Success factors and challenges in digital forensics for law enforcement : A Systematic Literature Review

Context: The widespread use of communication and digital technology in the society has affected the number of devices requiring analysis in criminal investigations. Additionally, the increase of storage volume, the diversity of digital devices, and the use of cloud environment introduce more complexities to the digital forensic domain. Objective: This work aims to supply a taxonomy of the main challenges and success factors faced in the digital forensic domain in law enforcement. Method: The chosen method for this research is a systematic literature review of studies with topics related to success factors and challenges in digital forensics for law enforcement. The candidate studies were 1,428 peer-reviewed scientific articles published between 2015 and 2021. Those studies were retrieved from five digital databases following a systematic process. From those candidate studies, twenty were selected as primary studies due to their relevance to the topic. After backward searching, eight other studies were also included in the group of primary studies. A total of twentyeight primary studies were analyzed by applying thematic coding. Furthermore, a survey of digital forensic practitioners from the Swedish Police was held to triangulate the results achieved with the systematic literature review