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.
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.
Announcing PDF Week Prague – November 4-8, 2024
August 2024 by PDF Association staff
Article
The third PDF Week of 2024 will be hosted by Charles University in the beautiful city of Prague, in the Czech Republic! PDF Association members are invited to register now!

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