The Forensics Edge Management System: A Concept and Design

This paper describes the design of the Forensics Edge Management System (FEMS), a system that autonomously provides security and forensic services within the home Internet of Things (IoT) or smart home context. Within smart homes, users are increasingly being allowed the flexibility to manage and maintain all the solutions that entail. This is evident from the growing number of commercial smart home IoT solutions which are being designed to be manageable by end users. This IoT requirement for user-manageable solutions (without direct or indirect input from vendors beyond the provision of robust systems and solutions) presents a challenge to the traditional concept of Digital Forensics (DF) which is currently an expert-led domain. The FEMS design aims to meet these requirements for autonomy and independence, it is a system that can be integrated into a home-IoT network to conduct preliminary forensic investigations and to provide basic security services.