{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,12]],"date-time":"2026-10-12T00:40:52Z","timestamp":1791765652368,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":76,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,18]],"date-time":"2025-09-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1758153600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,18]],"date-time":"2025-09-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1758153600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Inf. Secur."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>With the increasing use of digital technology, people are relying on digital data for various tasks. However, this reliance has led to a rise in cyberattacks. To combat these threats, digital forensic departments are tasked with investigating such incidents. Yet, attackers continuously develop new methods to conceal their actions. These actions are considered anti-forensics, where attackers try to hamper the digital forensic investigation process by manipulating or deleting evidence to hide their tracks of malicious activities or to mislead the forensic process. Therefore, implementing effective countermeasures is essential to stop these attackers. This has resulted in a systematic review of existing literature in this domain to comprehensively understand anti-forensic techniques, evaluate current countermeasures, and identify areas for further research and development. This paper aimed to provide an overview of the anti-forensic tactics in cybercrime investigations along with their corresponding countermeasures. Digital forensics experts face many challenges in their investigations as sophisticated cyber criminals hide their tracks. The limitations of current digital forensics techniques and tools were explored, and improvements and countermeasures were suggested. Our paper aims to enhance the understanding of the digital forensics field and its associated challenges. The findings of this research are valuable as they identify key gaps in current cybersecurity practices, and these have been highlighted in the knowledge gap section.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10207-025-01131-y","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,18]],"date-time":"2025-09-18T12:44:06Z","timestamp":1758199446000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Countering anti-forensic tactics in cybercrime investigations \u2013 a systematic literature review"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Sonu","family":"Surakanti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sam","family":"Goundar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joshua","family":"Dwight","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"1131_CR1","unstructured":"Alenezi, A.M.: Digital and cloud forensic challenges. arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.03059. (2023)"},{"key":"1131_CR2","first-page":"200904","volume":"33","author":"D Mothi","year":"2020","unstructured":"Mothi, D., Janicke, H., Wagner, I.: A novel principle to validate digital forensic models. Forensic Sci. International: Digit. Invest. 33, 200904 (2020)","journal-title":"Forensic Sci. International: Digit. Invest."},{"key":"1131_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11065","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2022.3142508","volume":"10","author":"AR Javed","year":"2022","unstructured":"Javed, A.R., Ahmed, W., Alazab, M., Jalil, Z., Kifayat, K., Gadekallu, T.R.: A comprehensive survey on computer forensics: State-of-the-art, tools, techniques, challenges, and future directions. IEEE Access. 10, 11065\u201311089 (2022)","journal-title":"IEEE Access."},{"key":"1131_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Majed, H., Noura, H.N., Chehab, A.: Overview of digital forensics and anti-forensics techniques. In 2020 8th International Symposium on Digital Forensics and Security (ISDFS) (pp. 1\u20135). IEEE. (2020), June","DOI":"10.1109\/ISDFS49300.2020.9116399"},{"key":"1131_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dahbur, K., Mohammad, B.: The anti-forensics challenge. In Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Intelligent Semantic Web-Services and Applications (pp. 1\u20137). (2011), April","DOI":"10.1145\/1980822.1980836"},{"key":"1131_CR6","unstructured":"Hosgor, E.C.: Detection and mitigation of anti-forensics. Int. J. Comput. Sci. Inform. Secur. (IJCSIS), 18(12). (2020)"},{"key":"1131_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Al-Mousa, M.R., Sweerky, N.A., Samara, G., Alghanim, M., Hussein, A.S.I., Qadoumi, B.: General countermeasures of Anti-Forensics categories. In: 2021 Global Congress on Electrical Engineering (GC-ElecEng), pp. 5\u201310. IEEE (2021)","DOI":"10.1109\/GC-ElecEng52322.2021.9788230"},{"key":"1131_CR8","unstructured":"Hammoud, A.H.: Efficient Countermeasures against Anti-Forensics Techniques. (2022)"},{"key":"1131_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19469","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2022.3151403","volume":"10","author":"A Singh","year":"2022","unstructured":"Singh, A., Ikuesan, R.A., Venter, H.: Secure storage model for digital forensic readiness. IEEE Access. 10, 19469\u201319480 (2022)","journal-title":"IEEE Access."},{"key":"1131_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tanner, A., Dancer, F.C., Hall, J., Parker, N., Bishop, R., McBride, T.: The Need for Proactive Digital Forensics in Addressing Critical Infrastructure Cyber Attacks. In 2022 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI) (pp. 976\u2013982). IEEE. (2022)","DOI":"10.1109\/CSCI58124.2022.00174"},{"key":"1131_CR11","unstructured":"Mart\u00ednez Llamas, J.: Analysis and Design of Digital Forensics and Incident Response Procedure (Doctoral dissertation, Telecommunication). (2019)"},{"key":"1131_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Al-Asli, M., Ghaleb, T.A.: Review of signature-based techniques in antivirus products. In 2019 International Conference on Computer and Information Sciences (ICCIS) (pp. 1\u20136). IEEE. (2019)","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCISci.2019.8716381"},{"key":"1131_CR13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Luciano, L., Baggili, I., Topor, M., Casey, P., Breitinger, F.: Digital forensics in the next five years. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (pp. 1\u201314). (2018)","DOI":"10.1145\/3230833.3232813"},{"key":"1131_CR14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hausknecht, K., Grui\u010di\u0107, S.: Anti-computer forensics. In: 2017 40th International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO), pp. 1233\u20131240. IEEE (2017, May)","DOI":"10.23919\/MIPRO.2017.7973612"},{"key":"1131_CR15","unstructured":"Abdullahi, Z.H., Sagarwal, N., Soni, M.: An Overview of Anti-forensic Techniques and their Impact on Digital Forensic Analysis. (2020)"},{"key":"1131_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kang, Q., Gu, Y.: A Survey on Ransomware Threats. Contrasting Static and Dynamic Analysis Methods (2023)","DOI":"10.20944\/preprints202311.0798.v1"},{"key":"1131_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wundram, M., Freiling, F.C., Moch, C.: Anti-forensics: the next step in digital forensics tool testing. In 2013 seventh international conference on its security incident management and its forensics (pp. 83\u201397). IEEE. (2013)","DOI":"10.1109\/IMF.2013.17"},{"key":"1131_CR18","unstructured":"Dachs, S.: Digital anti-Forensics: an Implementation and Examination. City University of New York John Jay College of Criminal Justice (2017)"},{"key":"1131_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Devi, V.A., Bhuvaneswari, E., Tummala, R.K.: Decentralized Hybrid Intrusion Detection System for Cyber Attack Identification using Machine Learning. In 2023 International Conference on Data Science, Agents & Artificial Intelligence (ICDSAAI) (pp. 1\u20135). IEEE. (2023)","DOI":"10.1109\/ICDSAAI59313.2023.10452439"},{"key":"1131_CR20","unstructured":"Balogun, A.M., Zhu, S.Y.: Privacy impacts of data encryption on the efficiency of digital forensics technology. arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.3183. (2013)"},{"key":"1131_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ogunseyi, T.B., Adedayo, O.M.: Cryptographic techniques for data privacy in digital forensics. IEEE Access. (2023)","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2023.3343360"},{"key":"1131_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91657","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2928060","volume":"7","author":"D Tian","year":"2019","unstructured":"Tian, D., Ma, R., Jia, X., Hu, C.: A kernel rootkit detection approach based on virtualization and machine learning. IEEE Access. 7, 91657\u201391666 (2019)","journal-title":"IEEE Access."},{"key":"1131_CR23","unstructured":"Sahu, A., Tarodia, A., Jagtap, S., Gundla, M.R.: A Survey on Rootkit Techniques. (2021)"},{"key":"1131_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kuzminykh, I., Yevdokymenko, M.: Analysis of security of rootkit detection methods. In 2019 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Trends in Information Theory (ATIT) (pp. 196\u2013199). IEEE. (2019)","DOI":"10.1109\/ATIT49449.2019.9030428"},{"key":"1131_CR25","unstructured":"Prottoy, R.A.: Memory Forensics for Analyzing Malicious Activities. (2023)"},{"key":"1131_CR26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bhushan, H.H.B., Florance, S.M.: An overview on handling anti forensic issues in android devices using forensic automator tool. In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Signal Processing, Informatics, Communication and Energy Systems (SPICES). 1, 425\u2013430). IEEE. (2022)","DOI":"10.1109\/SPICES52834.2022.9774183"},{"key":"1131_CR27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Brotsis, S., Kolokotronis, N.: Blockchain-Enabled digital forensics for the IoT: challenges, features, and current frameworks. In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience (CSR) (pp. 131\u2013137). IEEE. (2022)","DOI":"10.1109\/CSR54599.2022.9850327"},{"key":"1131_CR28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ye, H., Huang, S., Liu, W.: Research on Information Hiding Method Based on Encrypted Image. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Intelligent Information Processing (pp. 410\u2013414). (2019)","DOI":"10.1145\/3378065.3378143"},{"key":"1131_CR29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Musa, N.S., Mirza, N.M., Ali, A.: Navigating the Complex Landscape of IoT Forensics. Challenges and Emerging Solutions (2023)","DOI":"10.34028\/iajit\/20\/3A\/7"},{"key":"1131_CR30","unstructured":"Sameen, M.: Cyber Forensics and Cyber Crime: A multidimensional Study of Techniques and issues"},{"key":"1131_CR31","first-page":"301263","volume":"38","author":"B Manral","year":"2021","unstructured":"Manral, B., Somani, G.: Establishing forensics capabilities in the presence of superuser insider threats. Forensic Sci. International: Digit. Invest. 38, 301263 (2021)","journal-title":"Forensic Sci. International: Digit. Invest."},{"key":"1131_CR32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zareen, M.S., Waqar, A., Aslam, B.: Digital forensics: Latest challenges and response. In 2013 2nd National Conference on Information Assurance (NCIA) (pp. 21\u201329). IEEE. (2013)","DOI":"10.1109\/NCIA.2013.6725320"},{"key":"1131_CR33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hasanabadi, S.S., Lashkari, A.H., Ghorbani, A.A.: The Next Generation of Robust Linux Memory Acquisition Technique via Sequential Memory Dumps at Designated Time Intervals. In 2018 International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology (ICCST) (pp. 1\u20136). IEEE. (2018)","DOI":"10.1109\/CCST.2018.8585490"},{"issue":"12","key":"1131_CR34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1380","DOI":"10.3390\/electronics10121380","volume":"10","author":"S Jung","year":"2021","unstructured":"Jung, S., Seo, S., Kim, Y., Lee, C.: Memory layout extraction and verification method for reliable physical memory acquisition. Electronics. 10(12), 1380 (2021)","journal-title":"Electronics"},{"key":"1131_CR35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S23","DOI":"10.1016\/j.diin.2016.04.009","volume":"18","author":"K Lee","year":"2016","unstructured":"Lee, K., Hwang, H., Kim, K., Noh, B.: Robust bootstrapping memory analysis against anti-forensics. Digit. Invest. 18, S23\u2013S32 (2016)","journal-title":"Digit. Invest."},{"key":"1131_CR36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tejay, G.P., Zadig, S.M.: Investigating the effectiveness of IS security countermeasures towards cyber attacker deterrence. In 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 3051\u20133060). IEEE. (2012)","DOI":"10.1109\/HICSS.2012.385"},{"key":"1131_CR37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Valenzise, G., Tubaro, S., Tagliasacchi, M.: Anti-forensics of multimedia data and countermeasures. Handb. Digit. Forensics Multimedia Data Devices, 612\u2013651. (2015)","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118705773.ch16"},{"key":"1131_CR38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Casino, F., Dasaklis, T. K., Spathoulas, G. P., Anagnostopoulos, M., Ghosal, A., Borocz,I., \u2026 Patsakis, C. Research trends, challenges, and emerging topics in digital forensics: A review of reviews. IEEE Access, 10, 25464\u201325493, (2022).","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2022.3154059"},{"key":"1131_CR39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"167","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2013.2260814","volume":"1","author":"MC Stamm","year":"2013","unstructured":"Stamm, M.C., Wu, M., Liu, K.R.: Information forensics: An overview of the first decade. IEEE access. 1, 167\u2013200 (2013)","journal-title":"IEEE access."},{"key":"1131_CR40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Patil, V.T., Manjrekar, A.A.: A novel approach for monitoring SQL anti-forensic attacks using pattern matching for digital forensic investigation. In Security in Computing and Communications: International Symposium, SSCC 2013, Mysore, India, August 22\u201324, 2013. Proceedings 1 (pp. 162\u2013167). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. (2013)","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-40576-1_16"},{"key":"1131_CR41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41226","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2022.3168018","volume":"10","author":"P Szary","year":"2022","unstructured":"Szary, P., Mazurczyk, W., Wendzel, S., Caviglione, L.: Analysis of reversible network Covert channels. IEEE Access. 10, 41226\u201341238 (2022)","journal-title":"IEEE Access."},{"key":"1131_CR42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Goudar, R.M., Wagh, S.J., Goudar, M.D.: Secure data transmission using steganography-based data hiding in TCP\/IP. In Proceedings of the International Conference & Workshop on Emerging Trends in Technology (pp. 974\u2013979). (2011)","DOI":"10.1145\/1980022.1980233"},{"key":"1131_CR43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bieniasz, J., Szczypiorski, K.: Steganography techniques for command and control (C2) channels. In: Botnets, pp. 189\u2013216. CRC (2019)","DOI":"10.1201\/9780429329913-5"},{"key":"1131_CR44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gupta, B.B., Dahiya, A.: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: Classification, Attacks, Challenges and Countermeasures. CRC (2021)","DOI":"10.1201\/9781003107354"},{"key":"1131_CR45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Yaacoub, J.P.A., Noura, H.N., Salman, O., Chehab, A.: Digital forensics vs. Anti-digital forensics: Techniques, limitations, and recommendations. arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.17028. (2021)","DOI":"10.1016\/j.iot.2022.100544"},{"key":"1131_CR46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Montasari, R., Hill, R.: Next-generation digital forensics: Challenges and future paradigms. In 2019 IEEE 12th International conference on global security, safety, and sustainability (ICGS3) (pp. 205\u2013212). IEEE. (2019)","DOI":"10.1109\/ICGS3.2019.8688020"},{"key":"1131_CR47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mothukur, A.R., Balla, A., Taylor, D.H., Sirimalla, S.T., Elleithy, K.: Investigation of countermeasures to anti-forensic methods. In 2019 IEEE Long Island Systems, Applications and Technology Conference (LISAT) (pp. 1\u20136). IEEE. (2019)","DOI":"10.1109\/LISAT.2019.8816826"},{"issue":"2","key":"1131_CR48","first-page":"7021","volume":"13","author":"R Debbarma","year":"2023","unstructured":"Debbarma, R.: The legal framework and challenges in prosecuting cybercrimes including Hacking, identity Theft, and online fraud. Resmilitaris. 13(2), 7021\u20137048 (2023)","journal-title":"Resmilitaris"},{"key":"1131_CR49","unstructured":"Lillis, D., Becker, B., O\u2019Sullivan, T., Scanlon, M.: Current challenges and future research areas for digital forensic investigation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.03850. (2016)"},{"issue":"2","key":"1131_CR50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1016\/j.diin.2011.09.005","volume":"8","author":"E Casey","year":"2011","unstructured":"Casey, E., Fellows, G., Geiger, M., Stellatos, G.: The growing impact of full disk encryption on digital forensics. Digit. Invest. 8(2), 129\u2013134 (2011)","journal-title":"Digit. Invest."},{"key":"1131_CR51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, N., Sun, K., Lou, W., Hou, Y.T., Jajodia, S.: Now you see me: Hide and seek in physical address space. In Proceedings of the 10th ACM symposium on Information, computer, and communications security (pp. 321\u2013331). (2015)","DOI":"10.1145\/2714576.2714600"},{"key":"1131_CR52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Claycomb, W.R.: Detecting Insider Threats: Who Is Winning the Game? In Proceedings of the 7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats (pp. 51\u201351). (2015)","DOI":"10.1145\/2808783.2808794"},{"key":"1131_CR53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Englbrecht, L., Pernul, G.: A privacy-aware digital forensics investigation in enterprises. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (pp. 1\u201310). (2020)","DOI":"10.1145\/3407023.3407064"},{"key":"1131_CR54","unstructured":"Wang, Y., Nikolai, J., Nepali, R.K.: A Framework for Examining the Human Side of Anti-Forensic Measures. (2014)"},{"key":"1131_CR55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Salman, A., Khan, M.S., Idrees, S., Akram, F., Junaid, M., Malik, A.L.: File integrity checkers: Functionality, attacks, and protection. In 2022 2nd International Conference on Digital Futures and Transformative Technologies (ICoDT2) (pp. 1\u20136). IEEE. (2022)","DOI":"10.1109\/ICoDT255437.2022.9787428"},{"issue":"3s","key":"1131_CR56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3382772","volume":"16","author":"AK Singh","year":"2020","unstructured":"Singh, A.K.: Data hiding: Current trends, innovation, and potential challenges. ACM Trans. Multimedia Comput. Commun. Appl. (TOMM). 16(3s), 1\u201316 (2020)","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Multimedia Comput. Commun. Appl. (TOMM)"},{"key":"1131_CR57","first-page":"1093","volume":"23","author":"CF Lee","year":"2021","unstructured":"Lee, C.F., Weng, C.Y., Wang, C.H., Chakraborty, G., Sakurai, K., Tsai, K.Y.: Research on multimedia application on information hiding forensics and cybersecurity. Int. J. Netw. Secur. (IJNS). 23, 1093\u20131107 (2021)","journal-title":"Int. J. Netw. Secur. (IJNS)"},{"key":"1131_CR58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Peddoju, S.K., Upadhyay, H., Lagos, L.: File integrity monitoring tools: Issues, challenges, and solutions. Concurrency Computation: Pract. Experience, 32(22), e5825. (2020)","DOI":"10.1002\/cpe.5825"},{"key":"1131_CR59","unstructured":"Mane, P.P.D., Jadhav, A., Sathe, O., Lingade, V., Nagane, A., Jagdale: P. File Integrity Monitoring"},{"key":"1131_CR60","unstructured":"Abdullaha, Z.H., Ismaila, S., Udzirb, N.I.: Identification of File Integrity Requirement through Severity Analysis. (2015)"},{"key":"1131_CR61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"64955","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2916674","volume":"7","author":"U Khadam","year":"2019","unstructured":"Khadam, U., Iqbal, M.M., Azam, M.A., Khalid, S., Rho, S., Chilamkurti, N.: Digital watermarking technique for text document protection using data mining analysis. IEEE Access. 7, 64955\u201364965 (2019)","journal-title":"IEEE Access."},{"key":"1131_CR62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"778","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2019.11.011","volume":"160","author":"A Mohamed","year":"2019","unstructured":"Mohamed, A., Khalid, C.: Detection of timestamps tampering in NTFS using machine learning. Procedia Comput. Sci. 160, 778\u2013784 (2019)","journal-title":"Procedia Comput. Sci."},{"key":"1131_CR63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Knyazeva, N., Khorkov, D., Vostretsova, E.: Building Knowledge Bases for Timestamp Changes Detection Mechanisms in MFT Windows OS. In 2020 Ural Symposium on Biomedical Engineering, Radio electronics and Information Technology (USBEREIT) (pp. 553\u2013556). IEEE. (2020)","DOI":"10.1109\/USBEREIT48449.2020.9117712"},{"key":"1131_CR64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ferdiana, R.: A systematic literature review of intrusion detection system for network security: Research trends, datasets, and methods. In 2020 4th International Conference on Informatics and Computational Sciences (ICICoS) (pp. 1\u20136). IEEE. (2020)","DOI":"10.1109\/ICICoS51170.2020.9299068"},{"key":"1131_CR65","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sudar, K.M., Deepalakshmi, P., Nagaraj, P., Muneeswaran, V.: Analysis of cyberattacks and its detection mechanisms. In 2020 Fifth International Conference on Research in Computational Intelligence and Communication Networks (ICRCICN) (pp. 12\u201316). IEEE. (2020)","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRCICN50933.2020.9296178"},{"key":"1131_CR66","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Joshi, P.S., Dinesha, H.A.: Study Report of Tor Antiforensic Techniques. In International Conference on Information and Management Engineering (pp. 81\u201391). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. (2022)","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-99-2742-5_9"},{"issue":"4","key":"1131_CR67","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.3390\/fi11040089","volume":"11","author":"F Salahdine","year":"2019","unstructured":"Salahdine, F., Kaabouch, N.: Social engineering attacks: A survey. Future Internet. 11(4), 89 (2019)","journal-title":"Future Internet"},{"key":"1131_CR68","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85094","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2020.2992807","volume":"8","author":"Z Wang","year":"2020","unstructured":"Wang, Z., Sun, L., Zhu, H.: Defining social engineering in cybersecurity. IEEE Access. 8, 85094\u201385115 (2020)","journal-title":"IEEE Access."},{"key":"1131_CR69","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Parthy, P.P., Rajendran, G.: Identification and prevention of social engineering attacks on an enterprise. In 2019 International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology (ICCST) (pp. 1\u20135). IEEE. (2019)","DOI":"10.1109\/CCST.2019.8888441"},{"key":"1131_CR70","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Arabia-Obedoza, M.R., Rodriguez, G., Johnston, A., Salahdine, F., Kaabouch, N.: Social engineering attacks a reconnaissance synthesis analysis. In 2020 11th IEEE Annual Ubiquitous Computing, Electronics & Mobile Communication Conference (UEMCON) (pp. 0843\u20130848). IEEE. (2020)","DOI":"10.1109\/UEMCON51285.2020.9298100"},{"key":"1131_CR71","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S66","DOI":"10.1016\/j.diin.2016.04.006","volume":"18","author":"K Conlan","year":"2016","unstructured":"Conlan, K., Baggili, I., Breitinger, F.: Anti-forensics: Furthering digital forensic science through a new extended, granular taxonomy. Digit. Invest. 18, S66\u2013S75 (2016)","journal-title":"Digit. Invest."},{"key":"1131_CR72","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pallivalappil, A.S., Jagadeesha, S.N.: Procedures for Digital Forensics and Incident Response on Including Data Integrity Constraints on Solid-State Drives (SSD)-A Literature Review. Int. J. Case Stud. Bus. IT Educ. (IJCSBE). 6(1), 328\u2013350 (2022).","DOI":"10.47992\/IJCSBE.2581.6942.0167"},{"key":"1131_CR73","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"\u00d6lveck\u00fd, M., Gabri\u0161ka, D.: Wiping techniques and anti-forensics methods. In 2018 IEEE 16th international symposium on intelligent systems and informatics (SISY) (pp. 000127\u2013000132). IEEE. (2018)","DOI":"10.1109\/SISY.2018.8524756"},{"key":"1131_CR74","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1319","DOI":"10.1007\/s11135-020-01059-6","volume":"55","author":"HA Mohamed Shaffril","year":"2021","unstructured":"Mohamed Shaffril, H.A., Samsuddin, S.F., Abu Samah, A.: The ABC of systematic literature review: The basic methodological guidance for beginners. Qual. Quant. 55, 1319\u20131346 (2021)","journal-title":"Qual. Quant."},{"key":"1131_CR75","unstructured":"Lee, J., Jeon, S., Park, Y., Chung, J., Jeong, D.: A Forensic Methodology for Detecting Image Manipulations. arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.04723. (2023)"},{"key":"1131_CR76","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Krachenfels, T., Seifert, J.P., Tajik, S.: Trojan awakener: Detecting dormant malicious hardware using laser logic state imaging. In Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Attacks and Solutions in Hardware Security (pp. 17\u201327). (2021)","DOI":"10.1145\/3474376.3487282"}],"container-title":["International Journal of Information Security"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10207-025-01131-y.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10207-025-01131-y\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10207-025-01131-y.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,16]],"date-time":"2025-10-16T11:39:10Z","timestamp":1760614750000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s10207-025-01131-y"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,18]]},"references-count":76,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,10]]}},"alternative-id":["1131"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10207-025-01131-y","relation":{},"ISSN":["1615-5262","1615-5270"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1615-5262","type":"print"},{"value":"1615-5270","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,18]]},"assertion":[{"value":"6 May 2024","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"15 September 2025","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"18 September 2025","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"210"}}