Skip to main content

Retrieving TOR Browser Digital Artifacts for Forensic Evidence

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Machine Intelligence and Soft Computing

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 1280))

Abstract

The TOR browser is the most popular browser for surfing the Internet while being anonymous. This paper studies the digital artifacts left behind by TOR browser over the network and within the host. These artifacts give the most crucial forensic evidence for digital investigators to prove any unauthorized or unlawful activities. The paper also presents methods for retrieving more useful artifacts when compared to previous works and also investigates on Firefox, Chrome Incognito, and Internet Explorer. The results show that even the much-acclaimed TOR browser also leaves evidence and traces behind.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. The TOR Project. https://www.torproject.org/

  2. Anonymous remailer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_remailer

  3. Clarke I, Sandberg O, Wiley B, Hong TW (2001) Freenet: a distributed anonymous information storage and retrieval system. In: Federrath H (eds) Designing privacy enhancing technologies. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2009. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  4. Anderson R (1996) The Eternity Service. In: First international conference on theory and applications of cryptography, Prague. https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/eternity.pdf

  5. Freehaven. https://www.freehaven.net. Last seen on 15 June (2020)

  6. Waldman M, Rubin DA, Cranor LF (2000) Publius: a robust, tamper-evident, censorship-resistant, web publishing system. In: 9th USENIX security symposium

    Google Scholar 

  7. Hejazi SM, Talhi C, Debbabi M (2009) Extraction of Forensically sensitive data from windows physical memory. Comput Investig 6:121–131

    Google Scholar 

  8. Aggarwal G, Bursztien E, Jackson C, Boneh D (2010) An analysis of private browsing modes in modern browsers. In: Conference: 19th USENIX security symposium, Washington, DC, USA, 11–13 Aug (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mahendrakar A, Irving J, Patel S (2010) Measurable analysis of private browsing mode in popular browsers. http://mocktest.net/paper.pdf

  10. Ohana DJ furthermore, Shashidhar N (2013) Do private and versatile internet browsers leave implicating evidence? A measurable examination of leftover relics from private and compact web browsing meetings. EURASIP J on Inf S 201, 6:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  11. Satvat K, Forshaw M, Hao F (2014) What’s more, Toreini E., On the privacy of private browsing—a forensic methodology. Diary Inf Secur Appl 19:88–100

    Google Scholar 

  12. 20 sites to send anonymous emails. https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/anonymous-email-providers/. Last seen on 15 June (2020)

  13. Unpredictability Foundation: accessible online at: http://www.volatilityfoundation.org/

  14. Bulk Extractor, accessible online at: https://github.com/simsong/bulk_extractor/wiki

  15. Dump it, accessible online at: https://github.com/thimbleweed/All-In-USB/tree/master/utilities/DumpIt

  16. Autopsy, accessible online at: http://www.autopsy.com

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valli Kumari Vatsavayi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Vatsavayi, V.K., Varma, K.S. (2021). Retrieving TOR Browser Digital Artifacts for Forensic Evidence. In: Bhattacharyya, D., Thirupathi Rao, N. (eds) Machine Intelligence and Soft Computing. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1280. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9516-5_23

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics