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A case study in PDF forensics: The Epstein PDFs

This article details a PDF forensics case study on a small, random selection of the Epstein PDF files released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The tranche contains 4,085 PDF files, with an estimated 5,879 remaining unreleased. Key findings include:

  • A difference in PDF version reporting between forensic tools.
  • The presence of two incremental updates.
  • The discovery of a hidden (orphaned) document information dictionary revealing the software used in processing.
  • The DoJ avoided JPEG images to prevent metadata leakage.
  • Overall, the DoJ’s sanitization workflow could be improved to reduce file size and information leakage.
Peter Wyatt

By Peter Wyatt
December 2025

A case study in PDF forensics: The Epstein PDFs

This article details a PDF forensics case study on a small, random selection of the Epstein PDF files released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The tranche contains 4,085 PDF files, with an estimated 5,879 remaining unreleased. Key findings include:

  • A difference in PDF version reporting between forensic tools.
  • The presence of two incremental updates.
  • The discovery of a hidden (orphaned) document information dictionary revealing the software used in processing.
  • The DoJ avoided JPEG images to prevent metadata leakage.
  • Overall, the DoJ’s sanitization workflow could be improved to reduce file size and information leakage.
Peter Wyatt

By Peter Wyatt
December 2025

Digitizing permanent records: the case for PDF/A-4

January 2021 by Duff Johnson
Article


PDF/A-4 is essential to losslessly archiving PDF files that use current-generation PDF 2.0 technology… even including scanned documents. From modern Unicode support to interoperability with other specifications PDF/A-4 is the … Read more

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January 2021 by Carsten Luedtge (Compart GmbH)
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How do companies stay agile enough in their document and output management to meet increasing customer expectations for speed and … Read more

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December 2020 by PDF Association staff
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27 years after Adobe shipped the first PDF viewer the portable document format has replaced paper as the final format … Read more

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November 2020 by Peter Wyatt
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The original PDF Issue Tracker corpus generated a lot of interest from the PDF technical community; now version 2 of … Read more

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October 2020 by Duff Johnson
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Introduction Akin to our earlier series on the Mueller Report PDF, this article provides cultural framing and technical background for … Read more

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September 2020 by Bernd Wild (intarsys GmbH)
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The history of integration of digital signatures in PDF together with the underlying public standards like PAdES, CAdES and XAdES … Read more

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September 2020 by Paul Rayius (CommonLook)
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While testing and verification is never a bad idea, the advantages of automation include speeding up processes and removing human … Read more

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September 2020 by Peter Wyatt
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Interoperability is the core value proposition of the PDF file format. Although interoperability comes from sharing a clear and precise … Read more

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September 2020 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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Dietrich von Seggern talks about an example in which the internet community came up with a smart solution for a … Read more

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August 2020 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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Ensuring maximum success in RPA processes requires uniformity (standardization) in inputs. That’s where PDF can help.

Article

April 2020 by Peter Wyatt
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Although less than a year into the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-funded Safe Documents (SafeDocs) fundamental research program, from … Read more

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