JFS Virtual Issue to Celebrate National Forensic Science Week

When the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) membership approved its formation in 2008, the Digital & Multimedia Sciences (DMS) Section was the first new section to be added to the Academy since the 1970s. The DMS Section's initial membership migrated over primarily from the General & Engineering Sections and, like most AAFS Sections, was comprised of a wide range of practitioners, academics, lab management, and researchers. The DMS Section's primary focuses were the forensic analyses of computers and digital data storage, mobile devices, networks, audio/video recordings, and still images. With the subsequent diversification of digital devices and technologies, the breadth of the DMS Section's presentations, workshops, and publications has increased greatly. From the "Internet of Things" (IoT) to vehicle infotainment systems to the psychological impact of exposure to graphic visual/aural content, the DMS Section members are continually confronted with new challenges and seeking to overcome them. Recent advances in the accurate creation of synthetic images, audio, and video and the concern of “deepfake” evidence being introduced into criminal and civil proceedings currently pose the greatest challenges.

For this special virtual issue of the Journal of Forensic Sciences, we have selected articles which touch upon many of the sub-disciplines within the DMS Section or which apply to each of them in some respect. In many digital forensics examinations, the most important elements of discovery are the artifacts or traces left behind by certain processes. It is not surprising then that many of the selected articles address the identification of such artifacts or traces as they relate to the creation or modification of data, to the application of certain processes, or to the source of a given file or process.

As advanced approaches to digital forensics examinations are explored, leading to newly discovered artifacts and traces, the Journal of Forensic Sciences will remain an important outlet for disseminating this information.

Douglas S. Lacey MS

BEK TEK LLC

Stafford, VA

and

Associate Editor

Journal of Forensic Sciences