Cyber Identity: Salient Trait Ontology and Computational Framework to Aid in Solving Cybercrime

Cyber forensics is challenging due to the lack of defined holistic features with a ground truth identity core, and scalable systematic methods to credibly link a person's physical and cyber attributes in a complex networked environment. Cybercrime continues to grow as humans conduct more online activities that generate sensitive data while connected to anyone around the world. In this work, we propose a new classification-based ontology and computational framework for resolving an identity based on cyber activities. Our ontology and framework extend legal case situational theory research to temporally map cyber and physical categorical traits. Initial experimentation based on real-world legal cases reveals contextual salient traits that are most effective in linking evidence to a person's profile or unique identity. As a result, these multi-dimensional traits support innovative visualizations that depict a person's linkable identity core, digital artifacts, security, and technology. The impact of our ontology and framework design is to support solving cybercrime by aiding in identity resolution.