5 Ways Digital Evidence is Evolving in 2025

It’s no revelation to say that the internet has shaped our lives. It permeates nearly every facet of the world we live in, leading to digitisation for both beneficial and harmful purposes. As stated by Europol, “From cyber fraud and ransomware attacks to drug trafficking and money laundering, the internet is no longer just a platform — it is the pillar of a criminal enterprise.”

The internet and modern technology aren’t simply being used to commit cybercrimes, it also plays a key role in facilitating crimes such as organised crime or insurance fraud.

With this rapid digitisation of crime, it has become vital to stay ahead of how digital evidence is captured, stored, verified and analysed. Gone are the days of using CCTV cameras as the key evidence in a trial or claim. The tools to edit and generate fake evidence are easily accessible and continue to improve every day.

In this article we delve into five key ways digital evidence is evolving in 2025, from borderless crime to moving digital evidence to the cloud.

Borderless Crime Requires Borderless Access

According to Eurojust, international crimes have risen 44% in the past decade. This involves a range of crimes from cyberattacks and fraud to Organised Crime Groups and drug trafficking. When it comes to investigating borderless crime, it is often the case that evidence is spread across jurisdictions, slowing down investigations. This is especially true if digital evidence is not stored in a cloud-based platform.

A recent case of borderless crime made headlines when an employee of a cryptocurrency foundation believed they were attending a virtual meeting with senior executives. In reality, the “executives” were hackers. During the Zoom call, the attackers attempted to convince the employee to install a browser extension, which was in fact malware.

Deepfakes and the Fight for Authenticity

The AI boom has made a monumental impact on our lives, and although it has positive use cases and applications, we have seen a surge in illegal AI-generated media. Deepfakes are now easier to create and have reached a level of sophistication that can deceive human observers, now requiring advanced detection to prove legitimacy. This is creating a slippery slope for digital evidence, as its trustworthiness can increasingly be called into question.

On one hand, deepfakes can be used to frame a suspect saying or doing something they’ve never done. On the other hand, it can be used to create an alibi, suggesting a defendant was elsewhere when the incident took place. In claims fraud, criminals can use popular AI tools to manipulate an image to give the impression there is damage to a car or house, leading to fraudulent claims. This source suggests ‘fraud attempts with deepfakes have increased by 2137% over the last three years’.

So, what can be done to detect or prevent deepfakes? There is a growing awareness of the impact deepfakes will have on our lives. This is leading to new legislation and standards, alongside detection tools that can analyse media to prove its legitimacy. Fortunately there are tools like MeaConnexus that can reduce deepfakes from the outset, by proving the provenance of the digital evidence using advanced cryptography and encryption.

 

‘fraud attempts with deepfakes have increased by 2137% over the last three years’

 

Instant Evidence Collection from the Scene

In the age of smartphones, it’s easy to overlook the power of the supercomputer we carry in our hands. Whilst revolutionising how we communicate, smartphones have made a huge impact on how evidence can be collected. Mobile apps enable real-time capture of photos, videos, audio statements and more.

By using smartphones to capture evidence, investigators can reduce delays in their investigations. Instead of having to manually upload evidence from a separate device or flash storage, you can use the cloud to share evidence between devices and colleagues. Tools like MeaFuse make the process of capturing evidence from your mobile device straightforward, and because the evidence is saved using Blockchain technology, the evidence is tamper-evident.

Remote Interviews to Save Travel Time

At a time when essential services face budget cuts, staff reductions, and increased pressure on remaining personnel, remote interviews offer a valuable solution. For the vast majority of interviews, the information gathered will be the same whether it is in-person or performed virtually. Using a platform like MeaConnexus, interviewers can conduct secure interviews remotely saving them costs and travel time.

Whether it’s a victim conducting the remote interview from the comfort of their home, a global meeting between agencies to discuss reducing Organised Crime Groups or an insurance claimant speaking with support to progress their claims process, remote interviewing has a plethora of applications.

As mentioned earlier, international crime is growing, and while it’s important for global agencies to cooperate, this can be done virtually using a remote interview platform. Saving costs on flights, and even saving costs on hiring translators.

Moving Digital Evidence to the Cloud

In the past few years we’ve seen a growing adoption of cloud platforms to store, access and share digital evidence. This move has required a cultural shift to adopting technology in place of traditional methods of evidence storage like flash drives or SD cards. We can now expect a future where more organisations and agencies adopt cloud platforms.

One of the main benefits of the cloud ecosystem is instant scalability. You can purchase as much storage as you need and keep all the data in one place. In comparison to traditional digital evidence storage, you would have to buy more storage drives or purchase a drive with a larger volume of storage. Secondly, cloud platforms can be accessed remotely. This allows for remote working, saving on travel time and costs. This also means that organisations can operate across departments, and even internationally to expedite the investigation process.

Cloud storage also reduces dependency on local infrastructure, which typically have higher maintenance costs. This improves the organisation’s resilience, and keeps a consistent uptime when data is stored in the cloud.

Are You Ready to Handle Digital Evidence?

There are a range of changes happening across industries that handle digital evidence. It’s important to keep updated about new issues or changes. Whether it’s borderless crime, deepfakes, or the migration of data to the cloud, these represent just five of the many significant changes to digital evidence occurring this year.

With challenges like deepfakes, it’s essential the platforms and applications used in handling digital evidence are highly secure and trustworthy, ensuring they meet the right standards and specifications for your industry.

Is your organisation ready for this change in handling digital evidence?

 

Do you have the tools ready to manage digital evidence securely and effectively?