Digital information as an object of expert research in the context of digitalization: problems and development prospects

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problems of considering digital information as an object of expert research. It is proposed to amend the current criminal procedural legislation by adding part 2 of Art. 84 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine with new sources of evidence – digital, namely, to state it in the following wording: «2. Procedural sources of evidence are testimony, material evidence, digital evidence, documents, and expert opinions. The definition of digital information is formulated in the context of the investigation of criminal proceedings, namely, it is indicated that it can be understood as data presented in electronic (digital) form, containing information relevant to the case, containing traces of a criminal offence that is an instrument or means of committing it, stored on tangible media: computer, mobile devices, digital cameras, routers, etc., or intangible resources such as the Internet, databases, local networks of institutions and organizations, etc., while on the specified media may contain: files (containing text information, audio or video); a variety of software used as a «tool» for committing a crime or to hide the traces of its commission; files containing traces of forgery or falsification; databases, free access to which is prohibited by the current legislation in the field of protection of state secrets, protection of personal data; scanned copies, photocopies of restricted documents, etc. Two groups of digital information are identified, which are the object of expert research in the course of the pre-trial investigation: digital information located on a material storage medium; digital information located on the Internet or in cloud storage. Attention is drawn to the forensic computer-technical examination of digital information located in the darknet, since persons carrying out criminal activities using it use a fairly extensive data protection system to exclude the possibility of identifying the offender by law enforcement agencies: «protected» operating systems are used: Linux, Kodachi Linux, etc.; browsers are used that are not widely used by consumers, such as, for example, Tor Browser, which allows you to establish an anonymous network connection that has some protection from outside interference; access to the Internet is carried out using a VPN in order to prevent the determination of the actual location of a person and his IP address.