Digital forensics is a branch of forensic science that focuses on the identification, preservation, analysis, and presentation of data from digital devices to be used in legal or investigative contexts. It involves the recovery of evidence from computers, mobile phones, hard drives, servers, cloud storage, and other digital mediums that may contain crucial information about cybercrimes, fraud, intellectual property theft, or other illegal activities.

The main steps involved in digital forensics include:

1. Identification: Recognizing potential sources of digital evidence, such as computers, mobile devices, and online accounts.

2. Preservation: Ensuring that the digital evidence is protected from alteration or corruption. This may involve creating an exact copy of the data (e.g., a forensic image of a hard drive) for analysis.

3. Analysis: Examining the preserved data using specialized tools and techniques to uncover relevant information. This could include retrieving deleted files, analyzing communication logs, or tracing digital footprints.

4. Presentation: Preparing the findings in a clear, und