Anti-forensics includes a growing set of techniques designed to obstruct forensic analysis. While cybercriminals increasingly rely on these methods, they also help researchers identify and remedy weaknesses in forensic tools, advancing the overall robustness of digital forensics. Despite repeated efforts to define it, anti-forensics remains vague and inconsistent in its use. It also poses ethical challenges regarding the appropriateness of research practices and the legitimacy of the field itself. This article presents a systematic analysis of 123 publications on anti-forensics, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. We quantify the main techniques and attack vectors, examine their occurrence in different digital forensic subdomains, and identify typical research methods, motivations, and applications. This work also discusses what these findings mean for future research and proposes directions for building a more coherent and ethically grounded understanding of anti-forensics.

翻译：反取证包括一系列不断发展的技术，旨在阻碍法医分析。尽管网络犯罪分子越来越多地依赖这些方法，但它们也帮助研究人员识别和弥补法医工具中的弱点，从而提升数字法医学的整体稳健性。尽管多次尝试对其进行定义，反取证这一概念在使用中仍然模糊且不一致。它还带来了关于研究实践适当性以及该领域自身合法性的伦理挑战。本文对123篇关于反取证的出版物进行了系统分析，结合了定性和定量方法。我们量化了主要的技术和攻击向量，考察了它们在不同数字法医子领域中的出现情况，并识别了典型的研究方法、动机和应用。本研究还讨论了这些发现对未来研究的意义，并提出了构建更一致且基于伦理的反取证理解的方向。