A Digital Forensic Readiness framework for South African SME's

Abstract

In this digital age, most business is conducted electronically. This contemporary paradigm creates openings for potentially harmful unanticipated information security incidents of both a criminal or civil nature, with the potential to cause considerable direct and indirect damage to smaller businesses. Electronic evidence is fundamental to the successful handling of such incidents. If an organisation does not prepare proactively for such incidents it is highly likely that important relevant digital evidence will not be available. Not being able to respond effectively could be extremely damaging to smaller companies, as they are unable to absorb losses as easily as larger organisations. In order to prepare smaller businesses for incidents of this nature, the implementation of Digital Forensic Readiness policies and procedures is necessitated. Numerous varying factors such as the perceived high cost, as well as the current lack of forensic skills, make the implementation of Digital Forensic Readiness appear difficult if not infeasible for smaller organisations. In order to solve this problem it is necessary to develop a scalable and flexible framework for the implementation of Digital Forensic Readiness based on the individual risk profile of a small to medium enterprise (SME). This paper aims to determine, from literature, the concepts of Digital Forensic Readiness and how they apply to SMEs. Based on the findings, the aspects of Digital Forensics and organisational characteristics that should be included in such a framework is highlighted.