Most recent release information 25.1.0.x

• Throughout the ESPA analysis center the term RTT (Round-Trip Time) has been replaced with TA (Timing Advance). This is because most operators now, with the exception of Verizon, refer to their files as TA files. For example, the RTT data tab and the RTT arc pop-up are now named the TA data tab and the TA arc pop-up respectively.

  

• There have been multiple enhancements to the Call, Geo-loc, TA arc and HO pop-ups.

  • You can now customize the order of the information displayed on the Call, Geo-loc, TA arc and HO pop-ups. This is done using the Call/Geo-loc information columns dialog box, by selecting then dragging and dropping the items into the order you want them displayed. Note the Date item is always used to group the information on the Call pop-up, irrespective of its positioning in the list. Click here for a short video showing how to customize the order.

    

  • The new Include selected TA and HO in the call pop-up setting allows you to display the items selected on the TA and HO tabs in the Call pop-up. Click here for a short video showing how to merge all the data onto the Call pop-up.

    

    Even if no calls are selected on the CDR data tab any TA and HO data selected still displays in the Call pop-up.

    

  • You can now select to include the Original date, Original time and Call loc on the Call pop-up.

    

  • You can now select to include the Cell, Record type, Sector and Start/End on the TA arc pop-up.

    

  • You can now select to include the Record type on the HO pop-up.

    

  • The Cell coverage tab now includes select all options making it quicker for you to select what you want displayed on the map therefore making it more efficient when you are exporting the data to Google Earth.

    • Select all - Coverage, Select all - Dominant, Select all - Signal Contour and Select all - Signal Trail has been added to the cell level output parent folder and the Favorites folder:

      

    • Select all has been added to a number of folders, such as the cell level output subfolders.

      

    Click here for a short video showing this new select all GAR cell coverage feature.

  • On the Cell coverage tab:

    • the original Signal trail has been renamed Signal contour trail and displays on the map the route you drove during the drive test. For the selected cell, the signal power level is represented on the map using different colors for each signal level band. The Legend view displays a key that details the ranges of each signal level band. These signal level bands are defined prior to running your cell footprint analysis in the Cell footprint analysis dialog box. Grey represents areas that you drove where no signal was detected by the selected cell.

      

    • the new Signal trail displays on the map the route you drove during the drive test where signal was detected. The route is displayed using the same color as the coverage color. There is nothing displayed on the route where no signal was detected, unlike the Signal contour trail which displays grey dots.

      

  • Latitude range and Longitude range columns have been added to the Common location-time analysis on the Geo-loc analysis tab. These display the first and last latitudes and longitudes of the map location.

    

  • A new Settings & Analyses group has been added to the Input and settings view. This group has two purposes:

    • The settings on the left-side allow you to quickly select some of the most commonly changed settings that are otherwise set on the Advanced options dialog box. These settings are coupled with those on the Advanced options dialog box.

      

    • The analyses on the right-side allow you to select which call and geo-loc analyses you want to run without opening the Advanced options dialog box. These settings override your default settings on the Advanced options dialog box. A red border around an analysis indicates that it is not selected to run; a green border indicates it is selected. Prior to refreshing the data you should ensure you have the correct analyses selected. If required, once your data is loaded you can also click an analysis to run it individually. These settings are coupled with the and settings on the Call analysis and Geo-loc analyses tabs.

      

  • The Call analysis and Geo-loc analyses tabs now displays or before each analysis name to indicate whether or not the analysis has been run. For an analysis to be run it must either have been:

    • selected on Analysis to run on refresh on the Advanced options dialog box, then Refresh clicked.

    • selected on the Settings & Analyses of the Input and settings view.

    • run individually by clicking the before the analysis name.

    

  The associate's state is now included in the Frequent numbers Excel download of the Frequent numbers IQ packet, and the ESPA analysis center's Frequent numbers csv download.

  

  

• Two new administrator settings have been added to the Smart Track settings screen: Send "First data alert" notification for administrators and Exclude domains.

  Previously when OSS-ESPA received the first PRTT data or GPS ping from the operator it sent an email to the case creator, case assignees and administrator to notify them that the first alert had been received. The email is titled "First Data <person name> - First Data ALERT". However, these new settings now allow administrators to define whether or not administrators receive this email and exclude certain domains from receiving them.

  

• A new Alert for TA prospective data enabled setting has been added to the Smart Track alerts & notifications screen. Select if you want to receive an email notification each time an ATT timing advance ping is received. Due to the frequency of the pings, you may prefer not to receive email notifications. Note, this setting is only displayed if the case contains an ATT phone, and the alert type is either Geo-fence or Reverse geo-fence.

  

• The phone communication alert, configured on the Smart Track alerts & notifications screen, has been enhanced. One of the features of this alert is that it can notify you when a phone you are intercepting communicates with specific phones of your choice. The enhancements are that:

  • the associated phones list now also includes associated phone numbers from the pen register data as new numbers arrive; previously only phone numbers from the imported CDRs were displayed.

  • you can now also manually add a phone number of interest which doesn't exist in the CDRs or pen register data.

    

• The Link analysis tab of the People and devices analysis, on the People and devices screen has been enhanced providing you with an easy-to-use interactive graphical representation of the links between the targets and their contacts in your current case, and their links to targets and contacts in other cases.

  

  For information on global identifiers refer to Using the people and devices analyses.

• Added at version 25.1.0.55:

  The Link analysis tab of the People and devices analysis, on the People and devices screen has been enhanced so that you can quickly see which nodes are selected making it easier to move and position multiple nodes at the same time. When a node is selected it is highlighted in yellow. You can select multiple nodes at a time by pressing either ctrl or shift on your keypad and either:

  • clicking the node, or

  • clicking your left-mouse button and dragging the pointer over the nodes you want to select.

  

• The Advanced view cases screen's Phones and ICW tabs now include two new columns related to global identifiers: Identifier type and Identifier category.

  

  

  For information on global identifiers refer to Using Global identifiers.

• The Frequent contacts and Common contacts analyses on the People and Devices Analysis now supports social media data.

• Multiple new columns and filters have been added to the People and devices analysis, on the People and devices screen, to support social media and also providing you with more information and more options when searching the analysis results. These are: Target name, Target state, Target account, Associate number, Associate name, Associate state and Associate account.

  

• The People and Devices screen now shows which state an associate's ICW (in contact with) is from. The state displays alongside the ICW on both the People list and the X-Cases alert: history information.

  

• The Recorrelate selected button on the Manage files screen now also applies to target development files, previously it was only for CDRs. This means that if you have updated the cell tower data in the case, or if you believe the global cell tower data file may have been updated, then you can use this button to now ensure your target development files, as well as your CDR files, correlate with the cell tower.

  

• Added at version 25.1.0.61:

  An EMR filters setting has been added to the Live target summary settings dialog box. This allows you to filter the IQ packet report details based on any filters you have available on your Evidence Management and Reporting screen. This includes any filters you have saved, and any global filters saved by your monitoring supervisor or administrator.

  

• Added at version 25.1.0.61:

  The Smart Track settings on the People and devices window has been updated to include settings where you can include the codes from the roaming operators. If you include these codes, then when the phone is not on its normal network, you can still receive GPS pings and Smart Track alerts. The following example shows a T-Mobile phone which provides settings for a Roaming ATT code and a Roaming Verizon code.

  

• Added at version 25.1.0.55:

  The associate's state is now included in the Frequent numbers Excel download of the Frequent numbers IQ packet, and the ESPA analysis center's Frequent numbers csv download.

  

  

  The associate's state is now included in the Frequent numbers Excel download of the Frequent numbers IQ packet, and the ESPA analysis center's Frequent numbers csv download.

  

  

• Added at version 25.1.0.61:

  An EMR filters setting has been added to the Live target summary settings dialog box. This allows you to filter the IQ packet report details based on any filters you have available on your Evidence Management and Reporting screen. This includes any filters you have saved, and any global filters saved by your monitoring supervisor or administrator.

  

• Added at version 25.1.0.61:

  A new Admin custom IQ packet report settings screen has been added which allows administrators to create global IQ packet configurations which are then available to all account users to select in Custom IQ packet settings on the New IQ packet screen. All global configurations are displayed with a (Global) suffix.

  

  To open this new screen a Custom settings button has been added to the Admin IQ packet settings screen. This screen is opened from the main menu by clicking Settings, Admin settings, then in Global data click IQ packet settings.

  

  For information refer to Creating global IQ packets.

• The Identifier and Name settings on the Global identifiers upload screen have had check-boxes added to allow you to select multiple identifiers and names. A preview of the data in your selected file is now also displayed.

  

• Added at version 25.1.0.61:

  Using the Global identifiers feature, you can now upload a file containing calls between incarcerated offenders and their associates. Also known as jail calls, inmate tolls and prisoner call details. These calls are obtained from correctional facilities that monitor the inmates calling activity. To support this feature:

  • A new tab, Imported DoC (Department of Corrections), has been added to the Global identifiers screen. This tab lists all the offenders' associates. You can click on an associate number to view the offenders they are in contact with. If the associate appears in an OSS-ESPA case file, then this displays in the Associate info column, where you can click to view and edit the associate's information, or click to view the x-case history which details the cases, case date, and case target.

    

  • The new DoC upload screen allows administrators, or users who have the Global identifiers manager permission, to upload a DoC file. This screen is opened by clicking at the top-right of the Imported DoC tab.

    

    You must enter a mapping column in File location and File event type if they are not automatically mapped in Location name and Event type respectively. In the previous graphic Location name is mapped to SubID automatically but there is no mapping for Event type so one must be entered in File event type.

  • The Link analysis tab on the People and devices analysis tab on the People and devices screen also displays the DoC links as shown below.

    

  For information refer to Managing DoC identifiers.

• The target development analysis now displays a cell site number; this is the number of cell sites that fall on a location, or a location with its buffer. Devices in the higher number of sites may be of more interest in your investigation. The number of sites is displayed:

  • in the Target development preview tab of the Manage files screen. The Intersects filter can be used to display only the devices located in the TA Arc and location, or the TA arc and location buffer. You can then click Save to case analyses if you want to view the filtered data on the ESPA analysis center.

    

  • on the ESPA analysis center where you can visualize the number of sites where the TA arcs intersect with the location or location buffer.

    

  • in the Target development (Through Geofence/Tower dump) IQ packet, the Excel downloads on the Target development - Arc and location and the Target development - Arc and buffer slides now contain a new column titled Sites.

    

• The target development analysis in the Target development preview tab of the Manage files screen now displays the number of correlated and uncorrelated data. Uncorrelated data is data from a tower that is not in OSS-ESPA's tower database, resulting in the tower's location being unknown. The new Correlation filter allows you to filter the data to only show either the correlated data or the uncorrelated data. If the filter is not set then all data is displayed.

  

• The multi-factor authentication methods have been enhanced and now also support the Google and Microsoft authenticator apps. This enhancement impacts both OSS-ESPA and the G-Scout App.

  

  For information refer to Multi-factor authentication.

• Added at version 25.1.0.55:

  Two new multi-factor authentication options have been added: SMS or E-mail and App Authentication or E-mail. These give users the choice of where the code is sent. These settings are used along with Request e-mail validation on first login of the day.

  

  For information refer to Multi-factor authentication.

• You can now perform searches on an IMSI and IMEI on the following screens:

  • Advanced view cases screen, where it searches in the CDR files, Target development files, and the pen register data. The matching results can be viewed on the screen.

  • Deconfliction search screen, with Search type set to Phone number, where it searches in the CDR files and pen register data. This screen allows you to enter a single identifier, and sends a report of all the cases the identifier was found in.

    

  • Batch X-Case deconfliction screen, where it searches in the CDR files and pen register data. This screen allows you to upload multiple identifiers in a file, and sends a report of all the cases the identifiers were found in.

    

• Monitoring administrators can now select whether or not it is mandatory for a monitor to always categorize SMS and MMS when they open a message using the new Mandatory SMS/MMS categorization in first open setting. If Mandatory SMS/MMS categorization in first open is enabled then the following message is displayed and the monitor cannot close the chat timeline window without setting a category.

  

  Mandatory SMS/MMS categorization in first open has been added to both the Monitor management settings screen so that you can set whether or not this applies to all queues by default, and the Create new monitoring queue and Editing queue screen screens to apply on a per queue basis.

  

  

  For information refer to How to set if SMS/MMS categorization is mandatory.

• When a monitor selects to categorize a communication as either Privileged or Blocked a message is now displayed notifying them that once this setting is saved only users with a monitoring permission of Administrator can then access the communication and change the communication's category.

  

• Additional controls have been added to the Audio playback window to improve your experience when listening to calls.

  • the rewind and forward now moves in steps of 5 seconds.

  • the equalizer allows you to adjust the pitches in the sound making it easier to hear the voice over other sounds on the recording.

  • the playback speed can now be adjusted. It can be slowed down to 25% of the original speed or increased to double the original speed.

  • you can highlight a section of the call and set it to repeatedly loop.

  

• Sometimes an operator supplies multiple legs for the same call. When this happens it creates duplicate communications that are individually listed on the Live monitoring screen's Worklist and the Evidence management and reporting screen's Working Copy. If OSS-ESPA detects that they are the same it now marks any duplicates with along with the other communication number.

  

  There are occasions where it is not possible for OSS-ESPA to detect a communication is a duplicate, and in this instance you can now mark a communication as a duplicate. For a communication to be marked as a duplicate it must have the same: target phone number, associate phone number, communication type, call direction, and the call timespan must be the same +/- 30 seconds. To mark a communication as a duplicate, right-click the communication number and enter the other communication number.

  

  To remove a communication as being a duplicate, right-click the communication and select Remove duplicate relationship.

  

  For information refer to How to manage duplicate communications.

• The Live monitoring screen's Worklist and the Evidence management and reporting screen's Working Copy have both been updated to display the target and associate alias names when available, and you can perform a search on the alias name.

  

The multi-factor authentication methods have been enhanced and now also support the Google and Microsoft authenticator apps. This enhancement impacts both OSS-ESPA and the G-Scout App.

For information refer to Multi-factor authentication.