Proceedings of the First International Conference on Advances in Forensics and Cyber Technologies (ICFACT 2025)

Session: Digital

32 articles
Proceedings Article

AI for Analysis of Complex Crime Scenes

Avasarala C. K. Sahithi, Kola Rajani Priya, Gaddam Sasikiran, T. Sowmyya
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a discipline under computer science, focusing on producing systems competent enough to accomplish assignments that demand for the human intellect. AI basically, enables computers or devices to work and think like humans. It is being used in day-to-day life and is assisting...
Proceedings Article

The Invisible Crime, The Exploding Data: Leveraging Explainable AI for Automated Victim Identification in Encrypted Trafficking Networks

M. Kheekshitha
Modern Human Trafficking (HT) exploits the seamless anonymity of digital platforms, migrating the crime scene from the street to the server. This transformation presents a critical forensic paradox: exploitation is ubiquitous, yet evidence is vast, volatile, and encrypted. Traditional manual review methods...
Proceedings Article

Benchmarking Forensic Reliability: A Comparative Analysis of Automated AI Models versus Human Perception in Detecting Low-Bitrate Deepfakes

Sai Bhavani Venkatesh Pasupuleti
The rapid progress of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) has enabled highly realistic facial manipulations, creating a serious threat to the integrity of digital evidence. Modern deepfake detectors, particularly convolutional neural network (CNN) based architectures, report strong performance on...
Proceedings Article

A Conceptual Model for Sensor-Driven, Blockchain-Secured Evidence Containers in Forensic Investigations

V. P. Adarsh
Maintaining the integrity of forensic evidence is important in criminal investigations and judicial proceedings. The traditional methods used for detection of tampering, like the seals and security bags, are vulnerable to some kind of failure and can even be bypassed. This creates a risk to the chain...
Proceedings Article

A Cyber Threat Intelligence Model for Identification of Crime-Facilitating Elements on Darknet Marketplace Using Guided LDA-Based Topic Modeling Weights

Gowri Priya, S. Manohar Naik
The dark web is a hidden part of the internet that provides anonymity and privacy to users by masking their identities through multiple layers of encryption. This structural nature enables it to function as a covert platform for various illicit activities. Recent data indicate that stolen and compromised...
Proceedings Article

Cybercrime Offender Profiles: Psychological Characteristics of Hackers and Online Predators

Shradha Verma
In rapid-changing digital world, cybercrime has grown into a worldwide danger that ignores borders, cultures, or laws. Because people now rely heavily on linked systems, getting insight into what drives hackers mentally is a key to building smarter defenses, responses, and probes. The research looks...
Proceedings Article

Digital Shadow Frontiers: Forensic Perspectives on Dark Web Psychology and Social Media

Bandari Steffina Moses
The Dark Web is a overlay network that requires a specific software in order to access its content. This Darknet is usually used for illicit activities, which mostly are detrimental to the society, promoting civil liberties that cannot be tracked due to layered encrypted system. This paper examines the...
Proceedings Article

IA3D-IO for Precise Foren-Neuro-Seg in MRI-WML

Athur Shaik Ali Gousia Banu, Sumit Hazra, Mohammed Razia Alangir Banu, K. Purushottama Rao
Forensic neuroimaging increasingly relies on precise segmentation of white‑matter lesions in MRI to support legal investigations and clinical interpretation. This paper introduces IA3D‑IO (Integrating Advanced 3D-Imaging and Optimization), a novel framework that integrates advanced three‑dimensional...
Proceedings Article

OptiScan-3D: Hybrid Forensic Framework for BraTiS and Tumor Localization in MRI

Mohammed Razia Alangir Banu, K. Purushottama Rao, Athur Shaik Ali Gousia Banu, Sumit Hazra
MRI is widely used for diagnosing brain tumors, yet accurate isolation and localization of tumor regions remain challenging. Existing methods often perform segmentation or localization in isolation, neglecting the combined forensic-style traceability of tumor regions in a hybrid framework that links...
Proceedings Article

Modelling AI Acceptance in Digital Forensic Studies through Correlational Analysis and Regression Metrics

Ishita Chauhan, Bhavika Moza, Charu Saklani, Debhjit Mukherjee
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in digital forensic investigations is reshaping evidence analysis, and decision-making. However, the readiness of emerging forensic professionals to adopt these technologies remains underexplored. This cross-sectional study has investigated the awareness, acceptance, and...
Proceedings Article

Modelling Perceptions of Netizens towards New Age AI Based Crimes Using Non-Parametric Correlation and Regression Metrics

Pooja Jethi, Satya Sri Kusi, Disha Debnath
The recent rise of artificial intelligence has enabled new age cybercrimes, which include different AI-based crimes like automated phishing, deep fakes, voice swapping, and others. So, it is very important to understand how netizens recognize and respond to these crimes in recent time. In this cross-sectional...
Proceedings Article

IoT Forensics with emphasis on Radar Technology

Syed Fazal Mehdi Moosvi
Radar enabled IoT devices are becoming common in homes, vehicles, and public areas, creating a new form of forensic evidence: continuous, unintentionally generated RF patterns that reveal presence, movement, and even physiological signals. This paper proposes a radar focused IoT forensics approach that...
Proceedings Article

Space Transition Theory 2.0: Mapping Identity Drift in AI-Mediated Social Spaces

Madona Mathew, Vinod Kaaparthi
Artificial intelligence (AI) now mediates digital communication in ways that reshape human behavior. Classical cyberpsychology theories—including Space Transition Theory (STT), Online Disinhibition Effect (ODE), the Proteus Effect, and the SIDE model—were conceptualized primarily for human–human interactions....
Proceedings Article

AI –Based 3D Crime Scene Reconstruction from Multi Model inputs

Myadagoni Rishik, Sanga Sree Vallabh, Jakka Srikanth Reddy
This study presents a comprehensive analysis on the re-construction of crime scene by multiple inputs sources; using Colmap. Which mainly focuses on the basis of LiDAR data, notes, motion sensors, video footage, images from the crime scene. Investigation totally relies on examination, observation and...
Proceedings Article

A Review Study on Anti-Forensic Techniques and Their Detection in Digital Forensics

Chinthakindhi Bhanu Prakash
Digital forensic methodologies and tools have become a crucial part for investigation of cybercrimes. Digital forensics experts usually follow a common workflow and use known methodologies and tools while investigating a case. Attackers and cybercriminals are aware of which methodologies are used in...
Proceedings Article

Blockchain Forensics in Dark Web Investigations: A Comprehensive Review of Techniques, Challenges

Boora Swagath, Bhukya Veerender Sehwag, Venna Shivamani, Vinod Kaaparthi
The dark web has emerged as the center of several online crimes in recent times such as distribution of illegal drugs, ransomware, human trafficking, and financial crimes. In order to carry out such crimes, the dark web markets tend to utilize cryptocurrency, because it is decentralized and has the perceived...
Proceedings Article

Detection of AI-Generated (Cloned) Voices Using Audio Forensics: A Review

Hasmita Kaur
Artificial intelligence is a domain which is constantly evolving in various fields. The recent advances in AI have given rise to voice cloning technologies which produce voices that sound exactly like human speech. These are highly realistic and common man cannot easily distinguish between the generated(cloned)...
Proceedings Article

EEG Biometrics outside the Laboratory: A Review of Advances and Challenges in Real-World Secure Authentication

Bhaskarabhatla Akshay, Pasula Nethra, Satya Kusi
As more resources go virtually(online), we also need ways to prove that are safe, dependable and easy to use. Now-a-days normally passwords, cookies, PINs all the credentials are being hacked and stolen by the attackers not only this but biometrics such as fingerprints, face recognition which are being...
Proceedings Article

Review study on Information Gathering Using OSINT for Forensic Investigations

Mekala Rahul Reddy, M. Bharadwaj
In the current era of Digital Forensics, evidence collection and gathering information related to the crime, victim and the attacker is crucial, these evidences can be available at the scene of crime or in the larger databases like the Internet. The data which is present in the internet about a person...
Proceedings Article

Using Thermal Cameras in Drones in the Field of Digital Forensics: A Review

Syed Anas Shareef
The advancement of drones has significantly expanded their application in the field of digital forensics through the integration of thermal camera technology. The thermal cameras mount on drones to detect heat signatures. The thermal cameras are highly effective for identifying human presence and helpful...
Proceedings Article

Hybrid Identity Deepfakes: A Comprehensive Review of Multi-Person Facial Blending and Its Impact on Forensic Detection

M. Ashwini, Sai Shivani
Deep learning techniques have brought a revolution to digital media synthesis that can generate hyper realistic manipulated content, called deepfakes. Earlier image manipulation techniques included face morphing and manual compositing operated through basic geometric and pixel level processes, which...
Proceedings Article

Digital Forensics Challenges in UPI Fraud, QR Scam and Online Payment Theft— A Review

M. Bharadwaj, B. N. Rajarajeshwari
The rapid adoption of digital payments particularly India’s Unified payments Interface (UPI) QR- based acceptance, and mobile wallets has produced dramatic convenience gains and equally rapid growth in fraud. This review synthesizes recent literature, incident reports and forensic practice to (1) characterize...
Proceedings Article

Blockchain Technology Across Industries: A Review of Application in Finance, Healthcare, Governance, Forensics, Digital Forensics, and Internet of Things

R. K. Rashmika Chakravarthy, Aarushi Edris, Y. S. S. Charitha
Block-chain technology has evolved from its application in cryptocurrencies to become a widely accepted digital technology in various applications and fields. The major aspects of Blockchain technology are that they render trustworthy and reliability for applications without requiring intermediaries...
Proceedings Article

The Evolving Landscape of Cybercrime: Trends, Techniques, and Countermeasures — A Comprehensive Review

Narule Jugal Kumar, P. Manjunath, M. R. Architha
Cybercrime has now been enhanced to be more than a digital mischief, but instead it is an international criminal ecosystem. The proliferating cloud infrastructure, the mobile technology, and the artificial intelligence have not only expanded the attack area but also enabled the threat actors to operate...
Proceedings Article

AI-Based Deepfake Verification Protocols for Legal Evidence: A Forensic and Explainable AI Framework

Rishika Paseband, Dayana Sebastian, Jugal Narule
The growing level of sophistication of artificial intelligence has made it possible to create highly realistic synthetic media, also known as deepfakes, which are posing significant limitations to the admissibility and reliability of digital evidences. Deepfakes involving audio, video, and visual content...
Proceedings Article

A Study on Deepfake Detection with Continual Learning

Nekkanti Mownika, N. Swapna Goud, Y. V. R. Naga Pawan
The rapid advancement of deepfake technology has made it increasingly challenging to distinguish between real and manipulated digital content, raising significant concerns for public trust, privacy, and security. While detection methods have progressed to identify forgeries generated by GANs and diffusion...
Proceedings Article

Beyond the Data: Bayesian Cognitive Priors for Human-Centered OSINT Automation

Sairam Palabindela, Sai Madhuri Konnipati
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) pipelines can gather and connect huge amounts of publicly available data, but they still don’t have a formal way to show the probabilistic reasoning and intuitive heuristics that human analysts use when they look at evidence and get information. This paper presents Beyond...
Proceedings Article

An Observational Study on the Forensic Recoverability of Deleted Data from Popular Social Media Applications

Kovvuri Dharmitha Sri, Karamsetty Sireesha, Neelima Bachalla
Social media has come to be as an essential source of digital evidence in modern investigations but is also a major platform for Cyber crimes such as online harassment, identity misuse, financial fraud, and misinformation. In many cases, perpetrators attempt to conceal their activities by deleting posts,...
Proceedings Article

A Comparative Analysis of Camera Optics and Latent Space Projections for Deepfake Detection

A. R. Taniya, P. Bhavani, Vinod Kaaparthi
The rapid shift in deepfake generation from Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to advanced Diffusion Models has made many traditional detection methods ineffective. As synthetic media becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from real content, the detectors’ inability to generalize across architectures...
Proceedings Article

Forensic tranquility: Investigating Crimes on the Dark Web Where No Traditional Digital Evidence Exists

Iqra Kounain, Sameera Mahmood, Ayesha Parveen
In today’s digital world the dark web has transformed cybercrime by creating spaces where traditional forensic techniques are unsuccessful due to encryption and the absence of obvious digital evidence. This research states the concept of forensic tranquillity, the unique investigative obstacle posed...
Proceedings Article

A Nano-Tagging–Based Framework for Secure Drone Evidence Handling

Niharika Puri, Padigela Srinivas Reddy
With the rapid increase in drone usage for both legitimate and criminal activities, digital forensic analysts face growing challenges in preserving, authenticating, and verifying evidence collected from UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)[3][6]. By using drones as evidence, there can be many other challenges,...
Proceedings Article

Forensic Analysis of Encrypted Messaging Apps in India-A Review

P. Manjunath, M. Bharadwaj
In India, end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging apps are widely used for criminal, business, and personal communication. These apps include both popular local clients and international platforms. E2EE protects user privacy, but it also makes legitimate digital investigations more difficult. The forensic...