Jusletter IT

Data Protection, Digital Forensics, and Encryption in Mobile Devices in European Union

  • Authors: Federico Costantini / Marco Alvise De Stefani
  • Category: Articles
  • Region: Italy
  • Field of law: Security and Law
  • Collection: Conference proceedings IRIS 2018
  • Citation: Federico Costantini / Marco Alvise De Stefani, Data Protection, Digital Forensics, and Encryption in Mobile Devices in European Union, in: Jusletter IT 22 February 2018
Nowadays cryptography has been used to increase trust in confidentiality of many sources of information. Indeed, such technologies are helpful in protecting data from illegal accesses, yet drawbacks arise if they have to be enforced by investigative authorities to collect evidence. Balancing investigative powers and fundamental rights – most importantly, privacy – is difficult, especially when decryption keys are provided by human fingerprints or other biological traits. In this paper we focus on Digital forensics of encrypted mobile devices in the EU legal framework.

Table of contents

  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Cryptography and its complexity
  • 3. Legal framework on cryptography: international law and public order
  • 4. Encryption, biometrics and data protection in mobile devices
  • 5. Conclusion
  • 6. References