

Besides, the storage capacity of smartphones that are synced with many smart-home IoT devices is increasing significantly with multiple apps installed which makes it difficult for investigators to identify data related to crimes for investigation. Although IoT devices create opportunities for law enforcement and forensic investigators, there are huge challenges in the acquisition and analysis of forensic artifacts due to the quantity of data generated, the number and variety of devices, the heterogeneity of protocols used, and their distributed nature.

The previous year, forensic evidence from a Fitbit was crucial in the conviction of a man suspected of killing his wife in Connecticut, USA. An example is a case in 2018, where a United States judge asked Amazon to hand over audio recordings from an Amazon Echo which was in a house where two women died. Law enforcement agents, legal experts, and forensic investigators have also taken a significant interest in IoT devices as sources of forensic artifacts, especially in scenarios where an IoT device has been a witness to a crime. Figure 1 shows the typical architecture of the Google Assistant ecosystem (based on the IoT forensics ecosystem) where all compatible and companion devices can interact with Google Assistant and the potential sources of forensic artifacts (network traffic, smart devices, cloud service, and mobile apps). This always active, always generating characteristic makes them excellent digital witnesses, capturing traces of activities of potential use in investigations. A single Google Nest device can generate large amounts of data and network traffic as it can be connected to other companion devices and applications simultaneously, making them sources of forensic artifacts in forensic investigations. after using “OK Google” or “Hey, Google” wake words. Google Assistant offers voice commands and conversational interactions that allow users to conduct internet voice searches, perform voice-automated device control, play music, connect with friends and family through video calls and video messages, etc. Google Nest devices (both the Nest and Google Home range) by default are compatible with Google Assistant. As a digital virtual assistant cloud service, Google Assistant interacts with various compatible devices, native Google applications, and some third-party applications by converting the voice requests to native communication protocols. Google’s voice-activated digital assistant like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana is called Google Assistant.

Recently, there has been a huge demand by consumers in smart speakers such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, which feature a voice-activated digital assistant that allows users to control home automation hubs and other IoT devices using voice controls. It has created significant interest amongst digital forensic researchers and a paradigm shift towards a smart-home IoT forensic ecosystem and the evidence these devices produce.
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This growing market has encouraged the proliferation and development of software applications and gadgets that enable remote monitoring and management of several IoT devices, especially in smart homes. The Internet of Things (IoT) industry has recently focused on creating internet-connected devices, which is predicted to be used in almost 40% of homes in the UK by 2022.
