CameraForensics Ltd
High Volume Image and Data Processing in the Cloud
CameraForensics provides software tools to law enforcement and other government agencies for the purposes of exploiting open source intelligence. We allow agencies with large volumes of data to integrate directly with other datasets automating alerts to new information and intelligence.
Features
- Extensive experience in cloud services for security-sensitive applications
- Horizontally scalable architectures and infrastructure
- Serverless architectures for large scale data processing and transformation
- Indexing for very efficient searches across complex data
- Webcrawling processing and indexing at very large scale
- Data wrangling, processing, cleansing and transforming very large datasets
- Web application and desktop deployment
- Processing and indexing very large volumes of imagery
- Application of technologies to online investigations
- Testing classifiers and comparative performance assessment for AI-based media analysers
Benefits
- Experience of combining public cloud and government services.
- Handling sensitive data in a system with multiple users
- Ability to design and optimise datastores for efficient searching
- Deriving actionable insights from open sources of data.
- Application of machine learning techniques to derive insight
- Web services and API development
Pricing
£912.73 to £1,580.16 a unit a day
Service documents
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Framework
G-Cloud 14
Service ID
4 0 0 4 1 1 5 0 4 7 3 8 8 3 9
Contact
CameraForensics Ltd
info@cameraforensics.com
Telephone: 07812165133
Email: info@cameraforensics.com
Planning
- Planning service
- Yes
- How the planning service works
-
We have substantial experience in the development and deployment of large-scale cloud-based image databases, linked to powerful indexing, search, retrieval and analysis capabilities which exploit flexible cloud-based resource allocation and usage.
This allows us to take an end-to-end view of a proposed process and advise on design and deployment aspects that meet the users' requirements. These include security, storage and compute location management, access control, and API design. - Planning service works with specific services
- No
Training
- Training service provided
- Yes
- How the training service works
- We continue to develop our training capabilities and offerings. Training for users of our own cloud-based services includes online tutorials, self-help guides and community discussion groups. We also offer bespoke on-site coaching charged on a per-use basis. Our cloud services support is based on a similar provision which is developed on a case-by-case basis to meet the needs of the customer.
- Training is tied to specific services
- No
Setup and migration
- Setup or migration service available
- Yes
- How the setup or migration service works
-
Following an agreed design and configuration for a new cloud-based service migration is achieved through a custom set of migration tools to transfer the data. This needs to be customised in order to reflect the new configuration. We have expertise and experience in: Performant and scalable stream-based data processing (e.g. Apache Storm, Apache Flink, Hadoop, Kafka);
Horizontally scalable architectures and infrastructure, including cloud-based microservice deployment (e.g. AWS, Google Cloud Platform, local deployment, bare metal, containers, Docker, Ansible);
Serverless architectures for large scale data processing and transformation (e.g. Lambda), including (but not only) application to image-based data;
Indexing for very efficient searches across complex data, including novel techniques for using computationally expensive distance functions at scale (e.g. Elasticsearch, FAISS, MapD). - Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services
- No
Quality assurance and performance testing
- Quality assurance and performance testing service
- Yes
- How the quality assurance and performance testing works
-
All of our services are provided under SLA's with each customer. Performance measures and thresholds are defined as relevant to each service. Typical measures and associated quality assurance processes include:
System availability metrics, incorporating lessons learned from previous incidents, and system maintenance in response to known or anticipated threats;
Query response metrics collected as part of a database query and access control protocol;
System stress testing to assess the ability of the resources to support anticipated parallel operations. Professional testing and measurement software Gatling is used to stress-test specific systems, and ensure that cloud resources are utilised and scaled optimally.
Security testing
- Security services
- No
Ongoing support
- Ongoing support service
- Yes
- Types of service supported
- Hosting or software provided by your organisation
- How the support service works
-
In our experience of operating the system to date the most serious incidents encountered have been resolved within 2 hours. Service status, outages and planned maintenance will be communicated via a “splash screen” at the login page, and by automated response to queries to our second-line support via email. This forms the basis of our communications plan which will also include routine updates and formal monthly performance reviews with the Customer's nominated contact.
Our service delivery and service update approach is consistent with ITIL good practice.
Services designed and supported by CameraForensics is maintained and updated by our in-house team. We are dependent on hosting services and connectivity provided by world-class third party suppliers, under standard commercial terms. The hosting services include full backup and failover contingencies which provide robust assurance that underpins our service commitments.
Monthly reporting, including standard metrics on the service performance against the SLA and issues raised and resolved, will be provided.
Service scope
- Service constraints
- None
User support
- Email or online ticketing support
- Email or online ticketing
- Support response times
- Second-line support will be provided via a dedicated email account. Users and/or their first line support will be able to raise issues which will be responded to by email or telephone during business hours (typically within 2 hours), or if reported out of hours, at the start of the next working day.
- User can manage status and priority of support tickets
- No
- Phone support
- Yes
- Phone support availability
- 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
- Web chat support
- No
- Support levels
- As described above, second-line support will be provided via a dedicated email account. This facilitates the reporting of issues at any time, and prompt response during business hours. This approach also has the advantage that it is independent of the status of the main system and therefore provides a robust mechanism for problem reporting. Users and/or their first line support will be able to raise issues which will be responded to by email or telephone during business hours, or if reported out of hours, at the start of the next working day. Where the CameraForensics team have proactively identified any issues the same reporting, fix and communication process will be used. Monthly reporting, including standard metrics on the service performance against the SLA and issues raised and resolved, will be provided. This level of support is included in the baseline service costs. Provision of on-site support (e.g. training) can be provided at an additional per-event cost.
Resellers
- Supplier type
- Not a reseller
Staff security
- Staff security clearance
- Other security clearance
- Government security clearance
- Up to Security Clearance (SC)
Standards and certifications
- ISO/IEC 27001 certification
- No
- ISO 28000:2007 certification
- No
- CSA STAR certification
- No
- PCI certification
- No
- Cyber essentials
- Yes
- Cyber essentials plus
- No
- Other security certifications
- No
Social Value
- Social Value
-
Social Value
- Fighting climate change
- Covid-19 recovery
- Tackling economic inequality
- Equal opportunity
- Wellbeing
Fighting climate change
As a small technology business, we are able to keep our consumption of manufactured items very low. We are paperless, and any IT equipment is specified and procured for longevity.
Careful consideration is given to the necessity for foreign travel. Whilst an amount is necessary to build relationships within the international community, we now maintain and build many of these relationships online and via teleconferencing technologies. When we do travel, we ensure efficiency; e.g. attending a conference with a number of other international delegates, rather than multiple single trips.
Analysis of our business shows that our most significant climate impact is via our use of cloud compute resources. We are careful to only employ resources that we need for our business, and are also mindful of the impact of our choices. We are starting to monitor our impact on an ongoing basis, through the use of online tools designed to help and optimise for the purpose.Covid-19 recovery
During and after the COVID period we have been mindful of employee health and wellbeing, ensuring staff are able to balance work, health and other commitments in a changing and evolving landscape. We are a modern technology company, with both our facilities and ways-of-working intrinsically designed around hybrid working. We are similarly mindful of ensuring our suppliers have a good understanding of the state of our business in uncertain times, such that they are fully apprised of potential issues or changes that may impact them.Tackling economic inequality
We are an agile SME and a significant proportion of our work is in assessing, developing and implementing innovative and disruptive technologies ultimately providing more effective, efficient and higher quality services to government. Our cloud-based services maximise our ability to provide services to public service customers elsewhere in the world where they are aligned with our core values and mission. We take security and risk management very seriously, and engage with external experts and auditors to ensure we identify and manage cyber security risks in the delivery of any contract to protect both us and the Buyer.Equal opportunity
As a business, we are working to continually review and improve our provision of equal opportunities in the company day-to-day operations and during recruitment. All recruitment adverts are written mindfully of inclusivity, and are reviewed by an external HR specialist for this purpose. We also use language analysis tools for this purpose. Salaries are stated on job adverts, and we are open about salary scales within the business.
We support flexible working and remote working, and the majority of our staff are not on full-time contracts. Our recruitment campaigns make this clear, and we acknowledge that more traditional set hours are not suited to everyone’s situation.
We engage with groups in our local ecosystem that help with diversity of recruitment and engagement.
We have a robust modern slavery policy, written in conjunction with a number of other SMEs and NGOs working in our industry.Wellbeing
Our services are developed for, and used by, law enforcement. Several wellbeing benefits arise, not least a reduction in time spent by investigators and other law enforcement personnel reviewing and assessing disturbing illegal imagery. Our services assist in the identification of victims of online crimes thus reducing harm to those victims and to wider society.
The CameraForensics approach to employee wellbeing is driven from the company’s healthy and safety policy and assessments, with the topic an ongoing entry in the risk assessment process. Given the area work within, the team are provided with a fortnightly opportunity to discuss concerns or issues with senior staff, and have the open offer of support via professional counseling services if required. No staff are permitted to view IIoC material (not an issue when working in the UK, but potentially in other legislative environments abroad), and have full authority and empowerment to leave a situation where they feel that this might happen. Exposure to descriptions of acts is done so mindfully, and at minimum to allow the technical work to be carried out. Where results of crawl or search activities have the potential to discover IIoC, staff interact with the data using console-based activities. As an additional safeguard, the CameraForensics platform automatically hides any images flagged as potential IIoC, and the option is available to hide all images.
CameraForensics senior management periodically review the company’s approach to this topic as part of the company’s health and safety assessment and continuous improvement activities.
Pricing
- Price
- £912.73 to £1,580.16 a unit a day
- Discount for educational organisations
- No
Service documents
Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format,
email the supplier at info@cameraforensics.com.
Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.