Enabling Collaborative Forensic-by-Design for the Internet of Vehicles

The progress in automotive technology, communication protocols, and embedded systems has propelled the development of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV). In this system, each vehicle functions as a sophisticated sensing platform that collects environmental and vehicular data. This data assists drivers and infrastructure engineers in improving navigation safety, pollution control, and traffic management. Digital artefacts stored within vehicles can serve as critical evidence in road crime investigations. Given the interconnected and autonomous nature of intelligent vehicles, effective identification of road crimes and the secure collection and preservation of evidence from these vehicles are essential for the successful implementation of the IoV ecosystem. Traditional digital forensics has primarily focused on in-vehicle investigations. This paper addresses the challenges of extending artefact identification to an IoV framework and introduces the Collaborative Forensic Platform for Electronic Artefacts (CFPEA). The CFPEA framework implents a collaborative forensic-by-design mechanism that is designed to securely collect, store, and share artefacts from the IoV environment. It enables individuals and groups to manage artefacts collected by their intelligent vehicles and stores them in a non-proprietary format. This approach allows crime investigators and law enforcement agencies to gain access to real-time and highly relevant road crime artefacts that have been previously unknown to them or out of their reach, while enabling vehicle owners to monetise the use of their sensed artefacts. The CFPEA framework assists in identifying pertinent roadside units and evaluating their datasets, enabling the autonomous extraction of evidence for ongoing investigations. Leveraging CFPEA for artefact collection in road crime cases offers significant benefits for solving crimes and conducting thorough investigations.