Content warning - this episode discusses suicidal feelings.

Prof. Sarah Morris joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to discuss the critical topic of mental health within the digital forensics field. The conversation covers the impact of traumatic content on analysts, the gaps in mental health support services, and the challenges faced by the industry due to work-related stress.

The episode also explores strategies for coping with mental health issues, the role of AI in mitigating exposure to sensitive content, and the importance of organizational changes to better support professionals in the field.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, these organisations may be of help:

Samaritans – https://www.samaritans.org

Mind – https://www.mind.org.uk

Oscar Kilo – https://www.oscarkilo.org.uk/

Occupational health unit (OHU) – all police forces have access to an OHU providing a range of support services

Employee Assistance Scheme (EAS) – check with your employer to see what specific resources are available to you

GP – your GP can provide access to various local resources and make referrals to psychological support services

Heather Barnhart from Cellebrite joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to discuss combating the rise of AI-generated child exploitation material. Heather shares her extensive experience and insights on the impact of AI and deepfakes on investigations, the challenges faced by law enforcement worldwide, and the importance of education in combating digital crimes.

Heather also emphasizes the significance of validating forensic tools and the necessity of educating both professionals and the public about the ethical and legal implications of AI.

00:00 – Introducing Heather Barnhart and her background in DFIR

03:05 – The Evolution of Child Exploitation and AI

07:25 – Challenges in Detecting Deepfakes

12:15 – Reporting and Legislation on AI and CSAM

17:30 – Public Awareness and Education on AI Exploitation

25:49 – Inappropriate Social Media Practices

37:05 – The Role of AI in Digital Forensics

39:20 – Validating AI findings

49:14 – Career Reflections and Future Directions

Show Notes

‘Those explicit AI-generated Taylor Swift images, unsurprisingly, came from 4Chan’, The Verge - https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/5/24061985/those-explicit-ai-generated-taylor-swift-images-unsurprisingly-came-from-4chan

Take It Down - https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/

Stop NCII - https://stopncii.org/

‘AI-generated kids draw predators on TikTok and Instagram’, Forbes - https://www.forbes.com.au/news/innovation/tiktok-predators-ai-generated-kids/

The Exodus Road - https://theexodusroad.com/

Chuck Cobb from Magnet Forensics joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to discuss training and certification. Chuck delves into his extensive background, including his tenure in law enforcement and over a decade of experience in forensic training at both Guidance Software and Magnet. He emphasizes the evolution of forensic training, particularly highlighting the challenges and opportunities that have arisen due to technological advancements and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The conversation also touches on the generational differences in learners, the rise of microlearning, and the importance of scenario-based training that drives practical outcomes for students in both law enforcement and corporate sectors.

Additionally, Chuck explains Magnet Forensics' approach to balancing financial sustainability with providing high-quality training. This includes their strategic use of online self-paced courses, virtual instructor-led sessions, and certifications that ensure examiners are well-equipped to handle various forensic tasks.

Blake Sawyer from Amped Software joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to discuss video and image forensics in the US. He shares insights on the challenges of working with low-quality CCTV footage and how Amped Software has grown and been adopted in the US market.

The conversation delves into the role of the Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence (SWGDE) in developing best practices for the field and how these standards influence product development. It also covers Amped's new DeepPlate technology for license plate recognition and emphasizes the importance of error margins in AI-assisted forensic analysis.

Blake goes on to discuss Amped's certification program and how it complements other industry certifications. He shares real-world case examples, including the "Pillowcase Murders" investigation, highlighting the practical applications of video forensics in solving complex crimes.

Marco Fontani joins the Forensic Focus podcast to discuss Amped Software’s latest AI-powered tool, DeepPlate. DeepPlate is a deep learning system designed to read license plates affected by common issues introduced by surveillance systems, making it a valuable asset for forensic video analysts.

Marco provides an in-depth overview of DeepPlate, explaining how it currently supports eight countries (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the United States) and how it uses separate models for each country to account for varying license plate formats. He also discusses the synthetic data generation process used for training the models, ensuring privacy and mitigating bias.

The conversation delves into the limitations and considerations when using AI-based tools in a forensic workflow, with Marco emphasizing the importance of bias mitigation techniques and proper interpretation of confidence scores. He stresses that DeepPlate is an investigative tool designed to provide a second opinion, rather than a tool for court admissibility.

00:00 – What is DeepPlate and what is its purpose?

02:45 – How many countries does DeepPlate currently support?

09:30 – What are the challenges of diplomatic and personalised number plates?

11:30 – How would a forensic video analyst use DeepPlate as part of their workflow?

13:40 – Can DeepPlate be used in Court?

16:30 – What is Amped Software’s position on AI?

19:00 – What will be the impact of updated models on results?

20:50 – What kind of data is used to train the system?

23:30 – How has the system been tested?

26:15 – What are the access conditions for using DeepPlate?

28:05 – Does Amped Software retain user data for DeepPlate and if yes for how long?

29:45 – Is it possible to buy additional seats for your license?

31:00 – What are the limitations and considerations when using AI-based tools like DeepPlate for forensic and investigative purposes?

35:20 – Does Amped Software plan to use AI in other areas?

Show Notes

Washington State Judge Blocks Use Of AI-Enhanced Video As Evidence In Possible First-Of-Its-Kind-Ruling - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7181308834370494464/

Neural Network for Denoising and Reading Degraded License Plates - https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-68780-9_39

Introducing DeepPlate, Amped’s Investigative Tool for AI-Powered License Plate Reading - https://blog.ampedsoftware.com/2024/02/28/introducing-deepplate-ampeds-investigative-tool-for-ai-powered-license-plate-reading

Join Si and Desi for another episode of the Forensic Focus Podcast. This week, they discuss the lack of transparency and potential misrepresentation in the cybersecurity industry, particularly regarding the use of open-source tools by companies and the questionable interpretation of data and statistics in marketing and advertising.

The conversation also delves into the implications of relying on computer systems and algorithms to make important decisions, such as in the case of the Post Office scandal in the UK and the Centrelink repayment debacle in Australia. They emphasize the importance of human oversight, critical thinking, and considering the human impact of such decisions, rather than blindly trusting the outputs of computer systems.

00:00 – The state of the digital forensics industry

02:30 – Desi’s talk at BSides Brisbane

05:30 – Sweaty Cyber Advice and Strongman

09:40 – Companies integrating open source software

23:00 – Advertising, statistics and logical fallacies

28:00 – The Post Office scandal and computer accountability

49:00 – Security, compliance and regulations

56:00 – Closing thoughts

Show Notes

Hardly Adequate YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hardlyadequate

Oxfordshire’s Strongman & Strongwoman - https:\oxfordshire.rocks\

CPS, Computer Records Evidence - https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/computer-records-evidence

Your Logical Fallacyis - https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/

British Post Office Scandal - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal

The Guardian, Robodebt Scandal - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/11/robodebt-five-years-of-lies-mistakes-and-failures-that-caused-a-18bn-scandal

Tyler Vigen, Spurious Correlations - http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

Forensic Focus Discord - https://discord.gg/97zKvTXHeS

Sophie Powell joins Si and Desi on the Forensic Focus Podcast to discuss various topics including her recent participation in a TryHackMe webinar, the challenges of applying for graduate schemes, and the relevance of the Cyber 9/12 competition to her career in cybersecurity. They also touch on the psychology of conspiracy theories and the implications of deepfake technology.

00:00 – Welcome to the podcast

03:00 – Sweaty Cyber Advice

03:55 – Fitness and forensics

07:00 – Mental health and mindfulness

09:10 – Gamified assessments

17:00 – Video recorded self-assessments

20:10 – Filtering candidates to fill roles

24:25 – Graduate schemes versus graduate jobs

27:40 – Apprenticeships and student loans

33:40 – Starting out on a graduate scheme

37:35 – UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge

43:55 – Dangers of deepfakes

51:10 – Conspiracy theories and computer psychology

54:40 – Closing thoughts

Show Notes

Hardly Adequate - https://hardlyadequate.com

Try Hack Me - https://tryhackme.com/

UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge - https://www.ukcyber912.co.uk/

Chris Doman, Co-Founder of Cado Security, joins the Forensic Focus podcast to discuss cloud forensics and incident response. Cado Security provides cloud-based software for collecting and analyzing forensic evidence in cloud environments.

Chris discusses the challenges of cloud forensics, such as the constantly changing nature of cloud environments and the need to standardize and normalize data from different sources.

Cado Security is working on partnerships with cloud and EDR vendors, as well as IR providers, and is planning to release new features related to SaaS and email compromise investigations.

00:00 – Introducing Chris Doman from Cado Security

03:00 – Starting and growing Cado Security

05:45 – Cado Community

06:30 – Cloud forensics tools

10:40 – Collecting, processing and presenting data

12:00 – Advantages of cloud to cloud

13:50 – Audit logs

16:00 – Automation

20:30 – Training and investigation support

28:00 – Release cycle and managing updates

30:30 – Roadmap

40:30 – Chain of custody

43:00 – Encryption and storage

43:30 – Cado Security at events