Overview of Licensing and Legal Issues for Digital Forensic Investigators

Digital forensic examiners face challenges outside the technical aspects of collecting, investigating, and storing digital information. Rules about admissibility and the licensing requirements for forensic professionals must also be taken into account. The use of digital data in an expanding number of US court cases and business investigations has precipitated changes in evidence handling and admissibility requirements, most notably in the 2006 changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Knowledge of these rules and the ensuing case law is an essential component of any examiner´s toolkit because improper evidence handling can lead to inadmissible evidence. The court´s acceptance of such evidence is also greatly affected by the examiner´s proper licensure. Unfortunately, these requirements vary by state (sometimes even by city) and are constantly changing. Therefore, digital forensic investigators must heed both the court´s rules regarding evidence handling and the state´s rules for licensing in order to be most effective.