Security, Privacy, and Digital Forensics in the Cloud

12Digital Forensic Process and Model in the Cloud

Nhien‐An Le‐Khac¹, James Plunkett¹, M‐Tahar Kechadi¹, and Lei Chen²

¹University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

²Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA

12.1 Introduction

Cloud computing is a new approach to delivering information communications technology (ICT) to organizations. Cloud computing is built on the premise that organizations do not need to invest in buying hardware, software, and network infrastructures to support business‐critical applications. Utilizing a cloud‐based infrastructure, organizations can increase ICT capacity or add ICT capabilities without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription‐based or pay‐per‐use service that, in real time over the internet, extends organizations' existing ICT capabilities.

The advent of cloud computing is forcing a change from traditional software and hardware models to ICT being delivered over the internet or through private networks located in shared data centers (public cloud) or within private data centers (private cloud). As global markets change, organizations must also change to meet consumer demands. Organizations require flexible structures; and to complement this flexibility, they require the ability to provide new applications, hardware, and network infrastructures quickly, thus supporting changing market environments and enabling the organization to sustain a competitive ...