This occupation is found in organisations that undertake and innovate regarding the capture, processing, and analysis of specialist digital forensic evidence. These roles can be found in different public and private sector bodies and organisations that include digital forensics and criminal investigations within their service delivery. There is a significant demand on policing to examine digital devices making this a primary service offered by forensic service providers to policing. The role is relevant to Security and Defence teams including the National Crime Agency, Ministry of Defence, Border Force, Academia, and other aspects of the Criminal Justice System. Private forensic service providers service all public sector requirements for device examinations as well as other investigation types not just criminal, including internal corporate and Intellectual Property theft investigations. These companies vary in size and breadth of digital capability.
The broad purpose of the occupation is to act as a senior advisor within the digital forensic environment and support and manage the delivery of digital services for major crimes, incidents, operations, or any investigations that require specialist digital forensic investigative assistance. They provide an enhanced specialist service and knowledge regarding the detecting, preserving, seizing, gathering and analysing of digital intelligence and evidence for investigations where digital technology and data acquisition opportunities exist. They have an advanced understanding of digital forensic investigation techniques and demonstrate an ability to work independently, managing processes and complex technical problem solving. They can produce, develop, design and implement appropriate tactical digital forensic strategies for challenging and atypical crime investigation scenarios and/or emerging digital forensic practice. A key aspect of this role is the research and development of emerging digital technologies and ensuring practices are developed to support investigations. As such it is critical to attract talented experienced digital staff into this role. The titles of the roles may vary across different organisations including police forces, but the core skills required of the role remain the same.
In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with their local forensics team and across the forensic capability and academia nationally where emerging technology is encountered. They will provide technical advice and guidance to digital forensic practitioners and advise investigating officers on digital strategy. They will support the criminal justice system understand the impact of the evidence which will include legal counsel. As part of their role to embed emerging practice and improve effectiveness they will have daily interaction with unit lead and quality managers.
An employee in this occupation will be responsible for the exercise of broad autonomy and judgement across a specialism developing digital forensic strategy. Explaining complex technical concepts in a clear and understandable manner to support criminal or civil prosecutions.
They will critically capture, process and analyse complex digital material and information, concepts and theories to produce investigative best practice. Taking responsibility for planning and developing innovative practice that initiate or underpin substantial changes or developments. Advise and influence on the financial implication of technological and process improvements considerate of return on investment.
Engage with external stakeholders, such as digital forensic service providers, academia, and industry experts, to foster collaborations, share knowledge, and remain informed and embed advancements in the digital forensic field. Continuously monitor and research emerging technologies, tools, and techniques in the field of digital forensics, staying up to date with the latest developments and best practices to enhance investigative capabilities. Adherence to strict professional ethics, ensuring the confidentiality, privacy, and security of all digital evidence and maintaining the highest standards of integrity throughout the forensic process.
The role requires security vetting, adhering to the legal framework, and an expectation to work to professional policing standards and Forensic Science Regulator Codes of Practice and the Conduct of Forensic Science Providers codes of practice.
| Duty | KSBs |
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Duty 1 Establish a comprehensive understanding of the legislation for the examination of digital devices and material for use in the criminal justice system and investigations. |
K1 K2 K3 K5 K13 K14 K15 K16 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23 K24 K27 K29 K33 K34 K35 K36 |
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Duty 2 Lead the advanced application of specialist principles for digital forensic science, utilising cutting edge technical evidence for the investigative process. |
K1 K2 K5 K7 K13 K14 K15 K16 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23 K24 K25 K28 K29 K31 K33 K34 K35 K36 K39 K40 |
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Duty 3 Establish actionable forensic evidence for investigations by processing, analysing and interpreting digital information from data and electronic devices. |
K2 K7 K8 K12 K13 K14 K15 K16 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K24 K25 K28 K29 K31 K33 K34 K35 K36 |
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Duty 4 Forensically interrogate the components and artefacts of complex digital material to find evidence relevant to investigations. |
K1 K2 K7 K8 K12 K13 K14 K15 K16 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23 K24 K25 K29 K31 K33 K34 K35 K36 K39 |
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Duty 5 Adhere to strict professional ethics when implementing systems that ensure confidentiality, security, and integrity of all digital evidence throughout the forensic process. |
K1 K2 K3 K5 K6 K7 K8 K12 K13 K14 K15 K16 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23 K24 K25 K26 K27 K29 K33 K34 K35 K36 K39 K40 |
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Duty 6 Ensure privacy when handling and managing evidential material and its sources. |
K7 K8 K12 K14 K15 K16 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23 K24 K25 K28 K29 K31 K34 K35 |
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Duty 7 Solve complex problems and technically challenge the constraints of digital forensic methodologies legally and ethically, reacting to any changing circumstances to maximize evidence gathering for digital investigations. |
K1 K2 K7 K8 K12 K13 K14 K15 K16 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23 K24 K25 K26 K28 K29 K31 K33 K34 K35 K36 K39 K40 |
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Duty 8 Transition technical proof of concepts from unpredictable digital environments to embedding as approved techniques within an established quality-controlled laboratory. |
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Duty 9 Act as a proactive critical point of contact for complex technical investigative challenges, providing specialist technical knowledge and advice to senior investigators on forensic strategies for digital forensic opportunities in serious and complex investigations. |
K2 K5 K6 K7 K11 K13 K14 K15 K16 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23 K27 K35 K36 K40 |
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Duty 10 Workplace technical transformation to improve productivity, capability, and forensic impact. |
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Duty 11 Use competency frameworks to implement technical transformation for continuous business improvement. |
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Duty 12 Meet current and future business requirements by conducting technology foresight activities to review changes to the IT and digital landscape. |
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Duty 13 Communicate with technical and non-technical stakeholders, negotiating and influencing effectively to ensure understanding of highly technical concepts and issues. |
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Duty 14 Provide unbiased digital forensics evidence for the legal process that distinguishes between factual and interpretive expert reporting, producing comprehensive reports, technical explanations and statements for court in accordance with rules of evidence. |
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Duty 15 Develop, promote and manage a working culture that is safe and lawful when dealing with digital devices and data that contain personal, sensitive or potentially distressing information. |
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Duty 16 Engage and collaborate with cross-sector partners to build relationships that advance national digital forensics. |
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Duty 17 Supervise staff to perform their duties. Manage their welfare and development through coaching and mentoring. |
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Duty 18 Co-ordinate the allocation, delivery, and priority of team workload to advance and support investigations. |
K1: Interpretation, implication and application of legislation and guidance for the examination of digital devices and material for use in investigations.
Back to Duty
K2: How to conduct investigations and leverage intelligence in order to identify and safeguard victims and vulnerable persons.
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K3: Ethical handling and management of evidential material and its sources to ensure privacy.
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K4: Techniques for identifying and managing well-being within a digital forensic team and the strategies to address trauma and how to access support due to the impact that processing sensitive or potentially distressing content can have on an individual.
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K5: Processes for accrediting and embedding novel techniques in the laboratory, from proof of concept to approved techniques, associated risks and the impact of Quality Standard Requirements and Forensic Science Regulator (FSR) Codes of Practice (including information security, assurance, and business continuity).
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K6: Scientific requirements needed to establish a technical standard for a new forensic science activity, including validation of methods and tools, practitioner competency, and training.
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K7: Scope of techniques within digital forensics regarding the acquisition, preservation, handling, processing and analysis of digital intelligence.
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K8: What a digital forensic strategy entails, and how this supports the investigation whilst mitigating the risks presented.
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K9: Mentoring and how to support the professional development of others.
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K10: Techniques to co-ordinate the allocation, delivery, and priority of team workload to advance and support investigation in line with organisational priorities.
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K11: Horizon scanning, technological advances, and their value to inform strategies for triage and frontline and investigative capability.
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K12: Core network design and storage technologies across multiple devices and common architectures.
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K13: Specialist video multimedia, recovery, processing and analysis to enhance digital forensics compliance.
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K14: Common data features across specialist forensics capabilities, including forensic linguistics, and image authenticity relevant to evidence handling and interpretation of digital forensic material.
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K15: Opportunities for complementary evidence, for example open source, cell site, communications intelligence, text encoding initiative and vehicles.
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K16: The function of, and forensic opportunities presented by, common block device file systems, for example New Technology File System (NTFS), File Allocation Table (FAT), Extended File System (ext), Hierarchical File System Plus (HFS+), Apple File System (APFS) and partitioning technologies.
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K17: Common data structures for storage of text and media, for example text, XML, JSON, image, and video formats.
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K18: Data and database-type structures for storage of system and application data, for example system logs, Windows Registry, system configuration, (b)plists, SQLite, RealmDB, ProtoBuffers.
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K19: The complexities of technical and dynamic risks identified through the investigative process, for example data vulnerabilities.
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K20: Encryption technologies and security methods employed by device manufacturers and their impact on forensic activity and circumventions.
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K21: Artefact types across digital forensic disciplines, and how they can be exploited in investigations.
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K22: Handling treatment opportunities and challenges of various storage media, including magnetic, optical, and flash memory.
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K23: Applications and uses of artificial intelligence to identify and generate evidential material.
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K24: Fault-finding and diagnostic techniques and equipment, including use of voltmeters, thermal imagers and continuity checkers for non-functional electronic devices.
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K25: How to capture evidence compromised by environmental conditions.
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K26: The importance of independent, impartial decision-making that respects the opinions and views of others in complex, unpredictable and changing circumstances.
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K27: Tactical solutions and interpretation of local network architecture to inform plans for examining digital evidence.
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K28: Script programs to extract and report data not processed by extraction tool capability, including writing structured query language (SQL) and scripts for interpretation of data, for example Python.
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K29: Decomplication, reverse-engineering, static and dynamic analysis approaches, including application virtualisation.
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K30: Requirements for providing unbiased interpretive evidence, understanding of the limitations of results, including unconscious bias and performance of tools.
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K31: E-Discovery strategy for large and complex cases.
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K32: Conducting literature reviews.
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K33: Research methods and statistical analysis, including data science and Artificial Intelligence.
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K34: Statistical methods and data interpretation.
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K35: How to draw meaningful conclusions and the communication of research findings.
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K36: How to effectively collaborate with partners and across disciplines to advance national digital forensics and evaluate emerging technology.
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K37: How their role contributes to sustainability goals.
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K38: Principles and policies of equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and their impact on the organisation.
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K39: Techniques to identify evidential anomalies associated with manipulated or faked material.
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K40: Emerging trends and technological threats that could disrupt and influence the credibility of forensic evidence.
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S1: Apply legislation and guidance for the capture and examination of digital data to casework and decision-making.
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S2: Conduct investigations and manage evidence ethically to ensure safeguarding of victims and vulnerable persons, including providing support in the technical working environment when dealing with digital devices and data that may contain personal, sensitive or potentially distressing information.
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S3: Undertake work to support the accreditation of novel techniques, from proof of concept through to embedding approved techniques within the laboratory.
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S4: Develop legal and ethical digital forensic strategies and communicate with a range of stakeholders to implement these to proactively support serious and complex investigations.
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S5: Mentoring skills to support the performance of the digital forensics team. Providing advice and guidance with particular emphasis on embedding specialist techniques.
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S6: Co-ordinate the allocation, delivery, and priority of team workload to advance and support investigation.
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S7: Lead the advanced application of specialist principles for digital forensic science, ensuring the use of cutting-edge technical evidence for the investigative process.
Back to Duty
S8: Process, analyse and interpret complex digital data for the purposes of establishing forensic evidence for investigations.
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S9: Interrogate the components and artefacts of complex digital material in a forensic manner to find evidence relevant to investigations.
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S10: Physically examine damaged or broken devices and remove data, utilising specialist tools and techniques, for example Chip-off and Joint Test Action Group (JTAG).
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S11: Solve complex problems and technically challenge the constraints of digital forensic methodologies.
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S12: Communicate, negotiate, and influence on various skill and sensitivity levels to support all parts of the investigative process, including addressing highly technical concepts in an accessible format.
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S13: Provide trusted digital forensic evidence for the investigative process, producing comprehensive reports, technical explanations, and statements in accordance with rules of evidence. Distinguishing between factual and interpretive expert reporting.
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S14: Conduct literature reviews and select appropriate research methodologies to address research gaps in digital forensics.
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S15: Research data collection, analyse information to draw meaningful conclusions, and communicate the research findings.
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S16: Collaborate with partners across disciplines to advance national digital forensics and evaluate emerging technology.
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S17: Follow and apply sustainability, equity, diversity and inclusion policies and procedures.
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S18: Use specialist multi-capability techniques to forensically identify and examine the authenticity of evidential material.
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S19: Apply knowledge of new technological risks and threats to influence change to the digital forensic examination process.
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B1: A strong work ethic and commitment in order to meet the standards required.
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B2: Acts with integrity with respect to ethical, legal and regulation ensuring the protection of personal data, safety and security.
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B3: Shows initiative and personal responsibility to overcome digital forensic challenges.
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B4: Commitment to continuous professional development; maintaining knowledge and skills in digital forensic developments that influence their work.
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B5: Comfortable and confident interacting with people from technical and non-technical backgrounds.
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B6: Participates and shares best practice in their organisation and the wider community of Digital Forensics.
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B7: Maintains awareness of trends and innovations utilising a range of academic literature, online sources, community interaction, conference attendance and other methods that can deliver business value.
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B8: Leads by example, acting as a role model for equity, diversity and inclusion.
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Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level prior to taking the End-Point Assessment. For those with an education, health and care plan or a legacy statement, the apprenticeship’s English and maths minimum requirement is Entry Level 3. A British Sign Language (BSL) qualification is an alternative to the English qualification for those whose primary language is BSL.
This standard aligns with the following professional recognition:
| Version | Change detail | Earliest start date | Latest start date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | End point assessment plan revised | 02/10/2024 | Not set |
| 1.0 | Approved for delivery | 15/07/2024 | 01/10/2024 |
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