Computer Forensics in 5 years time

More IOT forensics, more reliance on automated sources, i.e. social media/marketing as that grows and records peoples daily lives as we get a more digital society.

Hopefully organisations that have something worth protecting will grow the f–k up and start proper combined CTI, Insider, Forensics programs and not keep those separate. Visibility and defence has to change soon - what we got today is a joke.

The minimum-level security compliance monkeys need to start being quiet and take a backseat to real defensive and investigation/response/proactive security if the companies want to survive, IP has been stolen from the beginning of time and i've seen documentaries of IP theft using digital devices as early as the 1990s.

It is seriously time to get some proper prioritization on this subject.

Are cryptocurrencies something that you're encountering regularly?

Definitely being seen out in the wild today, and if cryptocurrency takes off even half as much as it's speculated too to then DF skills in this area will be in demand. Blockchain knowledge, and expertise in connecting the chain, transactions, and possible end-points (wallets, fiat accounts, people, locations, etc.) will be key skills.

I can see more in house forensics/prevention for bigger companies.

Also seeing alot of startups of IR in house Software such as Red Canary and thin air
https://www.redcanary.com/managed-detection-and-response/
https://www.thinair.com/

Any opinions on these and the future?

Well, i can tell you that "find your insider threat in 90 seconds" isn't going to fly IRL. Those kinds of investigations take time and even steps outside of the IT world and includes HR and human observations.

You could write something like Bloodhound that hunt for too liberal user privileges instead of ACL's, but it is far from a complete solution. Most of it is marketing fluff from people who apparently haven't done that kind of investigation.

Note The products are probably not totally useless, its just the marketing that need an attitude adjustment, like with so many other things.