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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

What are all these PDF companies doing at a Java show?

October 2014 by Mark Stephens
News


This year’s JavaOne show in San Francisco sported (at least) four members of the PDF Association. Mark Stephens offers his impressions of the premiere event for Java developers.

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October 2014 by PDF Association staff
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PDF Day in New York is 18 fast-paced educational sessions packed with non-commercial information for IT executives on a range … Read more

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October 2014 by PDF Association staff
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PDF Day in Washington DC is 18 fast-paced educational sessions packed with non-commercial information for IT executives on a range … Read more

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October 2014 by Duff Johnson
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The PDF Association today announced the appointment of the organization’s Vice Chairman to the role of Executive Director.

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September 2014 by Duff Johnson
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A 5 minute survey providing insight into the way people think about electronic documents vs. documents on paper. The questions … Read more

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September 2014 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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The PDF Day events in Washington DC and New York City offer executives and managers high-level, non-commercial information to improve … Read more

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September 2014 by Matthias Wagner
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Yvonne Friese, ZBW, shares her thoughts about the PDF Hackathon titled “Preserving PDF – identify, validate, repair”, which took place … Read more

News

July 2014 by Nadine Schuppisser
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SSL has a long history of delivering reliable satellites and spacecraft systems for commercial and government customers around the world. … Read more

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July 2014 by PDF Association staff
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The US Committee for PDF/UA has published its second Technical Implementation Guide. This document focuses on ISO 32000-1.

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July 2014 by Alexandra Oettler
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Open document formats like PDF/A, HTML5 and ODF will become obligatory for government documents, minister announced.

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July 2014 by PDF Association staff
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Berlin/Cologne, 04 July 2014. The PDF Association has successfully brought to life a new user-focused event in the form of … Read more

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