During an investigation, discovery of application logs indicating unusual patterns of behavior, temporary files with suspicious content, and abnormal registry key entries can be considered as examples of artifacts.
Artifacts in digital forensics refer to the data that provide evidence of the actions that have occurred on a system or network. These artifacts could be any form of data such as logs, temporary files, or registry entries that are left behind by the operating system, applications, or users. Unusual patterns in application logs, suspicious temporary files, and abnormal registry entries specifically suggest the presence of artifacts that could signify a security incident.