A forensic investigation of the robot operating system

Abstract

The Robot Operating System (ROS) is a framework that is mostly used in industrial applications such as automotive, healthcare and manufacturing and it is not immune from potential future hacking. By carrying out various types of cyber-attacks, hackers can disrupt the normal operation of a robot. It is easy to get control of communication between a robot and a human due to the open communication network after carrying out malicious attacks to jam the network. As a result, hackers can change commands which are sent by an operator to the robot, making usual activities impossible. For instance, in a case of ROS hacking, man-in-the-middle attacks, Trojans, backdoor attacks, and so on, can change the behaviour of robots to something completely different than expected.Therefore, forensic analysts require a specific method to forensically investigate ROS. This is a new area in the computer forensics field. Therefore, it is proposed to create an analytical framework to facilitate the forensic investigation of the Robot Operating System and methodologies and standards for acquiring related digital evidence using forensic tools. This study addresses a formalized and structured methodology that would assist the forensic investigation approach.This research will help to enhance the gathering, identification and preservation of evidence related to forensics investigations of the Robot Operating System. The forensic analysts could adapt the examination procedure of hacked ROS with a focused, crime-specific, forensics framework.