NEXUS: Next-generation Evidence eXamination Underpinned by Semantics — A First-of-a-kind AI Platform for Digital Forensics Investigations

警察面临着与犯罪分子的艰苦斗争。全球化、互联网的普遍可获得性和日益增强的能力，以及数字技术的大众市场，使先进设备和快速通信以负担得起的价格落入犯罪分子手中，加剧了这场斗争。削减警察预算加剧了这场斗争。因此，英国和其他地方的数字取证部门积压了大量等待警方审查的证据。近年来，儿童性虐待(CSA)视频和图像的数量大幅增加。警方缴获了大量材料，由于人力资源不足和工具不足，他们正在努力审查证据。由于技术限制，大多数数字取证工具不能为高效有效地调查此类证据提供足够的支持。因此，数字取证调查人员需要更好的工具，这些工具以赋予机器智能的技术为基础，特别是用于可靠地检查照片或视频文件。例如，对智能辅助工具的巨大需求用于：识别CSA受害者；调查严重的有组织犯罪或恐怖主义；以及缓和社交媒体内容。该项目旨在通过提供一个尖端的可配置软件平台(作为用于CSA或其他调查的智能和透明辅助工具的重要新组件)，朝着满足这一市场需求的方向迈进。该项目还将把该平台整合到一个探索性原型中，其中将包括用于检查数字媒体的最先进软件的重要组件，以提供识别受害者的功能。该项目将使该公司能够进行尖端研究并获得先进知识，这将有助于它(在随后的项目中)开发将走在曲线前面并在竞争中脱颖而出的新产品。这些将增强公司的竞争优势，并使其在英国和全球实现显著增长。将项目成果整合到新产品中将使该公司能够扩大其产品范围，从而增加其在英国的市场份额，并通过出口在海外数字取证市场获得更强大的立足点。新产品预计将带来可观的销售收入，预计随着采用的增加，销售收入将会上升。新产品的营业额预计将在头五年增长约620万GB，并在此期间创造30个熟练工作岗位。

The police face an uphill struggle against criminals. This struggle is aggravated by globalisation and the widespread availability and increasing capabilities of the Internet, and the mass market for digital technology, which put advanced devices and rapid communication in the hands of criminals, at affordable prices. Police budget cuts compound the struggle. Hence, a significant backlog of evidence, waiting to be reviewed by the police, has built-up across digital forensics units in the UK and elsewhere.The number of child sexual abuse (CSA) videos and images has increased hugely in recent years. High volumes of material have been seized by the police, who are struggling to review the evidence due to insufficient human resources and tool deficiencies. Because of technological limitations, most digital forensics tools do not provide adequate support for investigating such evidence efficiently and effectively.Hence, digital forensics investigators need better tools, which are underpinned by technology endowed with machine intelligence, for reliable examination of photograph or video files, in particular. There is, for example, a significant need for intelligent assistive tools for: the identification of CSA victims; investigations of serious organised crime or terrorism; and moderation of social media content.This project aims to move towards addressing this market need, by delivering a cutting-edge configurable software platform (as an important novel component of an intelligent and transparent assistive tool for CSA or other investigations). The project will also integrate the platforminto an exploratory prototype, which will include significant components of state-of-the-art software for the examination of digital media, to provide functionality for victim identification.The project will allow the company to conduct cutting-edge research and gain advanced knowledge which will help it to develop (in a subsequent project) new products which will be ahead of the curve and well differentiated from the competition. These will boost the competitive advantage of the company and enable significant growth in the UK and worldwide. The integration of project outcomes into novel products will enable the company to expand its product range, and consequently increase its market presence in the UK and gain a stronger foothold in overseas digital forensics markets, through export.The new products are anticipated to bring in significant sales revenues, which are expected to rise with increasing adoption. Turn-over from the new products is projected to grow by about £6.2M within the first five years, and enable the creation of 30 skilled jobs in that period.