Forensic investigation of cross platform massively multiplayer online games : Minecraft as a case study

Taylor, PJ; Mwiki, H; Dehghantanha, A; Akibini, A; Choo, KKR; Hammoudeh, M; Parizi, R

Abstract

Minecraft, a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), has reportedly millions of players from different age groups worldwide. With Minecraft being so popular, particularly with younger audiences, it is no surprise that the interactive nature of Minecraft has facilitated the commission of criminal activities such as denial of service attacks against gamers, cyberbullying, swatting, sexual communication, and online child grooming. In this research, there is a simulated scenario of a typical Minecraft setting, using a Linux Ubuntu 16.04.3 machine (acting as the MMOG server) and Windows client devices running Minecraft. Server and client devices are then examined to reveal the type and extent of evidential artefacts that can be extracted.

Citation

Taylor, P., Mwiki, H., Dehghantanha, A., Akibini, A., Choo, K., Hammoudeh, M., & Parizi, R. (2019). Forensic investigation of cross platform massively multiplayer online games : Minecraft as a case study. Science & justice (Online), 59(3), 337-348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2019.01.005

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 27, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 29, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 29, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 20, 2019
• Journal: Science & Justice
• Print ISSN: 1355-0306
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 337-348
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2019.01.005
• Keywords: Game forensics, MMOG forensics, Massively multiplayer online games (MMOG), Minecraft forensics
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2019.01.005
• Related Public URLs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/science-and-justice