A Systematic Review of Published Articles, Phases and Activities in an Online Social Networks Forensic Investigation Domain

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to retrieve, evaluate and analyse the available published articles in five (5) relevant online databases from 2011 to 2021 and also critically identify the phases and activities involved in an Online Social Networks Forensic Investigation based on bibliometric analysis and Degree of confidence respectively in order to know the evolution in the research domain. A systematic literature review (SLR) technique was adopted by the author to search using pre-defined keywords. Only scholarly articles published between 2011 and 2021 written in English were included in the search. The total of 316 subscribed documents were collected from the five (5) online databases based on the search criteria although twenty-nine (29) are duplicates. ScienceDirect has the highest number with 189 documents and the year 2020 with the highest published articles. Six (6) phases and forty-three (43) activities were identified. According to a review of the recovered publications, no previous research has been done to statistically retrieve, evaluate and analyse the level of work that has been done in the domain of OSNFI, as well as the phases and activities involved in the forensic investigation of an online social networks crime.

Towards Adapting Metamodelling Technique for an Online Social Networks Forensic Investigation (OSNFI) Domain

“…However, most of them use similar methodologies and ignore the essential differences and special needs of online social networks. The main challenge is the use of a nonuniform and ad-hoc forensic techniques in the existing DFIM's [1]. The employment of non-standard and ad hoc forensic techniques and processes not only diminishes the effectiveness of the process, but it also undermines the dependability and creditability of the evidence in criminal cases.…”