WATERLOO, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Magnet Forensics (TSX: MAGT), a developer of digital investigation solutions for enterprises and public safety organizations, is enabling investigators to find illicit content on computers within minutes at the scene of a crime.
Magnet OUTRIDER is a triage tool that rapidly scans computers and storage devices for digital contraband, including child sexual abuse material and applications linked to the dark web, peer-to-peer file sharing, cloud storage and cryptocurrency. Public safety organizations are using Magnet OUTRIDER on-scene and in the digital forensics lab to quickly determine which devices require deeper analysis and to gather real-time intelligence about suspects that investigators can leverage.
“Every second matters when investigators are on-scene and working to pursue justice and prevent victimization,” said Glen Pounder, chief operating officer of the Child Rescue Coalition and former international liaison officer with the U.K.’s National Crime Agency. “Magnet OUTRIDER is saving police agencies critical time as it’s allowing them to immediately identify the computers and storage devices that are going to be central to their investigations.”
The increasing volumes of digital evidence and devices are placing police agencies under mounting pressure. Most cases are requiring them to collect and investigate the contents of multiple devices and they’re struggling to keep pace. According to a 2020 report, over 12,000 devices are still awaiting examination in England and Wales. In some cases, agencies have as little as two weeks to get digital evidence to a prosecutor so that a preliminary trial can begin. Without the ability to triage devices, this can be a difficult task because digital forensic specialists often require several days to perform a full analysis on a single device and some cases can involve multiple computers, smartphones, tablets and other devices.
“Almost every criminal investigation includes evidence from digital devices and the volume of evidence is going up exponentially. Public safety agencies cannot afford to lose time in performing a deep analysis on those that won’t yield results, but they also can’t risk missing critical evidence in their investigations,” said Jad Saliba, founder and chief technology officer of Magnet Forensics. “Magnet OUTRIDER is successfully giving public safety organizations the head start they need in their digital investigations.”
With Magnet OUTRIDER, police agencies are successfully managing their digital investigations by prioritizing devices that they’ve confirmed contain illicit material. Magnet OUTRIDER is also empowering agencies to efficiently redistribute the digital investigation workload. First responders are participating in digital investigations by using the solution to launch rapid on-scene scans of devices, while digital forensic specialists are integrating Magnet OUTRIDER with Magnet AUTOMATE to automate processing and initial triage for evidence review. Aside from accelerating digital investigations, Magnet OUTRIDER is providing investigators with immediate insight into a suspect by revealing if they’re using sophisticated methods such as encryption or anti-forensics applications to cover their tracks.
Since its launch in 2020, public safety organizations have been using Magnet OUTRIDER to:
- Perform rapid scans on Windows and Mac computers as well as storage devices
- Run live system scans to capture data such as passwords, encryption keys and IP addresses on devices that are encrypted
- Surface child sexual abuse material using technology developed by the Child Rescue Coalition
- Determine if devices contain anti-forensics or encryption technology deployed to slow the efforts of investigators
About Magnet Forensics
Founded in 2010, Magnet Forensics is a developer of digital investigation software that acquires, analyzes, reports on, and manages evidence from digital sources, including computers, mobile devices, IoT devices and cloud services. Magnet Forensics’ software is used by more than 4,000 public and private sector customers in over 90 countries and helps investigators fight crime, protect assets and guard national security.