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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

Strike a One-Two Knockout Punch by Attending both the Electronic Document Conference and CreativePro Week

March 2019 by David Blatner
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This year, the Electronic Document Conference (EDC) is being held in the same city and only days after CreativePro Week — a great event that combines The InDesign Conference, Ps/Ai: … Read more

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March 2019 by Duff Johnson
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On February 25, 2019, researchers from Ruhr University Bochum  and Hackmanit GmbH published pdf-insecurity.org, a detailed explanation of several vulnerabilities they … Read more

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February 2019 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association, the meeting place of the PDF industry, decided to create the Electronic Document Conference for a simple … Read more

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February 2019 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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When working with support cases the ones that are related to Overprint in PDF are likely to surprise customers. It … Read more

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January 2019 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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Today’s world of Information Technology has opened the doors in many ways in order to integrate people with disabilities into … Read more

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October 2018 by Duff Johnson
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How do we gain insight into how users’ views of documents are shifting? Google Trends is an increasingly interesting source … Read more

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October 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Techniques Accessibility Summit’s objective is to establish a broad-based understanding of how PDF files should be tagged for … Read more

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September 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The typical adoption curve for PDF technologies until approximately 2007 tended to track with that of the original PDF developer. … Read more

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August 2018 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Techniques Accessibility Summit will identify best-practices in tagging various cases in PDF documents. Questions to be addressed will … Read more

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July 2018 by Duff Johnson
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My hospital emailed me a medical records release form as a PDF. They told me to print it, fill it, … Read more

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June 2018 by PDF Association staff
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You missed the PDF Days Europe 2018? Never mind! Here you can find the slides and video recordings of all … Read more

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