Digital Forensics Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Growing utilization of mobile phones - The growing utilization of mobile devices has significantly boosted the digital footprints of individuals and organizations further driving the demand for digital forensics solutions and services. As more people depend on mobile phones for functions including financial transactions, communication, and sensitive data storage, the prevalence of digital crimes is set to grow on these platforms.
  
  As per the predictions carried out by GSMA's annual State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report 2023 (SOMIC), over 54% of the population globally owned smartphones. Hence, the demand for digital forensics market is foreseen to rise. This enables digital forensics professionals to extract data from various mobile platforms, including smartphones and tablets, to study evidence in investigations involving corporate espionage, cybercrime, intellectual property theft, and more.
• Surging trend of digital currency - Digital forensic software is utilized to track transactions of cryptocurrency by examining the blockchain. The blockchain is considered to be the public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions, and it is reserved on a network of computers that makes them more prevalent to attack.
   
• For instance, in 2023 over 1 billion funds were stolen from cryptocurrency by hackers. Even though, this is low as compared to 2022 it is estimated to cause a huge loss. Therefore, digital forensic software may inspect the blockchain to recognize patterns and abnormal movement in cryptocurrency transactions. Forensic software is also estimated to be utilized to regulate the origin of cryptocurrency transactions and to track down their path through the blockchain.
• Rise in the use of AI and machine learning - The use of AI and machine learning is growing currently to enable quick and accurate examination of large amounts of data. Hence, these two technologies are initiating transformation in digital forensics.
  
  Moreover, another major area is network traffic analysis on which these technologies have a notable impact. Also, AI and ML techniques are utilized in tracking criminals by studying various databases and critical thinking algorithms to research distinctive patterns of behavior of suspected persons.

Challenges

• Lack of skilled workers - The shortage of professional digital forensic employees has a huge impact on the growth of the market. Moreover, cybercrimes are getting more complicated day by day and this is additionally necessitating the need for forensic analysis expertise.
  
  However, a huge investment is needed to provide training to the workers. As a result, the digital forensics market is set to be hindered.
• High cost incurred in the investigation - Digital forensic examinations may be costly and time-consuming. Further, a limited budget is predicted to restrain companies from spending on modern forensic technologies hindering their adequacy to react efficiently to cyber-attacks.
  
  Additionally, specialized forensic instruments and equipment are required in digital forensics. However, these are sometimes expensive, and adopting the latest technology requires continuous investment. As a result, the is estimated to be restrained from growing.
• Rising technical complexity