How to Ensure Secure Evidence Sharing in 2025

If you think digital evidence sharing is simple, you're wrong. Sharing digital evidence requires several security measures to prevent data breaches and tampering. What are these measures, and what is the optimal solution that provides us with these options?

With growing volumes of digital evidence coming from bodycams, surveillance footage, mobile devices, and more, the need for secure digital evidence sharing solutions has never been greater. Law enforcement agencies, legal professionals, and government bodies are increasingly under pressure to ensure that evidence is not only stored securely but also shared in a controlled, compliant, and traceable manner.

What are the essential security features and protocols required for this? And what is the optimal solution that offers all of these capabilities in a single, unified system?

Let’s return to the preexisting mechanisms of secure evidence sharing to better understand the problem at hand. Then, we will analyze the measures that can be taken and present you with a solution that can help you implement them all. Overall, this blog will explore how traditional ways of digital evidence sharing are not sufficient in today's technology-driven world, and organizations need to adopt efficient methods to ensure secure evidence sharing in 2025.

Redundant Methods That Undermine Secure Evidence Sharing

Times have changed. Evidence files ingested from multiple digital sources, including body cams, dashcams, CCTVs, mobile phones, and several other mediums, are no longer shared using the old-fashioned way—through hard drives, pen drives, floppies, and CDs. Considering how much digital evidence we have now, sharing digital evidence this way is both impractical and not very secure.

The future is in the cloud!

No, we’re not talking about changing the weather with artificial clouds - that’s pretty far-fetched from what we work with. This is about cloud storage technology.

The present age demands all information be on the cloud—that too for a number of reasons surrounding ease of data accessibility, security, and little to no storage limit constraints. This means we are also storing, managing, and sharing evidence from online cloud platforms.

Simply put, our means to share digital evidence has gotten digital, too.

But knowing the nature of the type of data digital evidence itself is, sharing it through an online cloud platform is not a piece of cake, nor the best option to just go with just any service provider on the web.

So, what hurdles fall before us when sharing evidence online, and how do you go about them? Are there any possible solutions that resolve this matter for us entirely?

These are the objectives this blog is bound to explore.

The Complexities of Secure Evidence Sharing Online

Storing evidence files on the cloud is a nifty way to solve many issues surrounding the matter. You don’t have to worry about storage because your cloud service provider will manage that on their end. Based on your subscription for a tenant on the cloud, you can have your storage customized to store terabytes or even petabytes of digital evidence data.

However, the bigger concern that pops up when talking about digital evidence is the security of your data. Fortunately, unlike on-premises storage at your local data center, cloud storage providers handle the security of all data on their end.

They implement various security protocols and mechanisms, such as encryption-based security to protect data at rest and in transit, of which the most optimal is AES-256 encryption algorithm. DRM also adds additional protection for stored data.

With storage and security out of the way, we’re left with one thing – sharing. Digital evidence won’t stay boxed up forever. At some point, sooner or later, it is to be requested by law enforcers, courts, and jury or other personnel to be reviewed, analyzed by prosecutors, and presented at hearings.

Therefore, the aspect of secure evidence sharing is a big one. But we cannot summarize it as link sharing with password protection on files. There’s a lot more to be asked of a system that allows you to share your evidence file.

The Concerns with Digital Evidence Sharing

Secure evidence sharing is a challenge that is much different from securely storing evidence data. One must always be aware of the file(s) being shared, both internally and externally, in terms of access.

Perhaps the user wants to limit the access to only a specific period of time and then revoke it. Or maybe the user wishes to only send it to a certain user without allowing them to send it to their colleague or any other individual.

What if the evidence file contains some critical government information, which, even after redaction, contains information that could cause legal violations if leaked to enemy states? What if the receiving user is maliciously downloading the critical evidence files and sharing them around with unauthorized personnel?

There are a few elements that may be of varying concern, depending on the nature of the evidence files being shared. Some common things to ask yourself, as a law enforcer, when sharing digital evidence through an online platform include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Is the data being shared with your destined user limited to said destined user?
• What types of rights are you providing to the user, and are they able to bypass these restrictions?
• Can you prevent a file from being accessed by a particular domain or region in case of a breach?
• Can the user be restricted entirely from accessing any files provided to them if any malicious or suspicious activity is detected on their end?
• Can you segregate your files based on different user roles or create portals for restricting access amongst different user groups?
• Has the evidence file been properly redacted to remove sensitive or personally identifiable information (PII) before sharing?

The Impact of Insecure Evidence Management

In 2021, the Dallas Police Department faced a major challenge when around eight terabytes of data were deleted including critical digital evidence. This incident posed serious implications for active investigations and prosecutions, and it brought national attention to the importance of proper evidence management protocols.

While the cause wasn’t malicious, the impact was real, highlighting that evidence loss or compromise doesn’t always stem from ill intent. Often, it's a lack of robust, secure infrastructure for evidence handling and sharing that puts systems at risk.

In 2023, another blow came in the form of a ransomware attack, temporarily disrupting access to both physical and digital evidence. Some trials were affected because legal teams couldn’t access critical evidence files in time, delaying or derailing proceedings. The major cause of these attacks was the absence of a secure evidence-sharing mechanism to ensure digital evidence preservation.

These incidents show that without secure sharing protocols, including access controls, encryption, redundancy, and monitoring, even trusted institutions are vulnerable. It’s a reminder that secure evidence sharing isn’t just a technical luxury—it’s a foundational necessity for justice and public trust.

8 Features to Ensure Secure Digital Evidence Sharing in 2025

A number of advanced sharing options can be implemented in order to ensure such concerns are eliminated or counteracted, thus allowing complete control over sharing of critically confidential evidence files.

Liberty of Link Expiry on Shared Links

The individual sharing a link to a file should have the capability to provide an expiry for the link. This allows the sharer to limit access to a file and allow it for only a specific amount of time. The sharer should also have the capability to expire a link whenever necessary, regardless of if an expiry is provided or not. This is accomplished through tokenization of links.

Multiple Link Generation

Generating multiple links for a single file allows you to have varied access control for different users. If the sharer wishes to prevent a certain user or group from accessing a file, they can limit it by setting an expiry for one link instead of eliminating access from every user holding a shared, single link.

Access Restriction for Unauthorized Users

Knowing the nature of digital evidence files, often, these files carry critical information that may not be shared beyond certain individuals at any cost. When generating a shareable link, the user can specify if the file can be accessed only by users to whom the link was specifically shared or anyone who tries to access the file through the link.

IP Restrictions & Domain Restrictions

When unauthorized activity is detected from a certain individual or region, the sharer can restrict access by restricting it using the receiving end’s IP address or pool of IP addresses for an entire domain or region.

Restrict Downloads and Embedding

Evidence files being shared are often meant to be viewed only by the receiver. In such cases, downloading the evidence media and embedding it into any external medium or similar practices are unauthorized by all means.

What can be done in such circumstances is for the user to eliminate any option presented by the player or medium to allow the user to download or embed the media elsewhere. However, that alone is not enough. The player must be capable of entirely restricting the downloads of such files onto local storage through third-party tools or JavaScript-based methods.

Password Protection for Files Shared Through Links

The user can set a password for an individual file. This allows the user on the receiving end to access the file only if they have the password for it. This goes on to further limit unauthorized access.

Force an HTTPS Connection for a User

In order to eliminate the security threats from HTTP and other redundant connections, the sender can set the file to force the receiving user to only be able to view the file in an HTTPS connection. This allows for continuous SSL-based secure access to the content along with protection from man-in-the-middle attacks.

Redact Sensitive PII for Secure Evidence Sharing

When it comes to secure evidence sharing, redaction is a necessity. Before sharing digital evidence externally, it’s critical to ensure that all sensitive or personally identifiable information (PII) is properly redacted to avoid compliance violations, protect privacy, and prevent the misuse of exposed data.

Whether it’s a bodycam video containing the faces of bystanders, a 911 call that includes personal addresses, or surveillance footage inside a restricted facility, the need for thorough redaction cannot be overstated. Redaction ensures that only the necessary information is revealed while shielding sensitive content from unauthorized viewers.

To support secure evidence sharing, a digital evidence management system (DEMS) should include automated redaction capabilities powered by AI. These may include:

• Face and object detection to blur individuals or sensitive elements
• Audio redaction to mute names, contact details, or private conversations
• Frame-by-frame manual redaction for granular control
• Audit trails to maintain compliance and transparency in the redaction process

By integrating redaction directly into the evidence sharing workflow, organizations can maintain the integrity and confidentiality of the digital evidence they distribute.

In essence, redaction is not just a step before sharing; it’s a critical component of a secure digital evidence sharing process, especially when dealing with legal obligations, public records requests, or internal reviews.

Digital Evidence Management System for Secure Evidence Sharing

Before your mind ponders off to find yourself a solution that offers all these capabilities, we’ll stop you right there as we tell you what the perfect solution for the job is – an ideal digital evidence management system. Unlike a simple file hosting service, a digital evidence management system will offer much greater control over the files being shared.

Read more here for a comparison of content management systems and file hosting services, for digital evidence.

The best perk of using a digital evidence management system is that they will offer you most, if not all, of the features that we have spoken of earlier.

While we do not discourage you from doing your own research for options, we know you do not have all the time in the world to go about looking over each DEMS system out there.

So, we’ll simply break it to you: not many digital evidence systems will be providing you with each of the aforementioned sharing options altogether. You might have to use third-party tools or multiple options to gather up all of these features for incorporating all of these advanced sharing capabilities.

Fortunately for you, VIDIZMO offers you the perfect solution right here!

VIDIZMO’s Digital Evidence Management System is a complete evidence management solution that provides the complete set of options necessary when it comes to sharing critical and confidential evidence files with the specified recipients.

But advanced sharing capabilities are not where VIDIZMO stops – there’s plenty more on the platter where that came from. VIDIZMO DEMS is a complete solution for digital evidence management. That includes:

• Ingesting digital evidence from multiple sources of data
• Storing it, be it in the cloud (government or commercial), as SaaS or in a datacenter of your choice
• Keeping it secure, both at rest and in transit, using AES-256 encryption and DRM
• Preventing any form of tampering using SHA protection
• Integration with RMS, CMS, or other existing systems
• Ability to create separate portals for the public, prosecutors, internal affairs and others
• Integration of AI-based automated solutions to implement automatic redaction through on-demand face detection, automatic transcription and translation, speech-to-text conversion, and other features
• Provides a proper audit log through maintenance of a Chain of Custody for each individual evidence file
• Assign case folders to respective prosecutors for limited access and other features.
• Place annotations in evidence, add comments to files, place meta data tags, and other details.
• Provides tools to keep you compliant with frameworks such as GDPR, CJIS, CRoC,  HIPAA, and others.

Final Thoughts on Secure Evidence Sharing

Sharing digital evidence is no longer as simple as attaching a file and hitting send. In today's digital-first and compliance-driven world, secure evidence sharing is a multi-layered responsibility that goes far beyond basic password protection or cloud storage access.

From controlling link access and setting expiry dates to implementing IP restrictions, encryption, and secure playback environments—there’s a long checklist for truly secure digital evidence sharing. And we can’t forget redaction, which plays a pivotal role in removing sensitive data before files are ever sent.

Law enforcement agencies, legal teams, and government organizations must evolve their approach to digital evidence sharing to ensure confidentiality, maintain the chain of custody, and meet regulatory standards like GDPR, HIPAA, CJIS, and others.

That's where purpose-built solutions come in. Rather than relying on generic file-sharing tools or piecing together different services, it's worth investing in a single, secure platform that empowers you to handle every aspect of secure evidence sharing—from ingestion and storage to redaction and external access.

Ready to take control of how you're sharing digital evidence?

Reach out to explore how a comprehensive solution can transform your evidence workflows—while keeping everything secure, trackable, and compliant from end to end.

People Also Ask

What is secure evidence sharing, and why is it important?

Secure evidence sharing refers to the process of distributing digital evidence files in a way that prevents unauthorized access, tampering, or leaks. It's essential because digital evidence often contains sensitive, private, or legally protected information. Without proper controls—like encryption, access restrictions, redaction, and link expiry—organizations risk legal violations, compromised investigations, and data breaches.

How does secure evidence sharing help law enforcement and legal teams?

Secure evidence sharing empowers law enforcement and legal teams to share critical files—like bodycam footage or case documents—without risking data leaks or breaches. It ensures that only authorized personnel can access the content, limits misuse through download restrictions and audit trails, and helps maintain compliance with regulations like CJIS and GDPR. This controlled sharing also protects the chain of custody, a crucial component in legal proceedings.

What features should a secure evidence sharing system include?

A secure evidence sharing system should include features like AES-256 encryption, role-based access control, password-protected links, link expiry, domain/IP restrictions, DRM, and HTTPS enforcement. Additionally, redaction tools and audit logs are critical to protect sensitive data and maintain accountability during digital evidence sharing.

How is digital evidence sharing different from regular file sharing?

Digital evidence sharing is far more complex than general file sharing. It involves sensitive legal or investigative content that must be securely stored, accessed, and distributed without compromising its integrity. Unlike consumer-grade file-sharing tools, evidence-sharing platforms provide fine-grained controls like redaction, access revocation, chain of custody logs, and tamper detection.

Can I revoke access to shared digital evidence after it has been sent?

Yes, advanced systems for sharing digital evidence allow you to revoke access even after a link has been shared. You can set time-based expirations, disable individual links, or restrict access based on suspicious user behavior. This ensures that you retain control over who can view or interact with your evidence at all times.

Is redaction necessary before sharing digital evidence files?

Absolutely. Redaction is a crucial step in digital evidence sharing to ensure compliance with privacy regulations and to protect sensitive or personally identifiable information (PII). Whether it’s blurring faces, muting audio, or obscuring addresses, redaction safeguards data before it reaches external parties.

How can I prevent unauthorized users from accessing shared digital evidence?

To prevent unauthorized access, use a platform that supports password-protected links, IP or domain-based access restrictions, HTTPS enforcement, and role-based permissions. Features like link tokenization and audit logs help ensure only the intended recipients are accessing the digital evidence.

What happens if someone tries to download or share evidence without permission?

Advanced digital evidence sharing platforms offer DRM controls that restrict downloads and prevent embedding of media. They also monitor access behavior and can trigger alerts or revoke access if malicious activity is detected. Combined with proper user roles and audit logs, these measures help prevent unauthorized distribution.

How does redaction software help with secure digital evidence sharing?

Redaction software helps by automatically or manually removing sensitive elements from audio, video, and document files before they’re shared. This ensures compliance with privacy laws and prevents the unintentional exposure of protected information. When integrated into a digital evidence management system, redaction becomes a seamless part of the secure sharing workflow.

What regulations should I consider when sharing digital evidence online?

When sharing digital evidence, you need to comply with regulations such as CJIS (Criminal Justice Information Services), GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and other local laws depending on your jurisdiction. These frameworks often mandate encryption, audit logging, data minimization, redaction, and strict access controls—all essential for secure evidence sharing.