Digital Forensic Laboratory As A Service Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The digital forensic laboratory as a service market is expected to grow with a CAGR of over 10% during the forecast period.

Key Highlights

• The growing use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices coupled with factors such as stringent government regulations and rising cyber-attacks on various companies are expected to drive the demand for digital forensics services during the forecast period.
• Digital forensics laboratory provides on and offsite data gathering, storage, processing, and analysis solutions and services supporting litigation, investigation, cybersecurity, and intelligence community requirements.
• The growing adoption of digital forensics is due to the advancements in the traditional crime lab infrastructure, increasing penetration in corporate sectors, and the rise in cyber-attacks and crimes. For instance, according to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ICC) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in 2020, 43,300 cases of online identity theft were reported to the IC3. Phishing and similar fraud ranked first, with 241,342 complaints.
• Additionally, digital forensic laboratories provide numerous services such as mobile technology, intellectual property theft, authentication of files, IT control and audit, tracing mail, and others. The increase in cloud computing applications providing access to files and other data from anywhere has made work collaboration for different teams from different locations simpler for companies. Therefore, if more devices are connected to an enterprise, more sources would be available for hackers to intrude into the enterprise networks. Thus, the growing demand for advanced forensic services against cyber-attacks drives the market growth.

Key Market Trends

Network Forensics Is Anticipated to Show Significant Growth During the Forecast Period

Network forensics involves capturing, recording, and analyzing network packets to determine the source of network security attacks. It mainly deals with E-mail and social media investigations, tracking email, and recovering deleted messages from desktops, servers, laptops, websites, and others. It involved database forensics and eDiscovery, monitoring, and data recovery from mainframe and networked database systems.

The security mechanisms, like Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and WiFi Protected Access (WAP), are not sufficiently capable of providing guaranteed security in wireless communication. Major companies and government organizations have been experiencing ransomware attacks from various sources, leading to the loss of information or revenue. For instance,

In November 2022, Vice Society Ransomware has been conducting ransomware and extortion campaigns against the global education sector, particularly in United States. Such incidents have led to increased use of digital forensic laboratories to track down the sources and take appropriate legal steps to prevent further repetition of such actions. Hence, network forensics is in increasing demand in several organizations. Many companies are implementing SaaS backups that come with an intrusion detection system that safeguards critical data from malicious attacks, whether external or internal. Thus, the growing use of digital forensics labs for various services against cyber-attacks and crimes drives the market growth during the forecast period.

North America is Expected to Hold Largest Market Share

North America is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the rising number of cyber-attacks and stringent government regulations imposed against cybercrimes. United States government imposed a law for the private sector to have a dedicated cyber protection team (CPT) sector to provide surge capacity in the event of an ongoing cyberattack in the form of advanced analysis and network and endpoint forensics.

The HSI Forensic Laboratory provides a wide range of document and latent print-related forensic, intelligence, and investigative support services for HSI, ICE, DHS, and many other United States and foreign law enforcement agencies. For instance, in July 2021, Paraben Corporation (a United States-based company) launched the "E3 Forensic Platform" 3.0 version for data investigations and digital evidence. The new edition enabled a unified study of digital data from a variety of sources, including smartphones, computers, the Internet of Things, and the cloud. Thus, technological advancements in the forensics department and the rising number of cybercrimes and advanced theft mechanisms are anticipated to drive market growth during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

The digital forensics laboratory as a service market is moderately consolidated and consists of a few major players. The service providers are involved in adding new features to their products frequently, as the market is technology-driven. The leading players include CACI International Inc, SalvationDATA, JS Held, The HSI Forensic Laboratory, Ten Intelligence Limited., ESF Labs Limited, and others.

For instance, in April 2022, LabVantage Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of laboratory informatics solutions and services, announced the introduction of LabVantage Forensic NavigatorTM, an industry expert-built informatics platform designed to seamlessly manage a large amount of forensic evidence and data used throughout the entire criminal justice life cycle.

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