Protecting Digital Evidence: 8 Best Practices for Secure Evidence Management

In this modern age of technology, digital evidence is an integral part of the entire investigation process and is growing at an exponential rate.

According to research, the digital forensics market is expected to reach USD 16.89 billion by 2032, a compound growth rate of 11.7% per year.

No doubt, digital evidence is a crucial player in solving criminal cases, but it is more fragile and can easily be tampered with or altered. Court requires sound digital evidence without any alteration. Therefore, protecting digital evidence at every phase is of major concern from its collection to prosecution and court presentation.

When was the evidence collected, and why? Who recorded it? Who has accessed it since, and what actions are performed on it? How can you prove that the integrity of digital evidence is preserved?

Are there any best ways to secure and protect digital evidence?

If you are wondering about best practices for preserving and securing digital evidence, then you are at the right place.

8 Best Ways to Secure and Protect Digital Evidence

To make digital evidence legally admissible, you need to bring best practices into play. The following specific ways assist you in preserving and protecting digital evidence in every possible way.

1. Maintain Original File Using Drive Imaging

Before initiating the process of digital evidence analysis, officers or investigators should image it first. It means to create a bit-for-bit duplicate of an evidence file. In this way, you can retain the original digital evidence file.

Do not perform analysis on the original evidence file (perform any such analysis on its duplicate file). Make sure to limit every action performed on the original digital evidence file. Otherwise, the court will not accept it for legal proceedings.

2. Log Every Activity in the Chain of Custody

In the judiciary, it is essential to prove the integrity of evidence. You should appropriately handle it by maintaining audit logs detailing: who has accessed it? Who modified it and how? Otherwise, it will not be admissible in court and will not stand against any legal interrogation.

Therefore, protecting digital evidence is a great challenge. You cannot rely on your operating system, e.g., windows itself, to provide you with such a detailed report.

Chain of custody will help you in proving the authenticity of evidence as it provides a complete record of who accessed the file, at what time, and the sequence of activities performed on the evidence by any authenticated user.

3. Verify the Evidence for Tamper

The process of imaging generates cryptographic hash values. These cryptographic hash values verify the integrity and authenticity of digital evidence by providing proof that any digital evidence is the same as the original since upload.

If any alteration is made to the evidence, the system generates a new hash value that does not match the original one. Hence, through hash values, you can detect any sort of alteration, and the integrity of digital evidence is preserved.

4. Protect the Evidence Repository

In today’s digital world, vast amounts of evidence can be stored in compact storage solutions, from local servers to cloud-based repositories. If your digital evidence is stored in an evidence management system, cloud storage, or any external repository, securing the storage environment is crucial.

Ensure that your evidence storage system is well-protected by implementing strong access controls. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to restrict access to authorized personnel only. Set granular access controls so that only designated users can access specific evidence files. Additionally, each evidence should be password protected in order to add an extra layer of security.

Unauthorized access can compromise the integrity of digital evidence. To prevent breaches, always configure strict security policies within your evidence management system and ensure regular security assessments to identify vulnerabilities.

5. Protect Digital Evidence Using Encryption

To ensure maximum security, all stored digital evidence should be encrypted, whether at rest or in transit. This means applying end-to-end encryption to prevent unauthorized access, even if the storage system itself is compromised.

However, encryption strategies should align with operational needs. In large-scale Digital Evidence Management Systems (DEMS), built-in encryption mechanisms ensure compliance with CJIS, GDPR, and other legal frameworks. If using third-party storage solutions, ensure they support strong encryption standards like AES-256.

By encrypting all stored evidence, you maintain chain of custody, prevent unauthorized access, and protect sensitive information from breaches or tampering.

6. Share Temporary Shareable Links of Evidence

When sharing digital evidence, it should be done in a controlled manner to prevent unauthorized distribution. Instead of granting unrestricted access, use tokenized URLs that allow secure sharing with limitations on:

• View limits: Restrict the number of times an evidence file can be accessed.
• Expiration time: Automatically revoke access after a set period to prevent misuse.
• One-time access links: Ensure evidence can only be viewed once by the recipient.

By using secure sharing mechanisms, organizations can maintain control over digital evidence distribution while preventing leaks or unauthorized downloads.

7. Ask the Reason for Accessing the Evidence

To enhance accountability, require users to provide a reason for accessing specific evidence files. This practice ensures that every access request is logged with a justification, which helps:

• Maintain transparency in forensic investigations
• Prevent unauthorized access attempts
• Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory policies

This feature is particularly useful in law enforcement and legal proceedings, where chain of custody and access justification are critical for maintaining the integrity of digital evidence.

8. Apply Advanced Restrictions for Evidence Protection

For maximum security, apply advanced access restrictions to limit evidence access based on specific parameters:

• Portal Restriction: Restricts access to evidence portals, allowing only managers and administrators to control sensitive data.
• Geo-Restriction: Uses IP filtering and location-based access controls to prevent unauthorized access from specific regions or untrusted networks.
• Domain Restriction: Limits evidence access to pre-approved domains, ensuring that only users within a secure network can view or download files.

Implementing these restrictions minimizes the risk of data leaks, prevents unauthorized access from external sources, and ensures compliance with legal standards in handling digital evidence.

Cloud Storage vs Local Storage for Protecting Digital Evidence

For long-term storage of digital evidence, which one is better, cloud storage or local storage platforms? You need to have trained IT employees to store each evidence file locally and create backups.

Moreover, local physical servers are more prone to external damage and hard to afford. Along with that, local servers have limited storage space. It is expensive to create and maintain the local storage system.

Cloud storage is the most secure and scalable, with additional layers of security that safeguard your digital evidence files.

According to Forbes, 94% of organizations claimed an improvement in security after switching to the cloud.”

Therefore, for protecting digital evidence you should opt for a cloud-based storage platform.

Read more about the differences between cloud vs on-premise storage.

VIDIZMO DEMS: Complete Solution for Protecting Digital Evidence

VIDIZMO provides an IDC-recognized Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS), which is secure and easy-to-use software. It enables law enforcement agencies and other organizations to collect, store, handle, share and protect digital evidence in its entire journey.

VIDIZMO DEMS is trusted for its secure storage, flexible deployment options, AI-powered features, and whatnot. The following are some of its remarkable features:

• Collecting digital evidence from various sources such as dashcams, body-worn cameras, CCTV, drones, etc.
• Securing and protecting digital evidence with FIPS-compliant end-to-end encryption.
• A wide range of deployment options includes Azure Cloud, AWS Cloud, Any Other Commercial or Government Cloud, on-premises data centers, and hybrid infrastructure.
• Detecting any type of tampering with the digital evidence since upload through the help of SHA cryptographic hash values.
• Sharing digital evidence securely on the same network with other officers and defense attorneys with a number of views, block download options, expiration dates, etc.
• Integrating with your existing IT applications such as computer-aided dispatch (CAD), record management system (RMS), and case management system (CMS).
• Integrating with various SSO identity providers, including Azure AD, OneLogin, Okta, etc.
• Maintaining a complete chain of custody reports in detail for tracking digital evidence across the portal.
• Meeting compliance requirements such as CJIS, FedRAMP, GDPR, etc.
• Detecting, tracking, and redacting personally identifiable information appearing in videos.
• Restricting specific regional IP for sharing digital evidence files.
• Assigning specific roles to each user role-based access control with certain permissions to access the portal.
• Flagging of evidence to provide notifications and updates regarding any type of activity performed on the evidence to authorized people.
• Sharing digital evidence with external users via a link with expiration dates. Creating multiple links for each evidence file.

Try VIDIZMO DEMS on a 7-day free trial today and let us protect your digital evidence.

Protecting Digital Evidence in the Modern Age

Digital evidence plays a pivotal role in modern investigations, but its fragility and susceptibility to tampering make its preservation and protection paramount. Implementing best practices such as drive imaging, maintaining a robust chain of custody, leveraging tamper detection mechanisms, securing evidence storage, advanced restriction, and limited sharing ensures that digital evidence remains protected and admissible in court.

The choice between local and cloud storage highlights the need for scalability, security, and cost-efficiency. VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) offers the best of both worlds with flexible cloud, on-premises, and hybrid deployment options to manage and store digital evidence securely.

Its robust features, including industry-standard encryption, tamper detection, chain-of-custody maintenance, and AI-powered tools, empower organizations to meet the increasing demands of digital investigations while adhering to strict compliance standards.

By embracing these strategies and tools, law enforcement agencies and other organizations can confidently navigate the challenges of digital evidence management and uphold the integrity of their investigations.

People Also Ask

What are the best practices to protect digital evidence?

The best practices to protect digital evidence include imaging the original data, maintaining a chain of custody, using hash values for evidence tamper verification, securely storing the evidence in a CJIS-compliant environment and evidence repository, sharing temporary shareable links to digital evidence, and apply advanced restrictions.

How can the integrity of digital evidence be maintained?

The integrity of digital evidence can be maintained by verifying whether the evidence has been tampered with, storing digital evidence in an evidence repository hosted on a secure, CJIS-compliant environment, and logging every activity happening with the evidence using an automated chain of custody. 

What is the importance of a chain of custody in protecting digital evidence?

A chain of custody tracks who accessed the evidence and, when proving it, has not been altered or mishandled, ensuring that the digital evidence remains protected. An automated chain of custody report ensures the tamperproof logging of all activities happening within the evidence, such as who accessed it, who downloaded it, who shared it, who moderated it, and more, along with date and timestamps.

What benefits do Digital Evidence Management Systems (DEMS) offer to protect digital evidence?

Digital evidence management systems streamline evidence handling with secure storage, tamper detection, granular access, and compliance with legal standards, such as CJIS, FIPS, and more. An advanced digital evidence management system even offers the ability to create custom security policies that are in line with the agency requirements, SSO logins, multifactor authentication (MFA), IP and geo-restrictions, temporary sharing of evidence using URL tokenization, and more.

What deployment options does VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System provide?

VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System offers flexible deployment options, including private cloud, on-premises, and hybrid models, offering flexibility to meet the agency's needs.