Smart Home Forensics—Data Analysis of IoT Devices

Abstract

A smart home is a residence that provides a variety of automation services based on Internet of Things (IoT) devices equipped with sensors, cameras, and lights. These devices can be remotely controlled through controllers such as smartphones and smart speakers. In a smart home, IoT devices collect and process data related to motion, temperature, lighting control, and other factors and store more diverse and complex user data. This data can be useful in forensic investigations but it is a challenge to extract meaningful data from various smart home devices because they have different data storage methods. Therefore, data collection from different smart home devices and identification and analysis of data that can be used in digital forensics is crucial. This study focuses on how to acquire, classify, and analyze smart home data from Google Nest Hub, Samsung SmartThings, and Kasa cam for forensic purposes. We thus analyzed the smart home data collected using companion apps, Web interfaces, and APIs to identify meaningful data available for the investigation. Moreover, the paper discusses various types of smart home data and their usage as core evidence in some forensic scenarios.