Dutch students will learn to use Hansken forensic search engine

There is hardly any criminal investigation left without digital traces. The investigation services in the Netherlands frequently use the Hansken search engine to quickly gain insight into digital traces. Foreign investigation services are also increasingly working with Hansken. That is why Leiden University of Applied Sciences (HS leiden) and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) have agreed that students from the Computer Science programme will learn to use the search engine. Starting from the new academic year, Hansken will be a fixed part of the subjects that students in 'Forensic ICT' follow.

The forensic search engine will be installed next month in the IoT Forensic Lab of the University of Applied Sciences, which is located on the HSD Campus. "It is a win-win situation," explains Hans Henseler, lecturer Digital Forensics & E-Discovery of HS Leiden. Henseler also works for the NFI. "There is a good chance that students will later work for one of the investigation services or the NFI. They have a great advantage when they get to know how Hansken works during their studies." Erwin van Eijk, Division Head at the Digital and Biometric Traces  division of the NFI, adds: "And the NFI in turn benefits from the knowledge of students. Digital developments are happening so fast that the NFI cannot keep Hansken 'up to date' on its own. Hansken has to keep up with new developments. We can really use the help of students for that."

More and more digital traces

"Computers are in everything these days. Think of security systems, cars and not to forget mobile phones. Information from computers often helps to establish the truth in a criminal investigation," says Van Eijk. If large amounts of data have been seized from suspects, Hansken can quickly provide insight into this. The best-known example is that the search engine was used to search through seized data from Encrochat, the chat service that many criminals used because they thought that the police could not intercept those messages.