During the past decade, digital forensic training and education has accelerated in the government and private sectors to meet the growing demand for qualified practitioners. Many of these entrants to the discipline gain employment with forensic laboratories now undertaking digital forensic examinations. More recently, budgetary constraints are affecting many digital forensics laboratories, which have seriously restricted staffing numbers and specialist training. At the same time, the dramatic increase of laboratories' caseloads can have a detrimental effect on the soundness of the work output. Simply put, forensic laboratories are expensive in terms of equipment, personnel, and buildings.
However, knowledge sharing within the digital forensic community has resulted in significant progress in mapping and creating solutions to assist with forensic analysis. A broad range of digital forensic laboratories, especially those in the law enforcement environment, are...