Refining Evidence Containers for Provenance and Accurate Data Representation

Abstract : It is well acknowledged that there is a pressing need for a general solution to the problem of storing digital evidence, both in terms of copied bitstream images and general information that describes the images and context surrounding a case. In a prior paper, we introduced the AFF4 evidence container format, focusing on the description of an efficient, layered bitstream storage architecture, a general approach to representing arbitrary information, and a compositional approach to managing and sharing evidence. This paper describes refinements to the representation schemes embodied in AFF4 that address the accurate representation of discontiguous data and the description of the provenance of data and information.