Keywords: digital evidence, digital forensics, cybercrime

At times when criminal actors have access to advanced technology that enables them to carry out malicious activities an enormous scale, often leaving behind no digital evidence, what can corporations and multinational corporations safeguard their data from these activities.

Digital forensics is the scientific investigation of digital evidence that aims to uncover criminal activities and prevent further disruption. It is believed that the increased incidents of cybercrime have made digital forensics an essential aspect of the justice system. The industry and corporations are currently struggling to keep up with rapidly growing threat of cybercrime due to several challenges. One of these challenges stems from a lack of universal standardization in required qualifications, education, and training, causing discrepancies between agencies and organizations. The pace of technological advancements also poses a challenge not only to forensics, but to governments, global corporations, private and public sector actors, requiring constant learning, training more effective forensics consulting services with quick answers in a complex global investigation. 

Legal complications are also a significant issue facing global corporations and governments, especially government agencies in South Africa and in Africa, with the complexity of technology creating debate on how should be handled according to the law, how best to protect digital data and evidence across various industries in 2025. Due to scope and nature of the current challenges the field faces, corporations and governments’ digital forensics remains unprepared to handle the growing threats of cybercrime.

Technology has become an integral part of modern life, with the majority of people and businesses relying on devices suck as smartphones, tablets, and laptops for a variety of tasks. It can also be noted that, naturally, with the rise of technology comes an increase in cybercrime. Criminal actors now have access to a variety of technology to carry out malicious activities. This is where comprehensive cutting-edge digital forensics consulting services can come into play. Digital forensics is an essential tool in the investigations involving cybercrime such as malware, online fraud, data breaches, child exploitation, and identity theft. Is digital forensics a new concept? No, digital forensics has been around since the 1970s, but the term digital forensics was not created until the 1990s. it was officially defined by the Scientific Working Group (SWG) in 2001. Digital forensics is defined as:

• The use of scientifically derived and proven methods towards the preservation, collection, validation, identification, analysis, interpretation, documentation and presentation of digital evidence derived from digital sources for the purpose of facilitation or furthering the reconstruction of events found to be criminal, or helping to anticipate unauthorized actions shown to be disruptive to planned operations (Vincze, 2016, p. 184).

Are law enforcement agencies, corporations, and government agencies trained and have adequate capabilities to safeguard against these threats? It can without any doubt be stated that, although law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), have trained their officers and developed new tools and techniques to prevent more cybercrime, some governments, individuals and corporations across the world still face numerous challenges that hinder progress and can only show that a hugely unprepared data forensics landscape. The lack of universal standards, pace of technological advancements, and legal complications have all contributed to questions about the reliability of digital forensics. Therefore, it can be stated without any doubt that the field is not prepared and lacks fundamentals digital forensics framework to handle the growing threats of cybercrime.

Dr Pete Mhlanga

Managing Director, MCTG Consulting

PhD Law,

Harvard Professional & Executive Development

LLM (Public International Law)

LLB (Company Law, Tax Law and Employment Law)