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A Survey of Forensic Localization and Tracking Mechanisms in Short-Range and Cellular Networks

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Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime (ICDF2C 2009)

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Abstract

Localization and tracking are critical tools in criminal and, increasingly, forensic investigations, which we show to be greatly aided by the proliferation of mobile phone and other wireless devices even if such devices are not suitable for communication and hence interception. In this paper we therefore provide a survey and taxonomy of both established and novel techniques for tracking the whereabouts of individuals and devices for different environments and platforms as well as the underlying assumptions and limitations in each case. In particular, we describe cellular, wireless, and personal area networks in infrastructure and ad-hoc environments. As individual localization and tracking methods do not always yield the required precision and accuracy, may require collaboration, or will exhibit gaps in densely built-up or highly active radio frequency environments, we additionally discuss selected approaches derived from multisensor data fusion and tracking applications for enhancing performance and assurance. This paper also briefly discusses possible attacks against a localization/tracking process and how trustworthy the measurement estimations are, an aspect that has been evidently less investigated so far.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Security Group, Department of Mathematics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom

    Saif Al-Kuwari & Stephen D. Wolthusen

  2. Norwegian Information Security Laboratory, Gjøvik University College, P.O. Box 191, N-2802, Gjøvik, Norway

    Stephen D. Wolthusen

Authors
  1. Saif Al-Kuwari
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  2. Stephen D. Wolthusen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. SUNY, School of Business, University of Albany, NY 12222, Albany, USA

    Sanjay Goel

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© 2010 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Al-Kuwari, S., Wolthusen, S.D. (2010). A Survey of Forensic Localization and Tracking Mechanisms in Short-Range and Cellular Networks. In: Goel, S. (eds) Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime. ICDF2C 2009. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 31. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11534-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11534-9_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11533-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11534-9

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