing. In: International conference on blockchain and trustworthy systems. Springer, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  34. Patrascu A, Patriciu V-V (2015) Logging for cloud computing forensic systems. Int J Comput Commun Control 10(2):222–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Rane S et al (2019) Decentralized logging service using IPFS for cloud ınfrastructure.Available at SSRN 3419772

    Google Scholar 

  36. Satrya GB, Shin SY (2018) Proposed method for mobile forensics investigation analysis of remnant data on Google Drive client.J Internet Technol 19(6):1741–1751

    Google Scholar 

  37. Amirullah A, Riadi I, Luthfi A (2016) Forensics analysis from cloud storage client application on proprietary operating system. Int J Comput Appl 143(1):1–7

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koushik Majumder .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Ghosh, A., De, D., Majumder, K. (2021). A Systematic Review of Log-Based Cloud Forensics. In: Smys, S., Balas, V.E., Kamel, K.A., Lafata, P. (eds) Inventive Computation and Information Technologies. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 173. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4305-4_26

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics