Child Exploitation Response by Beating Encryption and Research to Unprotect Systems

ended

This project will create a password cracking platform which can be used by any law enforcement agency of EU member states. Serving as a first layer of cracking, it is a complementary solution to the EC3 password cracking infrastructure. It will allow investigators to crack passwords used by criminals to protect their data (child pornographic images or movies, banking transactions, etc.) or their communications. Hence, it will help judges to prosecute authors of crimes since they will have at their disposal all evidences needed which are, until now, hidden thanks to strong passwords. Its two main added values relies on 1/ extracting “secrets” of devices, mandatory step before cracking the passwords used on the device, 2/ providing judges the evidence needed to prosecute and condemn authors. This result is obtained thanks to: - a password cracking platform about 20 times more efficient that the one the Forensic Laboratory of the French Gendarmerie(IRCGN) is currently processing; - an easier access to criminal resources by breaking passwords or using up-to-date dictionaries to guess them; - an easier way of cracking passwords by breaking device hardware and software security measures; - an easier access to cloud located resources, since many authors use cloud computing to store their data, making their personal devices as clean as possible, preventing them being suitable for investigators; - hence, providing irrefutable evidences linking an author to an offence. This solution meets the needs to all EU member states because each of them is facing cybercrime. Providing such a platform and such know-how to all EU member states, this project will help them coping with cybercrime, even if their own resource is not sufficient. Using this platform, each law enforcement agency will be able to raise its level of fighting cybercrime, and its level of expertise or rely on the ones of the participants. In doing so, CERBERUS aims at being one of the cyber watchdogs EU needs.