Jan Gruber conducts research in the field of forensic computing, focusing on fundamental questions about the nature of digital traces and their significance for cybercriminalistics. To strengthen the effectiveness, reliability, and evidential integrity of digital forensic analyses, he employs formal methods and complements them with practical perspectives that promote transparent, reproducible, and robust analytical results. Before completing his doctorate under Prof. Felix Freiling at the IT Security Infrastructures Lab of Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen–Nuremberg, he gained hands-on experience in digital investigations and earned a Master of Science in “Digital Forensics” (2021) as well as another Master of Science in “Computer Science & Media” (2016). Currently, he is still an associated scientist of the DFG Research Training Group “Cybercrime and Forensic Computing.”

A chronological list of publications in which I was involved can be found here in BibTeX-format.

2025

• Geus, J., Gruber, J., Wozar, J., & Freiling, F. (2025). From sync to seizure: A binary instrumentation-based evaluation of the iCloud backup process. Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, 54, 301978. DOI: 10.1016/j.fsidi.2025.301978
• Vanini, C., Gruber, J., Hargreaves, C., Benenson, Z., Freiling, F., & Breitinger, F. (2025). Understanding Strategies and Challenges of Timestamp Tampering for Improved Digital Forensic Event Reconstruction. In Proceedings of the Digital Forensics Doctoral Symposium (pp. 1-8). DOI: 10.1145/3712716.3712727

2024

• Gruber, J. & Freiling, F. (2024). The Cyber-traceological Model: A Model-based View of the Cybercriminalistic Task. In: Proceedings of the Digital Forensics Research Conference Asia Pacific (DFRWS APAC) 2024. Best Student Paper Award. Link: dfrws.org
• Lindenmeier, C., Gruber, J. & Freiling, F. (2024). InvesTEE: A TEE-supported Framework for Lawful Remote Forensic Investigations. In: 13th International Conference on IT Security Incident Management and IT Forensics (IMF 2024). DOI: 10.1145/3680294
• Lindenmeier, C., Hammer, A., Gruber, J., Röckl, J., & Freiling, F. (2024). Key extraction-based lawful access to encrypted data: Taxonomy and survey. Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, 50, 301796. DOI: 10.1016/j.fsidi.2024.301796
• Gruber, J. (2024). Evidential Relevance and Expressiveness of Digital Traces: An Investigative Perspective. Doctoral Thesis. DOI: 10.25593/open-fau-577

2023

• Gruber, J., Voigt, L. & Freiling, F. (2023). Faktoren erfolgreicher Cybercrime-Ermittlungen. Kriminalistik 77(5). Abstract
• Gruber, J., Humml, M. (2023). A Formal Treatment of Expressiveness and Relevance of Digital Evidence. In: Dewald, A. & Schreck, T. (Eds.), 12th International Conference on IT Security Incident Management and IT Forensics (IMF 2023). DOI: 10.1016/10.1145/3608485
• Gruber, J., Hargreaves, C. & Freiling, F. (2023). Contamination of Digital Evidence: Understanding an Underexposed Risk. In: Proceedings of the Digital Forensics Research Conference Europe (DFRWS EU) 2023. Best Student Paper Award. DOI: 10.1016/j.fsidi.2023.301501
• Gruber, J., Humml, M., Schröder, L. & Freiling, F. (2023). Formal Verification of Necessary and Sufficient Evidence in Forensic Event Reconstruction. In: Proceedings of the Digital Forensics Research Conference Europe (DFRWS EU) 2023. Link: dfrws.org
• Gruber, J. (2023). Identifizierung von Malware-Infrastruktur mittels verteilter Spamtrap-Systeme. In: Ude, A., Sicherheit in vernetzten Systemen - 30. DFN-Konferenz. (S. A1-A27). Link: Google Books

2022

• Gruber, J., Voigt, L., Benenson, Z. & Freiling, F. (2022). Foundations of Cybercriminalistics: From General Process Models to Case-Specific Concretizations in Cybercrime Investigations. In: Proceedings of the Digital Forensics Research Conference Asia Pacific (DFRWS APAC) 2022. Best Student Paper Award. DOI: 10.1016/j.fsidi.2022.301438
• Gruber, J., Brodowski, D. & Freiling, F. (2022). Die polizeiliche Aufgabe und Pflicht zur digitalen Gefahrenabwehr. Zeitschrift für das Gesamte Sicherheitsrecht-GSZ 5(4), 171–177. Link: beck-online.de
• Deuber, D., Gruber, J., Humml, M., Ronge, V. & Scheler, N. (2022). Argumentation Schemes for Blockchain Deanonymization. In: Proc. of JURISIN, 273–286.
• Gruber, J. & Freiling, F., (2022). Fighting Evasive Malware: How to Pass the Reverse Turing Test By Utilizing a VMI-Based Human Interaction Simulator. In: Wressnegger, C., Reinhardt, D., Barber, T., Witt, B. C., Arp, D. & Mann, Z. (Hrsg.), SICHERHEIT 2022. Karlsruhe: Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (S. 49-64). DOI: 10.18420/sicherheit2022_03; Published as Gruber, J. & Freiling, F. (2022). Fighting Evasive Malware. Datenschutz und Datensicherheit-DuD 46(5), 284–290 . DOI: 10.1007/s11623-022-1604-9