Video Games in Digital Forensics

As the world continues to move forward, technology has proven to be a necessity in the lives of people all over. Evolving beyond professional use, cyberspace is now being used for communication, learning, and entertainment. One form of entertainment that has spiked in popularity over the years is video games. In addition to providing a leisurely escape from reality, video games have provided a platform for new careers, can be used to spread awareness and raise charity money, and can improve health and education. However, cybercriminals have found that video games also provide more malicious opportunities. For this reason, video games and their consoles need to be considered more in cybersecurity and digital forensics. The objective of this work is to review the literature that has been published so far about video games in the context of digital forensics. The articles included have been categorized in several ways to gain perspective on the current state of research on these topics. The results of the review indicate that much research has been done on how to forensically acquire and analyze video game software and hardware, but not how they can be used maliciously. Additionally, most of the research focused on standard personal computer (PC) games rather than video game consoles.