An image encryption tool for securing digital evidence in the National Police Service
Date
2021
Authors
Monyoncho, Allan Mogeni
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Following the global advancement of technology in the recent years, digital evidence has become
an important tool in the preparation of court cases and also the solving of crime. Digital evidence
is any kind of information that is stored or transmitted in binary form that may be depended upon
in a court of law. Digital evidence can be found on any electronic device. On the contrary, there
has been a rise in the number of cybercrime cases which poses a threat to the success of digital
evidence in the process of case solving. An official cybercrime report predicted that cases will be
quadruple and will cost $6 trillion dollars by 2021. Protecting the integrity of digital evidence in
court cases is important as it helps the courts in delivering fair judgements.
The aim of this research was to develop an automated tool that assists law enforcement agencies
in Kenya to conserve the integrity of digital evidence during the process of sharing evidence with
other collaborating agencies. The developed tool preserves integrity of evidence using a 128 bits
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) image encryption algorithm that is accompanied by a user
interface that helps the user select files to be shared and also assists the user to encrypt and decrypt
the files. This makes sure the evidence is not tampered with before it reaches its destination. This
project ensured the development of an efficient and reliable system that takes less computational
time and consumes less power.
The study used waterfall methodology since it follows a list of phases whereby each phase has to
be accomplished before going on to the next phase. This methodology was of benefit to the study
since it was easy to manage, and it also works best for small projects. Tools used in the project
development included, java programming language, MySQL database tool, Eclipse IDE,
cryptographic Java packages and the AES algorithm
Description
An Information Systems Project Proposal Submitted to the Faculty of Information
Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a Degree in Business
Information Technology