Third Call for Papers

SI of Computer Journal on Digital Forensics

Computer Journal by Oxford University Press
Online ISSN 1460-2067 - Print ISSN 0010-4620
"Special Issue on Digital Forensics"

Today’s world’s societies are becoming more and more dependent on open 
networks such as the internet, where commercial activities, business 
transactions and government services are realised. This has led to the 
fast development of new cyber threats and numerous information security 
issues, which are exploited by cyber criminals. The inability to provide 
trusted secure services in contemporary computer network technologies 
has a tremendous socio-economic impact on global enterprises as well as 
individuals.
Moreover, frequently occurring international frauds make it necessary to 
conduct investigations of facts across international borders. Such 
examinations are often subject to different jurisdictions and legal 
systems. The internet has acted as an alternate avenue for the criminals 
to conduct their activities and launch attacks with relative anonymity. 
Traces of illegal digital activities are often buried in large volumes 
of data, making detecting offences and collecting evidence difficult. 
Nowadays, digital crime scenes function like any other network, with 
dedicated administrators acting as first responders.

This poses new challenges for law enforcement policies and requires the 
services of digital forensics to combat the increasing number of 
cybercrimes. Digital forensics is a recently emerged research area and 
has attracted the attention of computer professionals, law enforcement 
experts and practitioners. It is a multidisciplinary area that includes, 
for example, law, computer science, finance, networking, data mining and 
criminal justice. However, despite increased interest, the field still 
faces diverse challenges, most commonly related to the efficiency of the 
digital evidence processing and the resulting forensic procedures.
The aim of this special issue is to bring together the research 
accomplishments of researchers from academia and industry. It is to show 
the latest research results in the field of digital forensics and to 
present the development of tools and techniques that assist the 
investigation process of potentially illegal cyber activity.

We encourage prospective authors to submit related distinguished 
research papers on theoretical approaches and practical case reviews.
Topics of interests include, but are not limited to:
• Digital forensics tools and applications
• Digital forensics case studies and best practices
• Formal standards, procedures and methods in digital forensics
• Privacy issues in digital forensics
• Computer and network forensics
• Network traffic analysis, traceback andattribution
• Incident response, investigation and evidence handling
• Integrity of digital evidence and liveinvestigations
• Identification, authentication and collection of digital evidence
• Cybercrime-related investigations
• Anti-forensic techniques and methods
• Watermarking and intellectual property theft
• Analysis techniques for digital forensics and information assurance 
research
• Social networking forensics
• Steganography/steganalysis and covert/subliminal channels in digital 
forensics
• New methods for detecting and eliminating network steganography
• Political and business issues related to digital forensicsand 
anti-forensic techniques and methods

Original and high quality contributions that have not yet been published 
or are not currently under review by other journals or peer-reviewed 
conferences are sought. The submitted papers should be formatted 
according to the journal style. For more detailed information concerning 
the requirements for submission, please refer to the journal homepage here.

All manuscripts and any supplementary material should be submitted to 
Section B of the Computer Journal through the online submission system 
available at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/compj.

Authors must state in their cover letter that the paper is for the 
special issue “Digital Forensics”.
All papers will be rigorously reviewed based on their originality, high 
scientific quality, organization, clarity of writing, conclusions and 
relevance to this Special Issue. The manuscripts will be accepted or 
rejected in line with the usual standards of The Computer Journal.
Besides normal submissions, selected best papers of the IWNS 2011 
(International Workshop on Network Steganography) and IWDF 2011 
(International Workshop on Digital Forensics) can be submitted to this 
special issue. There should be at least 40% difference between the 
extended/revised paper and the workshop paper, and the papers will be 
handled as all other papers in matters of refereeing and selection.

**Important dates**

Manuscript due: 30 June 2011
Acceptance/rejection notification: 1 October 2011
Final manuscript due: 1 November 2011
Publication date: 2012

**Guest editors**

Dr Wojciech Mazurczyk
Institute of Telecommunications
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
Email: wmazurczyk@tele.pw.edu.pl

Dr Krzysztof Szczypiorski
Institute of Telecommunications
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
Email: ksz@tele.pw.edu.pl