Technological advances and development of sophisticated functions in mobile devices led to new usages and dependencies. Mobile phones are often a key factor in criminal cases, intrusions, intellectual property theft, security threats, and more. The data stored in these devices may contain critical evidence associated with the above-mentioned crimes. The latest generation of devices incorporate new security features and encryption schemes to "protect" the device and its associated user data. The other side of the coin is that the rapid processing of critical evidence by various information retrieval techniques is slowed down, if not made impossible. The mobile device forensics field is a challenging area for forensic analysts, particularly given the increasing number of data encryption mechanisms. The EXFILES project aims to provide law enforcement agencies (LEAs) with new tools to extract data and associated evidence from these devices in strict legal contexts. A unique consortium of five LEAs, universities and cyber security companies from the EU have joined forces to address these challenges. Together, they defined three areas of work on technical data extraction techniques, namely software exploitation, hardware methods and combined methods. In addition, tools and methods inspired by other areas of information security (e.g. security assessments based on common criteria) will lead to new judicial methods of accessing data for lawful investigations. Another unique dimension of EXFILES is the clear focus on the ethical and legal aspects of research and exploitation as well as dissemination and training activities for the next generation of forensic experts. The main objective of EXFILES project is to improve Law Enforcement Agencies techniques and methods, to extract digital evidence from modern encrypted smartphones used by criminals based on holistic approach (both software and hardware).

TITANIUM will develop novel methods and technical solutions for investigating and mitigating illegitimate activities (relating to either crime or terrorism) involving virtual currencies and/or underground market transactions. Specifically, the project will: * Establish a research and development environment that enables close and continuous collaboration between researchers, developers, legal experts, and law enforcement stakeholders in several European countries and regions * Analyse legal and ethical requirements for tools and services, elicit technical requirements from LEA stakeholders, and establish a development ecosystem that ensures compliance with these requirements and supports the generation of court-proof evidence * Implement tools for the automated aggregation of data from diverse sources, including the dark web, the surface web, and other sources and devices obtained through legal warrants, using multi-modal adaptive crawlers, stealth facilities, and smart filters * Provide services for the simulation of criminal activities and the generation of synthetic data * Investigate customizable heuristics, which can operate across different virtual currency transaction ledgers and identify clusters of addresses that are likely to belong to the same real-world entity * Apply novel techniques based on machine-learning and deep neural networks for revealing patterns, detecting anomalies, and identifying tumblers and mixers used for money laundering * Deploy forensics tools and services to partner LEAs and conduct Field Labs to assess the effectiveness, ethical and legal compliance, and overall impact of the results and to validate those results at technology readiness level (TRL) 6 or higher * Prepare curricula and carry out training and joint exercises that will facilitate the take-up of TITANIUM technologies by LEAs across Europe * Allow European SMEs and RTOs to develop cutting edge tools, to access LEA markets, and to strengthen European competitiveness

In this proposal we describe a timely and disruptive solution to the long-standing and vexing problem of the rapid stand-off detection of explosive, toxic or otherwise hazardous materials which are present within potential- or post-terrorist attack or industrial accident sites. We will achieve this by realising highly sensitive, state-of-the-art handheld and tripod-mounted instruments based upon active hyperspectral imaging and detection. These will exploit the deep infrared molecular fingerprint waveband region, where these hazardous compounds exhibit their strongest and most distinctive optical absorption features. Crucially, by keeping our goal fixed on the needs of the end-user, we will realise high-TRL devices which are cost-effective, lightweight and highly utile. Within the lifetime of this project, these will ready for evaluation in end-use scenarios (as opposed to mere laboratory-based demonstration). Our consortium is uniquely placed to prosecute this programme as is it comprises world leading workers in every technology upon which this solution depends, from quantum-cascade laser source, MEMS and detector growth expertise to advanced imaging, signals processing and device integration. One refined, the technology we will pioneer will be evaluated by civil security partners who will implement them in a number of likely end-use scenarios, thus proving the potency and utility of our technology.