Financial impact of forensic proceedings in ICT

Application of scientific forensic methods in ICT has become a mainstream methodology not only in criminal and civil proceedings, but also in preventive maintenance of various aspects of ICT systems used by corporations, governmental and other institutions. However, despite efforts of solution providers to create forensic hardware, software and procedures that are purported to be easy to use even by those that are not forensic experts, in most cases forensic proceedings are connected with high utilization of financial and temporal resources. Accelerated changes in information technology and architecture also require additional regulation that will pre-emptively ensure adequate amount and form of forensic trail left for possible future investigations. This paper is an attempt to describe current state of affairs of forensic proceedings, the latest trends and to provide comment on their financial impact and consequential real-world feasibility.