Digital Forensics Standards and Capacity Building
Because digital forensics is still in its infancy, standards and best practices must be developed and disseminated to increase the effectiveness of practitioners.
NIJ, through its Electronic Crime Technology Center of Excellence, works in partnership with other organizations to establish standards for the collection, preservation, analysis and presentation of digital computer evidence.
These standards include:
- The type of equipment that should be in a forensics laboratory and how this equipment is used and maintained.
- Pocket guides for law enforcement detailing what to do at the scene of the crime.
- Steps that should be taken to analyze digital evidence.
In addition, NIJ is supporting efforts to create uniform standards for the certification of examiners.
NIJ also helps build capacity in digital evidence among law enforcement at the state and local levels, where the overwhelming majority of law enforcement activities occur. NIJ works to ensure that state and local law enforcement officials have up-to-date knowledge and tools so they can collect digital evidence as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Current NIJ digital evidence standards and capacity building projects include:
- The National Software Reference Library: Software Datasets
- The Computer Forensics Tool Testing Program
- The Cyber and Electronic Crime Strategic Policy Project
