Forensic challenges in mobile cloud computing

Abstract

Mobile cloud computing (MCC) is fast becoming one of the most essential research topics for distributed resource networks. Users can easily access cloud while offloading their mobile applications from anywhere anytime. Being easy to access, intruder attacks mobile networks to acquire credential from mobile applications inside and outside the cloud computing. To investigate intruder's attacks, digital investigator has to identify the root cause of the attack. However, investigating MCC infrastructure is difficult due to its characteristics of virtualization, dispersion of data, multi tenancy, interoperability, and mobility. In this paper, we present an overview of MCC and digital forensics, focusing on its key aspects and significant forensic challenges faced by digital investigators in MCC. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding about forensic research challenges and re-direct researchers towards new research areas.