The fourth annual DFRWS APAC 2024 conference will be held Tuesday, October 22 through Thursday, October 24, as an in-person conference in Brisbane, Australia which runs concurrently with attendees participating in satellite sites within APAC.
Conference Location:
Brisbane, Australia
October 22, 2024 to October 24, 2024
Location
DFRWS APAC 2024 will take place at Cloudland (641 Ann Street, Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia, 4006) in heart of the Fortitude Valley district in Brisbane, Australia. Known as the valley by locals, this district is famous for its live music, arts & culture and is bustling with sidewalk cafes, local boutiques, eclectic eateries and a wide variety of drinking establishments ranging from historic pubs and beer gardens to swanky roof top bars. The Valley also offers easy access to the newly redeveloped Wharf precinct along the river for round the clock activities.
Accommodations
Fortitude Valley offers a number of hotels and accommodation options. The following venues are all within walking distance and selected to meet a variety of budgets and styles.
Hotel X (Brisbane Fortitude Vly): https://hotelx.com.au/
Hotel X is the closest hotel to the main venue and offers “playful luxury at every turn” with iconic artwork and avant-garde interiors to a rooftop pool and in house bistro, every detail is undeniably indulgent.
Hotel X has offered DFRWS attendees a discounted room rate of $270 per room per night. Please note that this rate is subject to availability and may change closer to the date based on demand so it would be best to book asap.
Hotel X Accomodation Booking Link
Central Brunswick Apartment Hotel: https://centralbrunswickhotel.com.au/
Close walking distance to the venue, this hotel offers studios or one-bedroom apartments. The studio apartments are spacious and offer guests all the conveniences needed for a short stay. The one- bedroom apartments are available either in a loft style with a mezzanine bedroom and bathroom or with a conventional one-bedroom layout and a separate living area.
Bunk Brisbane: https://bunkbrisbane.com.au/
Located in the heart of Fortitude Valley’s vibrant nightlife district, Bunk Brisbane is a multi-award-winning hostel with great access to the main venue. Private rooms with en-suite bathrooms are available or stay in a dorm (single-sex available) to make your money go further.
Transportation
Fortitude Valley boasts plentiful public transit options and is easily accessible from the Brisbane International Airport (BNE). https://www.bne.com.au/passenger/to-and-from/transport-options More information about Direct flights can be found here: https://www.bne.com.au/passenger/flights/direct-destinations
For those arriving by car, there are a number of parking lots within a few block radius of the main venue.
Travel Arrangements for International Visitors
International Attendees must follow Australian travel requirements. This site offers some friendly advice for visitors. https://www.australia.com/en-us/facts-and-planning/visa-and-customs/australia-visa-and-entry-requirements-faqs.html
For example The eVisitor Visa is ideal for EU (European Union) passport holders attending seminars and conferences in Australia while The eTA – Electronic Travel Authority (https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/electronic-travel-authority-601) is an electronic permit visa that allows the holder to travel to Australia for business purposes, tourism, or a family visit. The application process is all online and this visa can be received in as little as 24 hours. Please refer to the Australian government website as the ultimate authority on visas: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/sitesearch?k=Visa
Keynotes
Digital Forensics is dead! Long live Digital Forensics!
Dr. Michael Cohen | Rapid 7We all know that Digital forensics is a rapidly evolving field. Those best practices and techniques that were widely used in the past are no longer effective or recommended. This talk will examine the evolution of Digital Forensics over the past few decades. This evolution occurred on many frontiers, from a strictly law enforcement tool to a critical tool of enterprise incident response, and from thorough bit-for-bit acquisition/analysis of each device to more efficient targeted analysis of a large number of devices. The techniques have evolved and our capabilities have grown with them.More recently, major device manufacturers increased privacy and security protections within their devices, limiting our access to vital artifacts. At the same time, the need for increased visibility on corporate devices is rising with our heightened exposure risks to ransomware groups and regulatory compliance. This inherent conflict of interest must be addressed by proactively increasing our forensic preparedness: Taking proactive steps to enhance the likelihood of a successful forensic investigation, should the need arise.Join Mike as he recounts the state of the field over years and discusses future challenges. Mike began working on Digital Forensic tools a couple of decades ago. In that time Mike had directly experienced the evolving needs of the Digital Forensics field, and available tooling. More recently Mike has developed Velociraptor, a leading enterprise DFIR tool seeking to enhance forensic preparedness and enterprise digital forensic capabilities.Dr. Michael Cohen has over 20 years of experience in applying and developing novel incident response and digital forensics tools and techniques.He has previously worked in the Australian Department of Defence as an information security specialist, at the Australian Federal Police specializing in digital forensics, network and memory forensics. In 2010 he joined Google, where he created tools in support of the incident response team.In 2020, Mike has joined Rapid7 to support and develop Velociraptor, an advanced open source endpoint visibility tool.
From Crime Scenes to Cyber Scenes: How Digital Forensics Evolved from a Niche Policing Discipline to a Multidisciplinary Field, and Its Relevance in the Age of Cyber Threats
Darren Hopkins | Partner, McGrathNicolThis keynote delves into the evolution of digital forensics, tracing its journey from its origins in traditional computer crime investigations to its critical role in today's Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) landscape. Drawing on personal experiences as a former computer crime investigator with more than 30 years in the industry, Darren has seen firsthand how the field has evolved from a niche, policing-based discipline into a broad, multidisciplinary field that integrates law enforcement, cybersecurity, legal frameworks, and advanced technology.The presentation will focus on how digital forensics has adapted to the growing complexity of cyber threats, and how tools and methodologies have progressed to meet these challenges. Darren will share insights into the shift from reactive, after-the-fact investigations to proactive real-time incident response, highlighting the pivotal role digital forensics now plays in both preventing and addressing cyber breaches.Attendees will also gain a deep understanding of the relevance of digital forensics today—why, despite the advancements in cybersecurity, it remains a crucial component of any organisation’s defence strategy. The session will emphasize how digital forensics not only helps unravel past incidents but also strengthens overall security resilience, ensuring organisations can respond effectively in an age of increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks.
Participation
DFRWS invites original contributions in the form of research papers, non-research presentations, demos, and posters in topic areas related to digital evidence and digital forensics.
FULL RESEARCH PAPERS that align with the topics of interest undergo double-blinded peer review, and the proceedings are published by Elsevier (10 pages, blinded).
PRESENTATIONS / DEMOS require a brief proposal (~500 words; not a paper) and undergo a light review process. Accepted proposals will be given a presentation slot during the conference.
POSTERS / DEMOS allow for the presentation of current research efforts and the discussion of preliminary results with the Digital Forensics Community during a dedicated poster session.
WORKSHOPS can be 2 to 4 hours (please indicate) and ideally include hands-on participation by attendees, allowing for an in-depth, detailed exploration of tools and techniques of interest to DFRWS attendees.
PRESENTATION DELIVERY MODE
All presentations must be delivered in-person from the primary conference venue in Brisbane, Australia. Delivery remotely may be accepted by the organizing committee in exceptional circumstances, at the discretion of the organizing committee.
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
We ask you to submit all contributions via EasyChair (select the appropriate track during submission). Please make sure to follow the submission criteria (https://dfrws.org/submission-criteria/) on the website. Organizers may reject work that does not follow the listed criteria.
Easychair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dfrwsapac2024
All deadlines are at the end of the stated day at 23:59 using the Anywhere on Earth (AOE) convention.
For more information, see the DFRWS APAC 2024 homepage at:
https://dfrws.org/conferences/dfrws-apac-2024/
For any queries related to your submissions, please contact us through: apac-papers@dfrws.org.
Topics of Interest
DFRWS welcomes new perspectives that push the envelope of what is currently possible in digital forensics. Potential topics (alphabetical) to be addressed by submissions include, but are not limited to:
- Anti-forensics and anti-anti-forensics
- Artificial intelligence-assisted digital forensics
- Case studies and trend reports
- Copyright infringement response
- Cryptocurrency investigation
- Data decoding, deserialization and decryption
- Deleted/Damaged data recovery methods and tools
- Development of digital forensic infrastructures
- Digital evidence sharing and exchange
- Digital forensic preparedness / readiness
- Digital forensic tool validation
- Digital forensics in smart cities
- Digital investigation case management
- Event reconstruction methods and tools
- Forensic analysis of anonymous network based activities
- Forensic analysis of cloud and virtualized environments
- Forensic analysis of cloud-based services
- Forensic analysis of databases
- Forensic exploration of newly emerging devices, OSes, apps and services
- Incident response on malware and targeted attacks
- IoT forensics (e.g., drones, cars, vessels, SCADA, implanted medical devices)
- Laws and policies for digital evidence
- Large language models for digital forensics
- Machine learning and data mining for digital forensics
- Memory acquisition and analysis
- Methodological frameworks for digital forensic activities
- Mobile and embedded device forensics
- Multimedia (image, audio, video) data analysis
- Multi-source data integration and correlation analysis
- Network and distributed system forensics
- Non-traditional forensic scenarios / contexts
- Privacy-preserving forensics
- Steganography and steganalysis
- Visualization methods and tools for forensic analysis
Deadlines
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| May 27, 2024 | Paper abstracts: Submission via EasyChair |
| July 1, 2024 | Workshops (1st round): Submission via EasyChair |
| August 15, 2024 | Workshops (2nd round): Submission via EasyChair |
| June 3, 2024 | Full papers: Submission via EasyChair |
| July 5, 2024 | Full papers: Acceptance notification |
| July 15, 2024 | Full papers: Camera-ready submission |
| July 19, 2024 | Presentations: Submission via EasyChair |
| October 15, 2024 | Posters: Submission via EasyChair |
| October 22, 2024 | Conference Date |
Committees
Organizing Committee
Conference Chair
Dr Bradley Schatz (Apple)
Conference Vice Chair
Dr Jungheum Park (Korea University)
Emeritus Chair
Dr Matthew Sorell (University of Adelaide)
TPC Chair
Dr Manoranjan Mohanty (Carnegie Mellon University Qatar)
TPC Vice Chair
Dr Asanka Sayakkara (University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)
TPC Emeritus Chair
Prof KP Chow (University of Hong Kong)
Proceedings Chair
Dr Raymond Chan (Singapore Institute of Technology)
Proceedings Vice Chair
Mariya Shafat (University of Kashmir, India)
Proceedings Vice Chair
Leslie Sikos
Demo/Presentations Co Chair
Dr Priyanka Singh (University of Queensland)
Demo/Presentations Co Chair
Dr Parag Rughani (NFSU)
Workshops Co-Chair
Dr Jihun Joun (Arizona State University)
Workshops Co-Chair
Dr Parag Rughani (NFSU)
Workshops Co-Chair
Dr. Pilli Emmanuel Shubhakar (Malaviya National Institute of Technology, India)
Keynotes Chair
Dr Matthew Sorell (University of Adelaide)
Keynotes Vice-Chair
Dr Jungheum Park (Korea University)
Rodeo Chair
Dr Matthew Sorell (University of Adelaide)
Rodeo Co Chair
Luke Jennings (Digital Forensic Sciences Australia)
Hybrid Chair
Dr Akash Thakar (Rashtriya Raksha University, India)
Posters & Demos Co Chair
Dr Akash Thakar (Rashtriya Raksha University, India)
Posters & Demos Co Chair
Dr. Pilli Emmanuel Shubhakar (Malaviya National Institute of Technology, India)
Student Scholarship Chair
Mariya Shafat (University of Kashmir, India)
COO
Daryl Pfief (Digital Forensics Solutions)
Secretary
Dr Frank Adelstein (Hexordia)
Production
Daryl Pfeif (Digital Forensics Solutions)
Sponsorships
Daryl Pfeif (Digital Forensics Solutions)
Sponsorships
Zoran Illiev (CBIT)
Website
Yogesh Khatri (CyberCX), Bhargav Rathod (Salesforce), Luke Jennings (Digital Forensic Sciences Australia)
Social Media
Bhargav Rathod (Salesforce)
Outreach - Academic
Dr Parag Rughani (NFSU)
Commercial Outreach
Zoran Iliev (CBIT)
Quality Assurance
Dr Frank Breitinger (University of Lausanne, CH)
Registration
We have teamed up with our partner Cvent Inc. for providing you with a smooth registration process.
Group Discounts Available for groups of 5 or more!
To start the registration process, please use the button below.
In Person Conference Prices
| Type of Registration | Early Bird Rate | Regular Rate | Last Chance Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Available through... | August 31, 2024 | October 7, 2024 | |
| Standard | USD 645 | USD 745 | USD 845 |
| Student | USD 445 | USD 445 | USD 645 |
| Law Enforcement | USD 545 | USD 645 | USD 745 |
Sponsors
Sponsors help DFRWS to produce quality events and foster community. Click a logo to learn more about the sponsor.
Information about sponsorship opportunities is available at: http://www.dfrws.org/sponsorship-opportunities
CDFS - Platinum Sponsor
CBIT Digital Forensic Services (CDFS) is Australia’s premier and most trusted supplier of digital forensic tools, training and certification.
CDFS is a well-regarded authority on the subject of Digital Forensics, with an established track record providing end-to-end solutions including procurement, implementation, consulting, expert witness testimony, as well as designing and delivering training nationally and on an international scale.
Our team of specialists provide innovated solutions to clients across numerous sectors throughout Asia Pacific, as well as Law Enforcement and Government panels across Australia. We strive to deliver education and service at a level that far surpasses what has traditionally been available in the industry.
Learn MoreNuix - Platinum Sponsor
We have over 20 years of global leadership providing investigative analytics and intelligence software. Empowering our customers to be a force for good, by finding truth in the digital world.
With Nuix software, you can understand the context and connections in your data across billions of items – simultaneously and at speed. You can search it, filter it, visualize it, apply analytics to it and find the truth it holds.
Our AI capabilities supercharge our software to identify patterns and correlations that no human could find. Because of this, Nuix users can get to the most relevant or risky data faster, saving on time, cost, reputation damage and even lives.
Learn MoreMSAB - Gold Sponsor
MSAB was founded in 1984 and we have a vast experience in mobile technology. Together with pioneering law enforcement organizations we have helped create the mobile forensics industry and we are still committed to driving and leading it forward. Our task is to develop the best possible solutions for mobile forensics and our reason for being is to help our customers do their job for society.
Learn MoreAPNIC - Birds of a Feather Sponsor
APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre) is an open, member-based, not-for-profit organization, whose primary role is to distribute and manage Internet number resources (IP addresses and AS numbers) in the Asia Pacific region’s 56 economies. These number resources are the building blocks for the Internet to operate and grow.
Learn MoreHong Kong Police Force
The vision of the HKPF is to maintain Hong Kong as one of the safest and most stable societies in the world. In this fast-changing world, emerging crime trends, global terrorism threats and unprecedented disasters have remained relevant in the global context. This endeavour involves the combined efforts of all. The support from citizens, and the rest of the community, provides strong backup which is crucial to upholding the safety and stability of our beloved city.
Learn MoreCybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau - Satellite Site Sponsor
The Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau (CSTCB) is responsible for handling cyber security issues and carrying out technology crime investigations, computer forensic examinations and prevention of technology crime. CSTCB establishes close liaisons with local and overseas law enforcement agencies for combating cross-border technology crime and experience exchange.
Learn More