Types and Features of Cyber Investigations in a Globalized World

The article discusses the issue of cyber investigations in a general perspective, identifying the elements that go beyond a specific national legislation. Three types of cyber investigations emerge (i.e. pretrial, reactive and reactive), contributing to outline a criminal system whose preventive and proactive character tend to increase. In addition, thanks to a reversal of perspective with respect to the traditional approach of the legal doctrine, rather than concentrating on the characteristics of digital evidence, the author focuses instead on the characteristics of the investigations aimed at gathering digital evidence. In particular, the main characteristics of these investigations (i.e. technical nature, transnationality and cooperation of private entities) are discussed and the fact that they can lead to structural changes of investigation activities is pointed out. Finally, the article identifies a new major challenge in automated investigations and proposes their bipartition in order to ensure the respect for fundamental rights.