Technological evolutions have been taking place daily since the advent of the computer era. Virtual reality is one of the technical fields that have experienced dramatic changes since its onset. Virtual reality can be defined in simple terms as an artificial environment that is created through digital technology in such a way that its users assume that it is a real environment. Virtual reality has been applied to other technologies such as digital forensics and security. Digital forensics aims to examine digital materials to discover evidence of a crime. Virtual reality has experienced a series of evolutions in the past until today. This move has facilitated its adoption into digital forensics studies. In this paper, I will explain how virtual reality has been of use in forensics and the advancements that we expect to get in the future.
Introduction
Virtual reality has been in existence for several decades. It is a type of technology that has been proven to have capabilities that support the activities that are carried out in digital forensics. On the other hand, virtual reality has been used for supporting crime scene reconstruction (Chan, 2011). Scientists are optimistic that these technologies will bring many solutions to the field of digital forensics. In this case, we are going to look into what virtual reality has achieved thus far and the prospects that we are expecting soon.
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Virtual reality is a technology that has been developed to incorporate many aspects of human beings, such as human senses. It has been developed in such a way that it can capture feelings and immerse them into another world that is generated by computer technology. VR has been designed to capture senses to enable human beings to be able to perceive and interact with it because it creates a “sense of presence.” According to Witmer (1998), “a sense of presence is the creating subjective experience to a person in such a way that he experiences a different environment from where that person is located.” Besides, environments created the VR are now sharable through internet technology for many people to interact with it (Neeter, 2019).
Virtual reality brings a sense of immersion to the users such that the digital environment fully envelops them. The users then, perceive themselves as if they are interacting with the digital environment instead of interacting with their real-world surroundings. The user gets images and sounds from their points of view in their natural surroundings. The sense of presence created by virtual reality makes the users feel like they are physically present in the scene (Neeter, 2019).
Uses of virtual reality in forensics
Most of the judicial processes require a lot of support from documented materials as proof of evidence. Physical materials are used to provide evidence or a clue about what happened in courts (Chan, 2011). Most of the time, collecting evidence at crime scenes is difficult. Digital forensics is, therefore, a good source of meaningful insights into what happens in the scenes of crime. Launching investigations of crime scenes with technology is one of the things that were almost impossible in the past. Communication between the investigators and the prosecutors also had some difficulties before the advent of current technologies such as virtual reality (Chan, 2011).
Virtual reality and other associated technologies have been used for criminal investigations for several decades. A research conducted by Agosto et al., (2008), virtual reality has been used in conducting crime scene analysis. In the study, the researchers try to verify how they can associate human movements with patterns of blood that may be found at crime scenes. The approach they have used shows that virtual reality has been a powerful tool for investigating crime scenes.
Research conducted by Poelman et al. (2012) sought to investigate whether crime scene investigators can effectively carry out their investigations using 3D technologies and virtual reality technology. The results of this study reveal that virtual reality is very instrumental in helping crime investigators solve different issues that revolve around the collection of evidence from crime scenes. This study also reveals that criminal experts have been able to get solutions even when they are far away from the scenes. In other words, virtual reality has been used to support judicial processes through the evidence they provide.
Criminal investigators use sophisticated 3D laser scanners to capture the photos of the crime scenes. VR provides an intuitive way of visualizing the data collected through 3D gadgets. Virtual reality has also become affordable, and thus its adoption has increased in recent years (Binter et al., 2016). Criminal justice investigators are now able to get the reports of crime scenes when they need them by using VR technological tools. Since criminal evidence can be destroyed before it reaches the right places, virtual reality systems are used to recreate a more realistic environment that provides and preserves evidence of the crime scenes (Neeter, 2019).
Future application of virtual reality
Before we dive into what we anticipate to get in the future by using virtual reality in digital forensics, we need to ask ourselves whether virtual reality has been used to its full potential. In my own opinion, I would say that there is still a lot that needs to be done for us to say that it has been used maximally. When I look at the current usage of virtual reality in providing evidence for criminal investigations, I see that a lot of improvements need to be made. However, there are a lot of things that we are expecting in the field of virtual reality, especially in the field of digital forensics and security. First, we are anticipating that there will be increased usage of 3D laser scanners by forensics experts (Binter et al., 2016). This move will be realized because these tools are simple to use and efficient in collecting forensic information from crime scenes.
The demand for other innovative ways of collecting and sharing scene information will also increase. More features will be added to the software and hardware that use virtual reality technologies to enhance the experience of the users while using VR tools. We are also anticipating that the demand for virtual reality technologies will continue to increase. The ubiquity and pervasiveness of virtual reality will cause criminal experts to have an increased demand for virtual reality technologies (Crellin et al., 2009). The adoption of these technologies in other fields will accelerate the rate of adoption of the same techniques in the criminal investigation field. We also expect that we have the same effects of virtual reality in other gadgets, such as smartphones.
The use of Virtual reality in digital forensics and security has brought several impacts. VR has positively impacted the field of digital forensics in several ways. First of all, criminal investigators and other users have been able to use this technology to conduct investigations with efficiency since the evidence provided can be walked through as many times as they need in a way that they can perceive the evidence as if it is in the original settings (Taylor et al., 2014). These users get to revisit issues related to the crime scenes quickly and cost-effectively. Different users of VR technology are also able to share knowledge since most of the processes used are digitized. The other positive impact that has been brought about by using VR in digital forensics is knowledge acquisition. Prosecutors have been able to acquire knowledge about the crime scenes effectively. They have also been able to communicate their views based on informed evidence provided by VR technology. However, the use of VR has some negative impacts. The tools that are used may sometimes be costly, thus making them unaffordable to many people, especially in third-world countries. Functional issues may also decrease the usage of VR in digital forensics (Crellin et al., 2009).
Virtual reality has been applied widely in providing evidence for criminal cases. Even though every technology has some drawbacks, Virtual reality has proved to be more beneficial in the field of digital forensics. The reason why VR has been welcomed in this field is that it provides criminal investigators and other specialists with a clear visualization of crime scenes in a way that makes them feel as if they are physically present at the site of the crime. Communication barriers are, therefore, eliminated since people using this technology extract most of their evidence through observation of the digital environment (Crellin et al., 2009). The other aspect that has caused VR to be applied widely in digital forensics is the fact that different experts from different geographical locations can collaborate within the digital environment created by VR. However, the price of most of the VR tools required to carry out an investigation keeps many away from applying virtual reality (Crellin et al., 2009).
References
- Agosto, E., Ajmer, A., Boccardo, P., Giulio Tonolo, F., and Lingua, A., 2008. Crime scene reconstruction using a fully geomatic approach. Sensors, 8(10), pp.6280-6302.
- Binder, J., Klapilová, K., Zikánová, T., Nilsson, T., Bártová, K., Krejčová, L., Androvičová, R., Lindová, J., Průšová, D., Wells, T. and Riha, D., 2016. Exploring the Pathways of Adaptation: Avatar 3D Animation Procedures and Virtual Reality Arenas in Research of Human Courtship Behaviour and Sexual Reactivity in Psychological Research. In Virtual worlds: The virtual reality and augmented reality intersections (pp. 35-44). Brill.
- Chan, A., 2011. The use of low-cost virtual reality and digital technology to aid forensic scene interpretation and recording.
- Crellin, J., and Karatzouni, S., 2009, September. Simulation in digital forensic education. In Third International Conference on Cybercrime Forensics Education and Training (CFET3)(BCS SIG).
- Neeter, E., 2019, February 13. Exploring Virtual Reality as a Forensic Tool. Retrieved from https://read.nxtbook.com/wordsmith/evidence_technology/winter_2018/exploring_virtual_reality_as_.html
- Poelman, R., Akman, O., Lukosch, S., and Jonker, P., 2012, February. As if being there: mediated reality for crime scene investigation. In Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on computer supported cooperative work (pp. 1267-1276).
- Taylor, R.W., Fritsch, E.J. and Liederbach, J., 2014. Digital crime and digital terrorism. Prentice Hall Press.
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