Fast Filtering of Known PNG Files Using Early File Features
Sean McKeown, Gordon Russell, Petra Leimich · Edinburgh Napier Research Repository (Edinburgh Napier University) · 2017
A common task in digital forensics investigations is to identify known contraband images. This is typically achieved by calculating a cryptographic digest, using hashing algorithms such as SHA256, for each image on a given media, comparing individual digests with a database of known contraband. However, the large capacities of modern storage media, and increased time pressure on forensics examiners, necessitates that more efficient processing mechanisms be developed. This work describes a technique for creating signatures for images of the PNG format which only requires a tiny fraction of the file to effectively distinguish between a large number of images. Highly distinct, and compact, such analysis lays the foundation for future work in fast forensics filtering using subsets of evidential data.