Forensic Focus

Stuart Hutchinson, VP of Sales at ADF Solutions, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about on-scene digital forensics and empowering first responders during the golden hour. Stuart shares his journey from 23 years with the Met Police — including a chance encounter in a New Scotland Yard lift that led him into Mac forensics and the vendor space at BlackBag, Cellebrite, Oxygen, and now ADF. With 99.9% of investigations involving a digital element, he argues that mishandling digital evidence at the scene is as damaging as trampling through traditional forensic evidence.
The conversation covers ADF's preview mode and search profile methodology, which gives first responders advanced logical acquisitions in minutes rather than 45+ minutes for a full extraction. Stuart explains how one UK force cut lab submissions by over 40% using an intelligence-led CAID hash triage strategy, and the team discuss locked-down search profiles built at DFU level, managing collateral intrusion, building trust with victims and witnesses, and ADF's screen capture and OCR for Chromebooks, PlayStations, Xboxes, and anything with HDMI out.
#ADFSolutions #OnSceneTriage #MobileForensics #CAID #CSAM #FirstResponders #DigitalForensics #DFIR
00:00 Introducing Stuart Hutchinson and ADF Solutions
02:13 From Met to Mac Forensics
07:26 Why On Scene Triage
08:01 Golden Hour Decisions
13:24 What to Triage First
16:26 ADF Field Kit Overview
18:04 Preview Mode Workflow 
22:34 Search Profiles and Staging
26:38 Investigator Over Automation
28:11 Impact and CSAM Hashing
29:34 CAID Hash Triage Strategy
32:45 Efficiency Versus Thoroughness
35:07 Locked Search Profiles
37:20 Training For Limitations
42:46 Device Security Pressures
44:45 From Triage To Full Forensics
47:44 Victim Witness Phone Trust
52:27 Screen Capture And OCR
57:49 Wrap Up And Resources
👉 Visit Forensic Focus: https://www.forensicfocus.com
🎧 Video/Transcript: https://www.forensicfocus.com/podcast/on-scene-digital-forensics-winning-investigations-before-the-lab/
📝 Show Notes
ADF Solutions – https://adfsolutions.com/
ADF Weekly Training Sessions – https://adfsolutions.com/weekly-training-sessions/
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Dr. Fazeelat Duran, Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Birmingham, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about the psychological impact of working with distressing material in law enforcement roles. Drawing on her recent longitudinal study — the first of its kind to follow newly recruited secondary investigators and analysts from day one through 18 months in role — Dr. Duran explains how repeated, indirect exposure to traumatic material shapes mental health over time. She walks through the trajectory her team observed at six, 12, and 18 months, the concept of "dosage of exposure," and why early warning signs often go hidden in the first six months when the novelty effect masks the emotional toll to come.
The conversation then turns to coping strategies, the difference between adaptive and maladaptive responses (including the trap of thought suppression), and the idea of a psychological contract between staff and the organisation — and what happens when that contract is breached through unmanageable workloads, limited staffing, and a lack of allocated time for well-being resources. Dr. Duran and host Paul also discuss what organisations should be doing differently, why a one-size-fits-all approach to support fails this group, and the next phase of Dr. Duran's work, including brain imaging findings and a new study on neurodivergence in this workforce.
#SecondaryTraumaticStress #MentalHealth #LawEnforcement #Wellbeing #PsychologicalContract #DigitalForensics #DFIR
00:00 Introducing Dr Fazeelat Duran
02:09 Secondary Trauma Explained
03:42 Research Gap and Longitudinal Study Design
11:17 Early Warning Signs
12:51 Proactive Tailored Support
18:02 Mixed Methods Evidence
19:49 Dosage of Exposure
22:59 Daily Volume and Attrition
25:16 Coping Shifts Over Time
26:45 Maladaptive Coping Patterns
29:05 Isolation and Social Strain
30:34 Workload and AI Pressure
33:08 Psychological Contract Breach
35:23 Building a Caring Culture
37:25 Early Support and Preparation
40:27 Signs, Symptoms and Self Care
42:30 Neurodivergence Research
44:51 Closing Reflections
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🎧 Video/Transcript: https://www.forensicfocus.com/podcast/how-distressing-material-shapes-investigator-well-being/
📝 Show Notes
Ongoing Exposure to Distressing Material is Associated with Worsening Mental Health in UK Law Enforcement Staff: a Longitudinal Interview Study – https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11896-026-09809-2
Dr Fazeelat Duran, University of Birmingham – https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/psychology/duran-fazeelat
National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) Academic Centres of Excellence – https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/npcc-creating-nine-policing-academic-centres-of-excellence-p-aces
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Si and Desi discuss a range of digital forensics topics, from writing forensic reports that juries can actually understand, to whether AI is coming for "button pusher" DFIR jobs. They explore plain language standards, the classic confusion between forensic "images" and pictures, and Brett Shavers' provocative blog post on AI and job security — leading into a wider discussion about the distinction between technicians and analysts in digital forensics.
Si shares highlights from the Leica Geosystems Conference, including fascinating audio forensics research by Henry Vega on deriving vehicle speeds and weapon calibers from sound recordings, and Swedish police reconstructions of a mass shooting using audio evidence and Unreal Engine walkthroughs. The pair also explore the forensic challenges of AI-generated code, agentic processes on endpoints, and the security risks of consumer AI tools.
#DFIR #DigitalForensics #AI #PrivacyParadox #AudioForensics
00:00 Welcome
00:34 Writing Clear Forensic Reports
01:20 Visual Timelines and Storytelling
06:52 Jargon Pitfalls and Glossaries
10:50 Old Media and Blu-Ray News
12:16 UPS Backups and Failing NAS
16:58 AI Will Replace Button Pushers
18:58 Technician vs Analyst Debate
25:54 Backlogs, Privacy and Evidence
34:39 Privacy Paradox and Distrust
42:45 AI Writes Podcast Intro
43:52 Copyright Lawsuit Talk
45:24 Claude vs ChatGPT Coding
 48:48 Forensic Traces of AI
50:16 Agentic IR Attribution
53:43 Consumer Agents Security Risks
59:13 Leica Conference Highlights
01:01:09 Audio Forensics Breakthroughs
01:06:44 Image Forgery History
01:12:58 Chunnel Travel
01:17:36 Wrap-Up
👉 Visit Forensic Focus: https://www.forensicfocus.com
🎧 Video/Transcript: https://www.forensicfocus.com/podcast/dfir-in-2026-ai-button-pusher-forensics-writing-courtroom-reports-audio-breakthroughs-and-the-leica-geosystems-conference/
Show Notes
'If you suck at your DFIR job, AI is going to take it.' (Brett Shavers) – https://brettshavers.com/brett-s-blog/entry/if-you-suck-at-your-dfir-job-ai-is-going-to-take-it
'Sony shuts down production of recordable CD-R, DVD-R and BD-R discs' (Azernews) – https://www.azernews.az/region/228058.html
Ross Ulbricht (Wikipedia) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht
'Regulator contacts Meta over workers watching intimate AI glasses videos' (BBC) – https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q33nvj0qpo
'Why people don't demand data privacy – even as governments and corporations collect more personal information' (The Conversation) – https://theconversation.com/why-people-dont-demand-data-privacy-even-as-governments-and-corporations-collect-more-personal-information-262197
'Evaluating privacy - determining user privacy expectations on the web' (Science Direct) – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167404821000651
'The privacy paradox: Stay one step ahead of it' (Data Guard) – https://www.dataguard.com/blog/privacy-paradox/
Oxford Guide to Plain English (Amazon) – https://amzn.eu/d/09dj8Gr8
Placing the Suspect Behind the Keyboard: Using Digital Forensics and Investigative Techniques to Identify Cybercrime Suspects (Amazon) – https://amzn.eu/d/08fpfTny
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Dr Sarah-Jane Lennie, Associate Professor at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Uniformed Public Services at Anglia Ruskin University, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about mental health and well-being in policing — and the often-overlooked toll on police families. Drawing on 17 years as a police officer before moving into academia, Dr Lennie shares the moment her own mental health forced a career-defining decision, and how that experience shaped her research into the culture of silencing, stigma, and emotional masking that still pervades policing today. She explains why the context of policing — the trauma, threat, and violence — is not what harms officers most; it's how they're treated by the organisation afterwards.
Dr Lennie describes the isolation partners face, the vicarious trauma they absorb while debriefing their officers, the intergenerational patterns that pull children of police into the same job with the same emotional rules, and the practical support families are asking for. She also discusses the Leapwise National Police Wellbeing Survey, the shift away from "resilience" messaging, the role of the academic working group at Anglia Ruskin, and why properly evaluating interventions is the only way to secure lasting change.
#PoliceWellbeing #PoliceFamilies #MentalHealth #PoliceMentalHealth #VicariousTrauma #DigitalForensics #dfir
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 Introducing Dr Sarah-Jane Lennie
02:40 From Policing to Academia
03:51 Mental Health Breaking Point
06:54 Culture of Silence
11:13 Evidence Into Action
12:44 Biggest Challenges Today
13:59 How Families Are Impacted
18:38 Why Families Are Overlooked
19:29 Support Families Need
22:31 Kids and Hidden Trauma
26:42 Stress at Home
28:07 Emotional Silencing
29:23 Punitive Help-Seeking
32:46 Investigations and Isolation
33:32 Academic Working Group
35:32 Evidence Into Practice
46:41 Research Trust Barriers
51:57 Final Message
👉 Visit Forensic Focus: https://www.forensicfocus.com
🎧 Video/Transcript: https://www.forensicfocus.com/podcast/policings-well-being-problem-stigma-isolation-and-the-retention-crisis/
📝 Show Notes
Centre of Excellence for Equity in Uniformed Public Services (CEEUPS) – https://www.aru.ac.uk/research/our-research-institutes-and-centres/centre-of-excellence-for-equity-in-uniformed-public-services
Dr Sarah-Jane Lennie (email) – [email protected]
National Police Well-Being Survey 2025 – https://oscarkilo.org.uk/national-police-wellbeing-survey-2025-deep-dive-psychological-safety
Oscar Kilo Thank You Film – https://youtu.be/f-WUJeQG_E4?si=1PgwYD24n58T0M3z
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Rob Fried, digital forensics consultant, author, and assistant professor at Hofstra University, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about the evolving challenges of forensic practice, AI in investigations, and his latest book. Rob discusses his annual publication cadence — now in its fourth edition — and how each year's content is shaped by real cases, collaborations, and emerging topics in the DFIR community. This year's edition tackles AI policy, data culling strategy, and the documentation practices that keep forensic work defensible in court.
The conversation also covers the growing complexity of remote collections and the soft skills required to manage them effectively, the tension between targeted and full file system approaches, and what happens when those decisions come under scrutiny in litigation. Rob shares his experience building a forensics practice from the ground up within an established e-discovery firm, his work teaching the next generation of examiners at Hofstra, and his upcoming symposium — now in its fifth year — which this year will focus on open source intelligence and corporate investigations.
#mobileforensics #digitalforensics #dfir
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 Introducing Rob Fried
03:48 Why Rob Keeps Writing
07:33 AI Policies and Teaching
09:39 AI Tools and NotebookLM
11:42 AI Spam Call Story
14:33 Forensic Lab and Data Strategy
22:30 Targeted Collection Risks
26:10 Remote Collections and Soft Skills
33:41 Building a Forensics Practice
35:14 Academia and Closing Skill Gaps
39:17 Forensics Network
41:26 Learning and Collaboration
45:42 Planning the Annual Symposium
50:36 Tech Roots and Career Values
54:49 Swag, Challenge Coins and Future Plans
👉 Visit Forensic Focus: https://www.forensicfocus.com
🎥 Video/Transcript: https://www.forensicfocus.com/podcast/rob-fried-on-new-challenges-in-digital-forensics/
📝 Show Notes
Forensics By Fried – https://forensicsbyfried.com
Rob Fried's Books – https://forensicsbyfried.com/books
AI Spoof Call (Instagram) – https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVOXY5MiGNT/?igsh=N3J0cDJwaXk1bW5o
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