Dr.-Ing. Jan Gruber

Chair of Computer Science 1 (IT Security Infrastructures)

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I am an associated scientist with Prof. Freiling's forensic computing group while currently researching at the Cryptography and Security group of KASTEL security research labs at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. My research focuses on forensic computing and cybercriminalistics, continuing the line of inquiry from my doctoral work (defended in spring 2024), where I examined foundational qualities of digital traces—especially their expressiveness and relevance. Before obtaining my doctorate at the FAU, I gathered practical experience in the field of digital investigations. I hold an M.Sc. in the subject of "Digital Forensics" (2021) and another one in the subject of "Computer Science & Media" (2016).

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

2026

  • Hilgert, J.-N., Külper, M., Lambertz, M., & Gruber, J. (in press). When AI Takes Action: MCP Forensics from Evidence to Attribution. In: Secure IT Systems: 31st Nordic Conference, NordSec 2026 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). Springer. DOI: tba
  • Gruber, J., Freiling, F., & Garfinkel, S. L. (2026). Active Block Hashing for Efficient Integrity Verification of Modern Storage Media and Their Forensic Duplicates. Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, 58, 302193. (DFRWS APAC 2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.fsidi.2026.302193
  • Gruber, J., & Schramp, R. (2026). SoK: Operationalizing the Likelihood-Ratio Framework for Digital Evidence. Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, 58, 302182. (DFRWS APAC 2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.fsidi.2026.302182
  • Rzepka, L.*, Gruber, J.*, Freiling, F., & Baier, H. (2026). Frankenstein’s RAM: A Simulation Framework for Evaluating Memory Forensic Acquisition Strategies. Digital Threats: Research and Practice. Advance online publication. (IMF 2026). DOI: 10.1145/3839565
  • Gruber, J., & Hilgert, J.-N. (2026). Foundations for Investigations of Agentic AI Systems from the Forensic Analysis of OpenClaw. Digital Threats: Research and Practice. Advance online publication. (IMF 2026). DOI: 10.1145/3848419
  • Schneider, J., Ramming, F., Eichhorn, M., Pugliese, G., Hargreaves, C., Gruber, J., Schilling, J., Geus, J., Mayer, K., Uhlenbrock, L., Voigt, L. L., & Breitinger, F. (2026). Digital Anti-Forensics Research: The Next 10 Years. Digital Threats: Research and Practice. Advance online publication. (IMF 2026). DOI: 10.1145/3846198

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. Link: dfrws.org
  • 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

2017

  • Schmitz, R. & Gruber, J. (2017). Commutative watermarking-encryption of audio data with minimum knowledge verification. Advances in Multimedia, 2017. DOI: 10.1155/2017/5879257

I am assisting with teaching several courses at the extra occupational study program "Digital Forensics", which is offered by Albstadt-Sigmaringen University in cooperation with Saarland University and the FAU. Now and then, I am involved in supporting the IT certificate program OpenC3S.

Course Institution Lecturer
Basics of Digital Forensics HS AlbSig & OpenC3S Prof. Dr.-Ing. Felix Freiling
Reverse Engineering HS AlbSig Dr. Werner Massonne
Live Analyse HS AlbSig Prof. Holger Morgenstern
Browser and Application Forensics HS AlbSig Prof. Dr.-Ing. Konstantin Bayreuther

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