2024
Industry Trends Survey

Cellebrite’s 5th annual Industry Trends Survey presents a comprehensive overview of the current digital intelligence landscape, the challenges law enforcement agencies face and the solutions that drive digital transformation.
I conduct extractions I investigate crimes I manage personnel

As the volume, variety and complexity of digital evidence grows each year,
digital forensics teams are faced with mounting challenges, including:

  • Gaining access to devices: overcoming the complexities involved in extracting data and obtaining actionable insights from the overwhelming volume of data extracted
  • Worsening device backlogs: 50% of law enforcement personnel who conduct extractions agree that the amount of overtime worked has increased in the past year
  • Accessing and processing data: 47% feel that significant data is missing from examinations

Technical intelligence has become very important [as well] because our adversaries are using more technology…I would say that there’s no category of crime which is not impacted by technology today.

Madan Oberoi

Executive Director of Technology & Innovation at INTERPOL

The increasing volume and complexity of digital data is slowing down investigations.
The biggest challenges investigators face include:

  • Time spent waiting for extracted data (at least two weeks) and manual, inefficient processes for reviewing data
  • An average of 45 hours per case reviewing data
  • A growing backlog and the potential to miss crucial evidence

Having the technology to almost surgically go in, find and isolate the evidence we need without having to sift through everything is absolutely critical. And it’s going to be more critical going forward.

Detective Ryan S.

U.S. county sheriff’s department

Amid an explosion of evidence volume, agencies are grappling with insufficient budgets and staffing.
Agency managers are being asked to do more, with less.

  • The key challenges for agency leads include insufficient budgets (57%), an explosion of volume of digital evidence (53%) and insufficient staffing (52%)
  • 44% of agency managers rate their agencies as having poor or mediocre digital transformation strategies, while 10% have no strategy at all
  • Staying ahead of criminals who are using the latest technologies is the key motivator for law enforcement agencies to embrace the need for digital transformation

Technology has changed the nature of crime. We need the tools and people in place to be able to work through the challenges.

Steve Foster photo

Steve Foster

Agent in Charge, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), USA

Based on responses from 2,000 investigators, prosecutors, agency managers and digital forensic examiners, the key insights we explore include:


  • The growing importance of digital evidence in modern investigations
  • The law enforcement public safety gap and its adverse impact
  • Technology’s role in overcoming staffing and budgetary challenges
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More than half of agency managers believe officers are not sufficiently trained to handle digitally led crimes
Smartphones are the most common evidence source in investigations and examiners report a significant increase in cryptocurrency, cars and wearables
52%
of examiners believe case backlogs worsened in the past 12 months
75%
of investigators say the analysis of devices can take more than two weeks once submitted for extraction
80%
state their agency uses external storage, such as USB sticks, to manage digital evidence