2024North American Federal Industry Trends
Cellebrite’s North American Federal industry trends survey distinguishes data and specialized insights relevant to North American federal government agencies that investigate crimes involving digital data.
Based on responses from 183 investigators, agency managers and digital forensic examiners across large, small and civilian federal government agencies, this whitepaper delves deeper into Cellebrite’s global aggregated 2024 Industry Trends Survey, providing insights on:
- Key operational hurdles in managing digital evidence
- How efficient digital evidence review can speed up case resolution
- Why investing in advanced technology is essential to enhance investigative efficiency
As the volume, variety and complexity of digital evidence grows each year, North American federal examiners 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
- Accessing and processing data: 29% of North American federal examiners manually review unsupported app data and 30% do not validate with a second tool
- Inefficient collaboration: Most North American federal examiners use physical means, such as USB sticks and portable hard drives, for sharing digital evidence within and between agencies
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 North American federal investigators face include:
- Gaining quick access to data and evidence even for high priority cases
- Overwhelming volumes of data that needs to be managed and analyzed
- 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.
- Challenges that North American federal agencies face are growing exponentially due to the rapid development of technology
- Digital evidence remains a vital component in successful investigations and case closures
- 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
Agent in Charge, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), USA
97%
of cases include smartphones
74%
of examiners are tasked with extracting data from devices and conducting in-depth analysis
80%
of examiners use external storage, such as USB sticks, to manage digital evidence
48%
of investigators say that review of digital data is too complex
Dig into the findings, see how your agency stacks up against other North American Federal Government agencies and learn how to get ahead of the trends.
Download Now
2024 North American Federal Industry Trends Survey Whitepaper
Dig into the findings, see how your agency stacks up against other North American Federal Government agencies and learn how to get ahead of the trends.
Dig into the findings, see how your agency stacks up against other North American Federal Government agencies and learn how to get ahead of the trends.