Design of a wireless forensic readiness model (WFRM)

Abstract

The proliferation of wireless mobile communication technology has emerged and this has resulted in the increase of the wireless users. On the other hand, cyber crime in WLANs has appeared to be gradually increasing world wide. Wireless network forensics is seen as not only a counterproposal but as a solution to the rapid increase of cyber crime in WLANs. However, the key issues impacting wireless network forensics are, firstly, it is an enormous challenge to monitor and collect all the communications generated by the communicating mobile devices and conduct a proper digital forensic investigation. Secondly, network traffic only exists for split seconds, and because of its large volume, it may be retained for a limited time before storage space is depleted. Therefore this suggests that WLANs are not forensically ready to gather enough evidence that can be used for subsequent forensic purposes. In an attempt to address this issue, this paper proposes a Wireless Forensic Readiness Model (WFRM) with the capabilities of monitoring, preserving and analysing wireless network traffic.