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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

“Requirements for Archiving Email using PDF” draft report now available for comment

May 2020 by PDF Association staff
News


The objective of the draft report on archiving email with PDF is to describe how advanced PDF-based capture, preservation, rendering, and distribution options for email can deliver long-term value to … Read more

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April 2020 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association is now accredited by ANSI to serve as the ANSI-accredited U.S, Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Administrator for … Read more

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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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March 2020 by Duff Johnson
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A new resource collating all ISO groups and currently active work items related to PDF has been developed. Based on … Read more

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March 2020 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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More and more, magazines are available on tablets or other mobile platforms. The subscriber uses the respective app to view … Read more

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March 2020 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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Now available from ISO: the Draft International Standard (DIS) version of the latest ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) standard is ready … Read more

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March 2020 by Peter Wyatt
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Ailing economies around the world need every advantage in these difficult times. On the other side of today’s crisis a … Read more

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March 2020 by PDF Association staff
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As much as we were looking forward to PDF Days Europe 2020, including celebrating with our colleagues and friends, the … Read more

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March 2020 by PDF Association staff
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The Signal, a Library of Congress blog, has a new post about archiving with PDF by the Library of Congress’ … Read more

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February 2020 by Prof. Chris Prom
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Archives, libraries, and other memory institutions have experimented with PDF for archiving email, but have not widely implemented them as … Read more

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February 2020 by PDF Association staff (Adobe)
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The Standards Support Endowment allows the PDF Association to increase support for standards development, including a new PDF subset specification … Read more

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