Digital Footprints Noticed “Hot on the Heels”
https://doi.org/10.18384/2949-513X-2025-1-94-102
Abstract
Aim. To identify groups of electronic digital footprints to be immediately identified and investigated.
Methodology. The main method of scientific research was formal-legal, with the help of which the provisions of existing legal acts in the field of consolidation and implementation of reproductive human rights, as well as judicial practice of their application, were analyzed. General scientific methods, such as analysis, generalization, logical method, etc., were also used.
Results. A group of traces in cyberspace has been identified, which is proposed to be given the conditional name “digital footprints noticed “hot on the heels” and an author’s interpretation of this category has been proposed. During the analysis of these types of traces, the author’s differentiation of them into volatile and relevant ones was proposed.
Research implication. The author’s interpretation of the “digital footprints noticed “hot on the heels” has been introduced, which is of great theoretical importance for digital forensics. The detailed consideration of certain types of volatile and relevant traces, from a practical point of view, contribute to a more accurate direction of work of investigators and specialists, preserving the maximum evidence potential of the discovered objects.
Keywords
actual footprints,
virtual footprints,
volatile footprints,
digital footprints noticed “hot on the heels”,
digital footprints noticed “without delay” investigation,
traces in cyberspace,
electronic digital footprints
Supporting agencies: The study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation grant no. 24-28-00312.
About the Author
A. B. Smushkin
Saratov State Law Academy
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Alexander B. Smushkin – Cand. Sci. (Law), Senior Researcher, Project Office of Scientific Programs and Research, Assoc. Prof., Department of Criminology
Saratov
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