ChatGPT for digital forensic investigation: The good, the bad, and the unknown

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State: Public
Version: Final published version
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Serval ID
serval:BIB_DED7BD157232
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
ChatGPT for digital forensic investigation: The good, the bad, and the unknown
Journal
Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation
Author(s)
Scanlon Mark, Breitinger Frank, Hargreaves Christopher, Hilgert Jan-Niclas, Sheppard John
ISSN
2666-2817
Publication state
Published
Issued date
13/10/2023
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
46
Pages
301609
Language
english
Abstract
The disruptive application of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5, GPT-4) to a variety of domains has become a topic of much discussion in the scientific community and society at large. Large Language Models (LLMs), e.g., BERT, Bard, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs), LLaMA, etc., have the ability to take instructions, or prompts, from users and generate answers and solutions based on very large volumes of text-based training data. This paper assesses the impact and potential impact of ChatGPT on the field of digital forensics, specifically looking at its latest pre-trained LLM, GPT-4. A series of experiments are conducted to assess its capability across several digital forensic use cases including artefact understanding, evidence searching, code generation, anomaly detection, incident response, and education. Across these topics, its strengths and risks are outlined and a number of general conclusions are drawn. Overall this paper concludes that while there are some potential low-risk applications of ChatGPT within digital forensics, many are either unsuitable at present, since the evidence would need to be uploaded to the service, or they require sufficient knowledge of the topic being asked of the tool to identify incorrect assumptions, inaccuracies, and mistakes. However, to an appropriately knowledgeable user, it could act as a useful supporting tool in some circumstances.
Keywords
ChatGPT, Digital forensics, Artificial intelligence, Generative pre-trained transformers (GPT), Large language models (LLM)
Create date
14/01/2024 15:13
Last modification date
15/01/2024 8:28
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