Forensic Analysis of Social Networks Based on Instagram

Ming Sang Chang ； Chih Ping Yen

《International Journal of Network Security》 21卷5期 (2019/09) Pp. 850-860

https://doi.org/10.6633/IJNS.201909_21(5).18

摘要

The trend in social networking is changing people's life style. Since both the smart phone and computers are connected to the same tools, the newly developed applications must serve both ends to please the users. Although the previous flourishing social networks such as Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn, among the other social network sites, still have a high number of users, but their growth rates have gradually flattened. They have been replaced by emerging social networking sites such as Instagram. Therefore, the modes of cybercrime have also changed in accordance with the users' activities. In order to identify crimes, it is basically necessary to use appropriate forensic techniques to retrieve these traces and evidence. This study considers the social network, Instagram, as the research subject. Analyze the artifacts left on the Instagram application and shows evidence of gathering such as posting pictures, tagging others, leaving comments and liking on Windows 10 and Android platform, respectively. Besides, this study uses an anti-forensic process to explore the differences between the traces that are left on different browsers, browsing environments, and operating systems. Finally, forensic analysis found that different browsers, due to the differences in privacy control, can lead to the discrepancies in recording the user behaviors on the same social network. It proves to be helpful to forensic analysts and practitioners because it assists them in mapping and finding digital evidences of Instagram on Windows 10 PC and Android smart phone.

關鍵字

CyberCrime ； Digital Forensics ； Instagram ； Social Network