ADF News

Due to an increase in crimes involving the use of computers and cell phones, there is a growing need for Digital Media Investigators, sometimes referred to as DMIs. They have an important role to play in police investigations and that role is becoming more critical with the proliferation of digital data. 

Digital media investigators do more than just sit in a lab looking at hard drives. They are often digital first responders and go out into the field with other law enforcement agents to investigate crimes first hand and offer advice on how to gather digital evidence at a crime scene. Collecting, analyzing and reporting on digital evidence to be used to prosecute and convict criminals is a vital role for DMIs in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

ADF Bret: Hi Brett, thanks for taking time to talk! My first question is, what’s with the extra “t”? I’m just kidding of course.  Growing up, one of my best friends spelled his name with two “t”s so we just refer to one another as Brettt so as not to offend one another.   

Brett:     A rose by any other name…

ADF Bret: You’re a digital forensic examiner providing private consulting and training to government agencies and you’ve also found time to write quite a few books, including Placing the Suspect Behind the Keyboard, Hiding Behind the Keyboard, and X-Ways Forensics Practitioner’s Guide, all of which have received nominations for Best Forensic Book of the Year.  How did you get started writing books for the forensic community and what (besides the money and fame) keeps you writing?

Brett:  Much like any author writing forensic books, I wanted to write the books that I wish were already written by someone else. I would have bought them if they already were written! My first two books were published within the same year, so they competed against each other for Best Forensic Book of the Year and the X-Ways book won. That was neat, and certainly having Eric Zimmerman as my co-author helped. I will keep writing books whenever I need a book that hasn’t already been written, so hopefully we get more authors writing books.

When you're faced with a mountain of digital evidence, how do you start sifting through it? For law enforcement, litigation support, and incident response agencies organizing and prioritizing digital media and electronically stored information (ESI) is crucial. Adopting an Early Case Assessment (ECA) methodology helps expedite and improve overall case efficiency and productivity; reducing backlogs and increasing turnaround times.

If you haven’t yet met Phillip Moore and you’re in the digital forensics or incident response fields, you’re likely to at least know him from one of his top forensic blogs:

Following the recent ICAC Task Force Commanders Meeting, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program announced the date and location of the 2019 National Law Enforcement Training on Child Exploitation. 

In 2009, the number of backlogged digital evidence requests in publicly funded forensic crime labs was 1,600. By the end of 2014, that number had risen to 7,800. While that's tiny in comparison to the total number of backlogged evidence requests (over 570,000 in 2014!), every one of those requests is associated with a case that affects real people. This is why we love forensic triage, and why you should too.

The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office (AGO) has announced the dates for the 2019 National Cyber Crime Conference (MASS.gov).  This year's conference will be held April 29 - May 1, 2019 in Norwood, Massachusetts thanks to Attorney General Maura Healey, the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), SEARCH, and the National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute 

First 100 registrants get a discount: 

Join ADF Solutions for a webinar hosted by the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), a nonprofit, membership-affiliated organization comprised of state, local, federal and tribal law enforcement and prosecutorial and regulatory agencies.  

NW3C provided a nationwide support system for law enforcement and regulatory agencies involved in prevention, investigation and prosecution of economic and high-tech crime.  Support is delivered via training in computer forensics, cyber and financial crime investigations and intelligence analysis as well as original research on and analytical technical support for investigating and prosecuting white collar and related crimes. 

The Benefits of Triage: How to Quick Start Your Digital Investigation

January 2019 is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month

Human trafficking has been a federal crime in the United States since The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 was passed into law as a federal statute.  Each year since 2010 has been designated National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month with January 11th each year being observed as National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. 

The U.S. Department of Justice launched the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program (ICAC Program) in 1998 as part of a national strategy to combat and prevent child exploitation.  ICAC Task Force training is often held annually within regions across the United States.  While 2019 dates have not yet been published, here's a list of 2018 ICAC conferences:

The Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) and Offender Registration and Enforcement once again hosted the Florida ICAC Training Symposium. 

ADF Solutions Newest Software Release Makes It Easier to Fight Against Child Exploitation

As the leading provider of automated forensic software for investigators and lab examiners, we are delighted to announce the ability for on-scene and lab investigators to rapidly collect media files using Digital Evidence Investigator^Ⓡ, Triage-Investigator^Ⓡ, and Triage-G2^Ⓡ software and export media files to the Griffeye Analyze platform. 

Annual conferences are great events for networking with thought leaders and your peers.  In addition, conferences can provide you with the opportunity to get timely, objective, relevant education from a variety of subject matter experts.  You can benefit from training, knowledge sharing, and from the camaraderie and time spent with professionals like you that have dedicated their careers to protect and serve. 

Project VIC is a nonprofit organization founded by former U.S. law enforcement officials who saw the need to normalize data between digital forensic tools, software vendors, and service providers in order to focus the community on building enhanced workflows to more rapidly identify victims of child exploitation and human trafficking.

ADF's New Forensic Software Empowers Investigators and Prosecutors

ADF Solutions, the leading provider of automated forensic software for investigators and lab examiners, announced today the release of new software versions 1.4 for Digital Evidence Investigator^Ⓡ, and versions 4.4 for Triage-Investigator^Ⓡ, and Triage-G2^Ⓡ software.  

"We are very excited to be the first digital forensic software to parse macOS Mojave log files natively under Windows strengthening our macOS support", stated Raphael Bousquet, CTO, and co-founder of ADF Solutions. "In our world of fast and efficient forensic analysis, we strive to reduce data noise for the investigator. The addition of picture and video classification is a great step in the right direction!"

A precise timeline view links user activities with pictures, videos, and files of interest so investigators can quickly build a digital forensic report to share with prosecutors or other investigators.  The new version leverages enhanced automation and enables investigators to run in-depth digital forensics scans quickly.  The highlights of this new release for the investigative and forensic community include:

This October kicks off with the fourth annual Northwest Regional ICAC Conference, a multi-state, multi-disciplinary event designed to provide lecture and lab training to prosecutors, digital forensic examiners, and law enforcement investigators focused on the investigation and prosecution of technology facilitated crimes against children. 

A criminal forensic lab located in one of the largest U.S. Federal agencies was working on an extensive child exploitation case and had seized 37 total hard drives that contained over 38 terabytes of data. The case was high profile and the forensic team had a short window of time to examine the contents of the confiscated drives. Technical resources were limited and imaging drives and conducting traditional forensic examinations would be very time consuming. With the amount of data that needed to be searched, the investigators realized that it could potentially be weeks before the examinations were complete and the case could move forward. In addition the case would require significant disk storage space to hold all of the images.

During the week of September 16 - 22, 2018, we invite you to join us in recognizing the critical role that forensic science plays in criminal investigations and we give thanks for the dedication of the thousands of forensic professionals who serve our communities nationwide.  

Rich Frawley, ADF Digital Forensic Specialist will be presenting "On-Scene Digital Investigation Best Practices: From Search Warrant to Court Ready Paperwork" at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia this week.  

Coming off the 30th annual Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas, Texas, conference organizers announced that the 31st annual conference is scheduled for August 12-15, 2019 at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel.  

This week, hundreds of leading law enforcement officials from the US, Canada and Europe descended on the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC to participate in the High Technology Crime Investigation Association's annual conference.   The event featured 72 speakers over the three days of sessions and training and was kicked off with an opening keynote from Chief Superintendent Jeff Adam, C/Supt. DG Technical Investigation Services for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Attend HTCIA Pre-conference Training in Washington, DC on August 19th where we will be hosting two hands-on lab sessions for digital investigators.  Conference attendees arriving early can register to attend one of two sessions:

• Directly Scanning a Suspect's Computer or Devices
• Child Exploitation Investigations Done in Record Time

The High Technology Crime Investigation Association's International Conference (HTCIA) & Training Expo is one of the oldest and most respected technology investigation conferences in the world.  This year, the event will be held in Washington, DC at the historic Omni Shoreham Hotel and will feature an opening keynote from Chief Superintendent Jeff Adam, C/Supt. DG Technical Investigation Services for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RMCP). 

Conference sessions include a variety of topics including:

Earlier this year, ADF partnered with Flags of Valor, a company dedicated to serving U.S. military and law enforcement with high quality, handmade wooden wall art. Flags of Valor was founded to provide job opportunities to combat veterans and today the majority of Flags of Valor craftsmen are service-disabled with combat related injuries.

This week, hundreds of cyber security and digital forensic experts gathered in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to participate in the Techno Security and Digital Forensics Conference. The event hosted at the Marriott Resort & Spa at Grande Dunes offered attendees the ability to receive Continuing Professional Education Credits (CPE) depending on their organization. 

There are many cases where time is critical in a police investigation. This is increasingly true in a world where digital evidence can be an essential element in capturing a suspect or solving a crime. Digital data can implicate or clear suspects and utilizing digital evidence to your investigative advantage can allow you to act quickly while on-scene.

Starting digital investigations while at the scene has become increasingly important in fluid crime situations such as terrorism threats, active shooter situations, gang activity or sex trafficking. Field digital forensic investigations (a.k.a. field triage) can also be useful in CyberTip investigations or any crime where a digital device may have photos, video, audio, or other data that could be useful in identifying suspects, victims or protecting evidence.

This April, ADF will sponsor The National Cyber Crime Conference in Massachusetts, hosted by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.  The conference brings together police, prosecutors and forensic examiners from all 50 states, Washington DC, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, for three days of training designed to help attendees face the challenges posed by digital evidence and technology in criminal investigations.  International law enforcement attendees have come from Canada, Ireland, England as well as Trinidad and Tobago. 

ADF sponsored the 2017 Florida ICAC Training Symposium which was sponsored by the FL ICAC Task Force, along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Child Abduction Response Team (CART) and Offender Registration and Enforcement. 

The three day event, held in Tampa, Florida is an annual event designed to expand the efforts and knowledge base of law enforcement investigators and prosecutors by providing highly specialized training focused on investigating and prosecuting technology-facilitated crimes against children.

Join ADF for the First Forensic Forum (F3) Annual Training Workshop being held in the United Kingdom.  F3 provides an open forum for any organizations focused on digital forensics.  

The emphasis of F3 training days and seminars is focused on the technical aspects of digital forensics. Computer technology in all its forms is a fast-moving area, and in order to function effectively, forensic computing analysts are constantly faced with the necessity of updating and expanding their knowledge. The First Forensic Forum aims to provide them with the opportunity to do so by drawing upon the expertise of member organisations. The majority of F3 members are involved in the analysis of computer-based evidence of various types, and some are also authors and manufacturers of forensic computing tools and solutions.

Join ADF at the High Technology Crime Investigation Association Conference for Forensic Investigators and Law Enforcement.  The HTCIA  event will be held in California and features 84 labs and 90 lectures for Investigators, Law Enforcement and Legal professionals. 

Investigators, Police and Legal professionals who stop by the ADF booth will receive a FREE evaluation kit of ADF Digital Evidence Investigator® forensic software. Our latest release of Digital Evidence Investigator software will also be featured in the Vendor Showcase. 

ADF will sponsor the Northwest Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Conference. Microsoft has partnered with ICAC to host the event which is designed to expand the efforts and knowledge base of law enforcement investigators, digital forensic examiners, and prosecutors. The event will provide highly specialized lab and lecture based training focused on investigating and prosecuting technology-facilitated crimes against children.  Anticipated curriculum will include both child sexual exploitation as well as human trafficking topics and will consist of lectures, case studies, computer labs and exhibitor workshops.

ADF will exhibit at the Military Police & Law Enforcement Expo to showcase Digital Evidence Investigator to Military Police Soldiers from regiments stationed in Missouri (Military Police, Chemical, and Engineer), Emergency Services, and Force Protection as well as personnel from the Capability Development and Integration Directorate (CDID).

ADF will sponsor the Crimes Against Children Conference which provides practical and interactive instruction to those fighting crimes against children and helping children heal. Attendees include government and nonprofit agencies in law enforcement, child protective services, and victims of crime.