Drone Forensics: A Detailed Analysis of Emerging DJI Models

The widespread use and fast-paced development of drones pose a challenge for law enforcement and other enterprises due to their increased use in digital crimes. To keep up with this development and to effectively extract information required for forensics investigations, examiners need in-depth knowledge of drones, forensics methods, and the capabilities of available tools. In this study, we examine and analyze the data extracted from four hobbyist drone models (DJI Mavic 2 Pro, DJI Mavic Air, DJI Spark, and DJI Phantom 4), while comparing the applicability and capability of several commercial and open-source forensics tools. Our findings indicate that most of the new drone models are relatively difficult to analyze due to the enhanced security of these models. It is imperative to develop novel forensics processes and specialized forensics tools to enhance the forensic analysis of drones.