While it is difficult to predict the future, some trends are self-evident. Let's take a look at them.

Organizations are moving to higher speed and bandwidth networks. More and more data is traveling over the networks and to and from a variety of devices.

IPv6 is here to stay! It brings along a proliferation of Internet-connected devices, right from your toaster, TV, refrigerator, photocopier, and coffee machine to your security and alarm system. This is known as the Internet of Things or IoT for short.

It does not require much crystal ball gazing to determine the trends of things to come in the network forensics domain. As a large number of devices get networked, there is going to be larger roles for Network Forensic 007s. We will be looking at more and more connected devices, the evidence that they store, the way that they act, and the way they are affected by different compromises. We will be collecting, handling, preserving, and analyzing large volumes of data.

Malware has already begun to evolve and will begin to target Internet-connected devices on a large scale, which may offer an easy entry point to organizational networks. It won't be long before we hear of hackers stealing data from a network by first compromising the office coffee machine.

We are also seeing an increasing trend of the data moving to the cloud. Network forensics will need to examine virtual IP addresses' activities on an enterprise scale to identify the activities that act as the IOC. Cloud forensics will be adjunct to network forensics.

As the threat scenario changes, security vendors all over the globe will enhance, upgrade, and innovate. New security products will hit the market. Network forensic investigators will need to learn new technologies and techniques to keep abreast of what is happening.