Safeguarding Justice Employing Blockchain-Enabled Secure Chain of Custody Framework for Digital Evidence

A subfield of forensic science called “digit al forensics” focuses on the examination and recovery of digital evidence from digital devices discovered at crime scenes. The gathered evidence must be securely stored to avoid manipulation or tampering. To ensure justice and make wise decisions, the integrity of the evidence is essential. Blockchain, a new technology, is used to preserve papers in a decentralized setting to address this problem. Blockchain creates a tamper-resistant ledger system by offering a safe and unchangeable chain of data, where each record is cryptographically connected to the one before it. In order to keep evidence in a dependable storage medium, this study suggests a safe chain of custody framework that makes use of blockchain. Only authorized persons can access or possess the evidence since every transmission of it is recorded on a private Ethereum blockchain from the moment it is seized. A digital evidence system that uses smart locks to physically store and secure the evidence is smoothly linked with the framework. The key to unlock the evidence is only in the possession of the Admin, an authorized entity, in order to maintain the integrity of the evidence submission and retrieval process. Multiple parties, including law enforcement organizations, attorneys, and forensic specialists, will benefit from our framework’s secure approach for maintaining the admissibility and integrity of the evidence.