CameraForensics for Law Enforcement and beyond - Market Study - Matt Burns Ltd.

We aim to introduce a new web-based forensic tool to the law enforcement sector that is
capable of providing new evidence in solving crimes involving digital cameras (robberies /
burglaries etc.). By uploading a single photograph that was taken by a camera, the user is
instantly able to see a list of other photographs that have been posted online that were taken
with the same camera. By inspecting the images that were taken after the date of the crime,
and the websites where they were posted, the user has a starting point for locating the camera.
For example, the results may point to social network images on sites such as Twitter or
Google+. The user can also monitor particular cameras so as to be notified when new images
taken with the camera are posted online.
CameraForensics is made possible by the fact that many digital cameras stamp the camera’s
serial number into every jpeg image they produce (known as EXIF metadata). A proof-ofconcept
has already been prototyped that proves that the solution is technically possible. It has
successfully identified stolen cameras including one which lead to the retrieval of a camera
that was stolen during an armed assault.
Underpinning this tool is a cloud-hosted database of photograph locations, along with
information about their ‘digital fingerprints’. This database currently contains millions of
cameras and is continually updated and growing, built through the use of web-crawling
technology running in the cloud. The purpose of this project is to determine if there is market
that would justify the significant technical effort required to turn this technical prototype into
a commercial product.