A Look Back at 2018: Resources for ICAC Investigations
Continuing our look back on the resources we’ve offered in 2018, this week, we’re highlighting the webinars, white papers, videos, and blogs that are focused on Internet crimes against children (ICAC) investigations.
2018 marked some major developments in Magnet AXIOM’s ability to support ICAC investigations. Adding full disk decryption using a generated password list and support for FileVault2 and VeraCrypt decryption was only the start.
Magnet.AI capabilities expanded beyond contextual chat analysis to include pictures, in particular child exploitation and nudity, along with broader sexual conversations in chat messages. In later versions, Magnet.AI became capable of scanning any artifact with image data, as well as potential screenshots and other pictures.
We then focused on improving Magnet.AI’s performance, adding support for NVIDIA GPU hardware to increase image classification speed. We fine-tuned our carving algorithm to discard thumbnails recovered from parsed pictures and videos, reducing the number of duplicate pictures to have to review. We also made it possible to deduplicate overall artifacts by identifying whether evidence was parsed or carved. Finally, we made our Project VIC JSON exports 2.5x faster than they were previously.
Finally, we offered Magnet Process Capture, a free tool that allows you to capture memory selectively—useful in situations where you don’t have much time, and/or when you are only interested in specific processes.
Creative Technology Partnerships Advance Investigative Efficiency
We introduced two major integrations this year: Semantics 21’s Laser-i software for AI-enabled picture and video categorization, and Child Rescue Coalition (CRC)’s Child Protection System (CPS) for targeted digital forensics examinations.
To help you get the most from those integrations, we offered some webinars. “Find More Victims, Catch More Suspects” described how creative technology partnerships streamline child exploitation investigations. We got more specific about how the AXIOM-Laser-i integration helps to save valuable time on child exploitation investigations,
And don’t forget to read our blogs about how vendor collaboration makes child exploitation investigations stronger, plus conversations with Semantics 21 founder and CEO Dr. Liam Owens, as well as with our own founder and CTO Jad Saliba regarding our CPS integration.
Additional ICAC-Focused Resources
This year saw the release of our first e-book: “Successful Child Exploitation Investigations: A Magnet AXIOM Best Practices Guide.” This comprehensive guide covers the five main steps to making AXIOM part of an efficient, repeatable workflow that can mitigate many of the complexities associated with ICAC investigations.
You can see much of our workflow for yourself in our video how-to series, including:
Make sure to read our case study about how AXIOM helped to save an innocent man from federal prison. It’s a story about due diligence with forensic examinations, including how things aren’t always what they appear to be.
We also offered a couple of resources on common challenges that investigators often experience. These challenges include hidden features and data on security and vault apps, and password protection on encrypted mobile devices and laptops. Give a listen to Jessica Hyde’s recorded webinar on what to watch out for with security and vault apps, and download our white paper covering four steps to forensic Microsoft® Windows® password cracking.
Finally, our blog about how AXIOM Cloud can help save time investigating Instagram is just the start of additional resources about conducting investigations in the cloud.
Over the past two weeks, we’ve also looked back at other resources we’ve offered this year to help forensic examiners in their investigations, including mobile forensics resources and resources developed for corporate investigators.