NEXUS: Next-generation Evidence eXamination Underpinned by Semantics — A First-of-a-kind AI Platform for Digital Forensics Investigations

The police face an uphill struggle against criminals. This struggle is aggravated by globalisation and the widespread availability and increasing capabilities of the Internet, and the mass market for digital technology, which put advanced devices and rapid communication in the hands of criminals, at affordable prices. Police budget cuts compound the struggle. Hence, a significant backlog of evidence, waiting to be reviewed by the police, has built-up across digital forensics units in the UK and elsewhere.

The number of child sexual abuse (CSA) videos and images has increased hugely in recent years. High volumes of material have been seized by the police, who are struggling to review the evidence due to insufficient human resources and tool deficiencies. Because of technological limitations, most digital forensics tools do not provide adequate support for investigating such evidence efficiently and effectively.

Hence, digital forensics investigators need better tools, which are underpinned by technology endowed with machine intelligence, for reliable examination of photograph or video files, in particular. There is, for example, a significant need for intelligent assistive tools for: the identification of CSA victims; investigations of serious organised crime or terrorism; and moderation of social media content.

This project aims to move towards addressing this market need, by delivering a cutting-edge configurable software platform (as an important novel component of an intelligent and transparent assistive tool for CSA or other investigations). The project will also integrate the platforminto an exploratory prototype, which will include significant components of state-of-the-art software for the examination of digital media, to provide functionality for victim identification.

The project will allow the company to conduct cutting-edge research and gain advanced knowledge which will help it to develop (in a subsequent project) new products which will be ahead of the curve and well differentiated from the competition. These will boost the competitive advantage of the company and enable significant growth in the UK and worldwide. The integration of project outcomes into novel products will enable the company to expand its product range, and consequently increase its market presence in the UK and gain a stronger foothold in overseas digital forensics markets, through export.

The new products are anticipated to bring in significant sales revenues, which are expected to rise with increasing adoption. Turn-over from the new products is projected to grow by about £6.2M within the first five years, and enable the creation of 30 skilled jobs in that period.