Magnet User Summit 2024 Recap
Wow! d I wanted to share a bit about my experience with MUS 2024. I have been fortunate to get to attend (and have fun at) every Magnet User Summit. The event has grown and this year surely not to disappoint. What a great time at the largest Magnet User Summit to date!
A great time in a great location
The event took place at the Embassy Suites in downtown Nashville, TN, and it is a fantastic location—walking distance to Broadway, where much of the live music Nashville is known for can be enjoyed. The event was scheduled to start mid-day on Monday, so I got in Sunday and was able to have a great dinner with all of the interns who helped build the 2024 Magnet Virtual Summit CTF—plus this year’s first place winner, Madi Brumbelow. If you can fly in the day before, I recommend it. Nashville is a great town with amazing music and great people. So of course, I took advantage of some of the nightlife with friends I hadn’t seen in some time. One of the greatest things each year about MUS is catching up with friends and colleagues!
From Left to Right: Jessica Hyde, James Nicholls, Madi Brumbelow, Alayna Cash, Derek Farrell, and Natan Eliezer
Kicking things off with Magnet Copilot and exploring deep fakes
There was a slew of fantastic, featured sessions. Monday started off with a plenary session from Magnet Forensics Chief Innovation Officer, Jad Saliba, and Brandon Epstein of Medex Forensics where they discussed the great work they are doing with regards to synthetic media detection. In the world of deep fakes, and worse, AI-generated Child Sexual Abuse Material, the work in this area to authenticate imagery and understand its source is critical. They then spoke about the new Magnet Copilot, which helps identify if images and video are AI generated. This was a fantastic session and really set the tone for all the great things to come.
A keynote full of awesome surprises—including Magnet One and Mobile View in Axiom
Then, of course, Tuesday started with the Road Ahead keynote with all the leadership of the new Magnet Forensics. They unveiled the revolutionary Magnet One and the vision to redefine what’s possible in the pursuit of justice by bringing together different solutions to work together seamlessly.
And as an Magnet Axiom user, what I was most excited about in the product was the new Mobile View in Axiom 8.0. I love this novel way of showing the app icons on a phone layout (though keep in mind it’s not an exact replica of a phone—it’s an investigative tool that helps visualize apps that are categorized as supported and not supported). I really love that this feature will also show in Portable Case as this is a great way for investigators and other stakeholders to self-discover artifacts of interest in a more natural way—and allow them to see what they are NOT seeing by toggling to the Unsupported App view. This will lead to better communication between examiners and those we support, from attorneys to investigators.
Of course, there was even more great mobile forensics knowledge shared by Chris Vance in the live debut of the Mobile Unpacked episode on iOS Shortcuts. If you missed the summit, be sure to check out this (and all the other) Mobile Unpacked episodes.
Hands-on labs and industry speakers
In addition to the plenary sessions were a combination of hands-on labs, industry speakers, and hands-on sessions with Magnet tools. I really like the mix of lectures and hands-on sessions. Many of the hands-on labs showcase new Magnet tools and features taught by several of the trainers at Magnet. If you haven’t taken a Magnet training class before, it is a great opportunity to get a feel for the quality of those courses and instructors.
I also enjoyed that while many of the hands-on sessions showcased Magnet tools and new features, there were others that were industry-led labs. Some of my favorite sessions came from industry speakers, like Aaron Sparling and Ashley Boldig’s presentation on the Windows Subsystem for Linux and Mitch Kajzer’s presentation on using mobile phone data for reconstructing vehicle crashes based on digital traces.
Lots of fun at MUS 2024
But no Magnet User Summit is all business! There was so much fun (and food) to be had, from the games at the Welcome Reception to the Customer Appreciation Event on Tuesday night. They brought a fantastic band from a previous year’s event…and Jad once again showed that his talents extend way pass the computer keyboard to the guitar!
Making time for wellness
And for those who needed a chill quiet place, the upper deck had a Wellness Zone with seated massage and the chance to get away from the busyness of the summit floor. I love that Magnet takes the concept of wellness and strings it from features in the tool—like blurred pictures, break timers, and audio control for video—to how they take care of examiners at events. It is great to be at an event where you know the organizers *care* about the attendees.
A chance to dive deep on Magnet products
One of the other reasons to attend this event is the ability to meet with the product team and others that are building the tools. If you use Magnet products in your workflow, this event is the perfect time to ask questions, share what the gaps are in your processes, and learn about other tools in the Magnet arsenal. The ability to attend product specific sessions, or better yet stop by each product’s demo station is a perfect opportunity to share your feedback and learn more.
I love that users get to interact this way. That is a large part of the value of attending this user summit. That is who it is about: the folks who use these tools.
Can’t wait to be back!
It was an event full of great networking, learning, and fun! The Magnet User Summit is on my list each year and there is a reason I keep going back. Thanks, Magnet, for another amazing event!
All in all, I would recommend this event for anyone who uses any of Magnet’s products in their lab. The opportunity to be both hands-on with Magnet tools, learn about the newest features, and be able to ask questions of the product and development teams is greater than at industry wide events.
Looking forward to doing it again next year!
