All articles tagged with #digital forensics
Across cases from Utah to Georgia, investigators cite smartphones, deleted messages, and online searches as key evidence that defendants reveal far more on their devices than they intend; the article highlights Kouri Richins’s murder case where iPhone data helped convict her, along with other incidents showing how digital breadcrumbs are recovered and used in court, raising ongoing privacy concerns.
A Manhattan host nearly swindled about $9,000 by submitting AI-generated photos of a cracked table in an Airbnb dispute; a London academic noticed the crack changed shape between shots, signaling AI hallucination. Digital-forensics analysis showed in-painting rather than real damage. After journalist intervention, Airbnb refunded the guest and removed the host’s negative review, and the company launched an internal review of its investigative protocols to address AI-generated fraud and the limitations of automated verification, urging video walkthroughs as a more reliable defense.
Cornell researchers have developed a novel invisible watermarking technique called noise-coded illumination that embeds unique light patterns into scenes during recording, enabling verification of video authenticity and detection of deepfakes by analyzing inconsistencies in the lighting codes, which are imperceptible to the naked eye and effective across various environments and skin tones.
Detroit police are facing challenges as iPhones in their custody are unexpectedly rebooting, complicating evidence extraction. The reboots, suspected to be linked to iOS 18, revert devices to a more secure state, making data access difficult. Despite being in airplane mode or Faraday boxes, the phones may be communicating and triggering reboots. This phenomenon is hindering forensic investigations, prompting warnings to isolate devices from iOS 18 influences. Apple has not commented on the issue.
Federal prosecutors in the case against former President Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents plan to call digital forensics experts as witnesses, including FBI employees, to testify about data extracted from devices and accounts belonging to the accused. The case, scheduled for trial in May, also involves allegations of a plan to delete security video at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump, along with co-accused Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, have pleaded not guilty, and Trump's attorneys plan to file motions seeking discovery from the special counsel's office.
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, marking 20 years of collaboration between government and industry to combat security risks and fraud. Despite businesses offering online security training, keeping up with cybercriminals remains challenging. This year's focus includes multi-factor authentication, strong passphrases, software updates, and recognizing/reporting phishing. Digital forensics expert Sean Smith emphasizes that humans are the weakest link in security and advises caution when friending people online, verifying identities, and avoiding connecting with "friends of friends" digitally.
"48 Hours" has obtained never-before-seen footage of the mysterious killer known as the "Hat Man" in the murder case of Kassanndra Cantrell. The investigation relied heavily on digital forensics, including cellphone records, deleted texts, vehicle location data, store receipts, surveillance videos, and even an underwater dragnet to find the remains of Cantrell and build a strong homicide case against her ex-boyfriend Colin Dudley. Dudley pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Artificial intelligence image-generators have been able to create realistic images except for human hands, until now. Midjourney, a popular image maker, released a software update that fixed the problem, but it has also sparked a debate about the danger of generated content that is indecipherable from authentic images. The improved technology could put artists out of work and make deep fake-campaigns more plausible, absent glaring clues that an image is fabricated. However, there are still clues that can be used to detect deep-fakes, such as disfigured tree branches in the background.