Informative Articles About Digital Forensics Litigation Support
How Data Recovery Could Become Critical For Business Survival And What To Do In Case Of Data Loss
A Scenario of What Could Happen Just imagine this scenario. You own a highly profitable specialty retail store that stock thousands of parts. These parts are procured from the best sources that you have identified over many years, based on product quality, timely deliveries, reasonable prices and customer support. You have also fixed the re-order levels based on years of experience. These re-order levels are the basis for automatically triggering replenishment requests when the stock of a part reaches danger levels. All the data, parts specifications, selling prices, supplier details, inventory accounts, re-order levels, consumption statistics, negotiated prices and other such critical information are stored in your computer system at the back office. You do back up these data onto magnetic tapes. However you have never checked the reliability of these backup tapes. One day, during a severe thunderstorm, your computer disks become unreadable. And you find that the backup tapes have become unreliable with the restored data being no better than useless garbage. Now imagine the disastrous impact such data loss could have on your business operations and profitability. You might be able to reconstruct the part specifications and selling prices from paper records. However, re-identifying the preferred suppliers, the replenishment stock levels and negotiated prices for each of the thousands of parts might prove a highly disruptive exercise, if at all possible. The result would be a serious loss of control…
Read MoreElectronic Discovery-Why aren’t more law firms using it
As the technology age creeps upon us and forces us reevaluate our personal lives in everything that we do, the same can be said for how lawyers practice. Partners who have been tied to their pen and paper presentations are now being confronted with a phenomenon that has started to pick up speed since the early 90’s- Electronic Discovery Requests. In the general practice of law, opposing counsels will ask for relevant and pertinent data from each other under the aegis of full disclosure. But what happens when this information is contained on someone’s computer, more specifically an email, word document, or even an excel spreadsheet? Precisely, many lawyers do NOT know what to do. This is where the niche practitioners of the field of electronic discovery come into place. These consultants and technologists assist lawyers and firms every day with their electronic discovery needs. From assisting with drafting proper discovery requests, to helping the firm understand how to deal with electronic discovery vendors to process their information, it truly is a growing field in this day and age.So why is it that many law firms are not up to speed on this segment of practice. For many firms, there is no necessity yet to embrace this technology. But that will change in the near future as more opposing counsels levy electronic discovery requests against them to fulfill. Courts are starting to require…
Read MoreImplementing Threats, Risk And Security Audits
People used to close business deals with a handshake. They looked one another in the eye. Today, more and more transactions are electronic, anonymous and, in too many cases, fraudulent. Any organization that stores or moves important information on an electronic network is putting its information at risk. A criminal on the other side of the world or an apparently loyal employee may have the ability to wreak havoc, by stealing, deleting or exposing confidential information. The Computer Crime and Security Survey, conducted by the Computer Security Institute and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, indicates almost two-thirds of the large corporations and government agencies it surveyed lost money when their computer security broke down. The survey noted that 9 out of 10 respondents had computer security breaches during the previous 12 months. Proprietary information worth $170.8 million was stolen from 41 respondents. Fraud cost 40 respondents $115.8 million. When only 45 per cent of executives in North America said they conduct security audits on their e-commerce systems, (around the world, fewer than 35 per cent had conducted security audits) it becomes obvious that organizations must improve their defenses quickly. The first step in protecting information assets is a Threat and Risk Assessment (TRA). Without the information it provides, organizations are in danger of fixing only what is broken and ignoring potential hazards. While the specifics of a TRA will be unique at each…
Read MoreSolving Crime With Computer Forensics
Computer Forensics is the scientific study of computers or computer related data in relation to an investigation by a law enforcement agency for use in a court of law. While this technology may be as old as computers themselves, the advances in technology are constantly revising this science. In the technological old days, computer forensics was mostly related to data dumps, printing out every keystroke that had been logged on a computer in a series of eight digits, all of them zeroes and ones. Literally cases of paper would be used for the printing of the materials. Systems analysts would then have to convert all of the data into hex and then translate the value into whatever the actual keystroke was. In this way, it was possible to go over all of the data and figure out at what point the computer and the corresponding program crashed. Like computers and technology, Computer forensics has evolved by leaps and bounds since those days of old. While all computer language still ultimately boils down to ones and zeroes or binary and then hex, the means by which programs are created, run and utilized has changed drastically. This new science has done well to keep up with the task at hand. Now hard drives can be wiped clean. However, without an unconditional format (and in rare cases, even with the unconditional switch) the data can still…
Read MoreHow To Use Metadata As An Examination Tool
By Nicholas J. Deleault In today’s computer dependant world, the zealous advocate must be able to navigate his way through every conceivable form of discovery in order to effectively represent his or her client. Failure to seek the appropriate records or the failure to respond to discovery requests with the appropriate electronic discovery knowledge could potentially expose both client and attorney to the risk of sanctions for discovery abuses and/or result in the spoliation of evidence. Knowledge of the electronic evidence is crucial to any attorney hoping to retain clients. Once electronic evidence is in hand though, an attorney faces additional obstacles, specifically, regarding how to properly use such evidence. Gaining a true understanding of metadata can mean the difference between success and failure. Metadata is more than simple electronic evidence. General electronic discovery typically considers easily accessible electronic files, such as those on an active network file server. Metadata is more obscure and difficult to locate, and is found through an examination of often hidden and deleted files, or even left over file fragments that were supposed to be deleted. Specifically, metadata describes how, when and by whom particular set of data is collected and formatted. Metadata can often be thought of as the “DNA” of documents. It is hidden from view and often contains the most damaging information. Discovering the metadata behind a piece of data, such as a document or…
Read MoreElectronic Discovery 2.0
Electronic Discovery, or “e-discovery” refers to the discovery of data from electronic storage and other electronic media for example e-mails, Hard Disk Drives, Databases, CAD/CAM files, websites and any other electronically-stored information which can be used as an evidence in a law suit. Electronic Discovery 2.0, or “e-discovery 2.0” refers to the next generation of processes, technologies, and services that streamline and modernize the traditional e-discovery process as well as allows businesses to manage huge volumes of data, lower costs, and meet tight deadlines. In this Electronic Discovery process civil litigants seek to acquire information from both parties and from third parties. In the early days Electronic Data & Evidence Recovery meant just handling over a few boxes of paper, but in today’s rapidly growing world where it involves terabytes of electronic data & valuable time, it is a different story. To deal with the increasing volume & complexity of e-discovery issues, companies have to adopt new technologies and processes. If technology has created problem, then it can also solve it. In recent years lot of new technologies have emerged which enables organizations to store and search through their data to fulfill electronic discovery obligations. As the cost of disk storage is reducing, people are moving from tapes to disks. This enables them to keep their data online and readily available for e-discovery from basic keyword search to sophisticated analysis tools. That mines…
Read Morepart 4 of the four part series about Electronic data Discovery
To do truly useful monitoring and analysis of data access requires understanding who the users are and what permissions they have, Summers says, so he expects electronic data discovery tools to begin monitoring policy servers and directory services in the next year. That requires a cohesive strategy for compliance and security, one that requires coordinating IT, business, security and legal needs. To accomplish that strategy, the CIO needs to ensure that monitoring and analysis is deployed holistically, not by just the security team or the network administration staff. Effective fraud and compliance monitoring requires having the right policies in place to manage data and access, as well as analyzing ongoing events in the network, in key applications and in key data stores. The new breed of electronic data discovery tools are fairly expensive and difficult to deploy, notes Gartner’s Williams. Costs for a large enterprise start at $300,000 and can rise beyond
Read Morepart 3 Electronic data Discovery
CIOs should be sure they don’t approach ELECTRONIC DATA DISCOVERY solely as an IT issue. “Let your general counsel manage this,” advises Matt Curtin, founder of the forensic computing consultancy Interhack. An attorney can best decide what records would be needed for legal proceedings. And he can set guidelines on cleansing transaction histories: “The longer you keep the data, the more you have to be subpoenaed,” Curtin says, “so you’ll be hit for more [discovery] requests.” That increases the chances that the other party will find your own errors and mistakes, he notes. Focus on Investigation While the “forensics” label may be misleading, ELECTRONIC DATA DISCOVERY tools can help the enterprise investigate possible security and compliance breaches to identify where a true forensics investigation should take place or to understand a previous breach as part of an effort to strengthen enterprise defenses. Curtin advises that enterprises consider ELECTRONIC DATA DISCOVERY tools that provide search and query capabilities that in-house analysts can use to uncover clues about potential problems, not just canned detection rules. Having lots of monitoring systems isn’t that useful if you don’t know where to focus your attentions. ELECTRONIC DATA DISCOVERY tools can help identify the problematic areas, “so you don’t bother with the rest of the data,” he says.
Read Morepart two of the four part series Electronic data Discovery
Here is the second post on the four part series Electronic data Discovery Beware the Forensics Label Many sales people attach the label “forensics” to their security and compliance analysis tools, and that can be very misleading. In law enforcement circles, “forensics” means a well-defined set of discovery and investigative processes that hold up in court for civil or criminal proceedings. An enterprise that relies on these tools’ records or analysis in, for example, a wrongful termination suit, is probably in for an unpleasant surprise. “It may not hold up in court,” says Schwalm, a former Secret Service agent.
Read MoreThe Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Implications for Nonprofit Organizations
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Implications for Nonprofit Organizations A collaboration between BoardSource and independent sector has produced the following report on the effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on nonprofits. BoardSource and INDEPENDENT SECTOR wish to thank Dan Moore, Vice President for Public Affairs, GuideStar; Tom Hyatt, Principal, Ober Kaler; and Paul Nelson, President, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability for sharing their professional insights and expertise on this document. The American Competitiveness and Corporate Accountability Act of 2002, commonly known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, was signed into law on July 30, 2002. Passed in response to the corporate and accounting scandals of Enron, Arthur Andersen, and others of 2001 and 2002, the law’s purpose is to rebuild public trust in America’s corporate sector. The law requires that publicly traded companies adhere to significant new governance standards that increase board members’ roles in overseeing financial transactions and auditing procedures. While nearly all of the provisions of the bill apply only to publicly traded corporations, the passage of this bill should serve as a wake-up call to the entire nonprofit community. If nonprofit leaders do not ensure effective governance of their organizations, the government will step forward and also regulate nonprofit governance. Indeed, some state attorneys general are already proposing that elements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act be applied to nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit leaders should look carefully at the provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley and determine whether their organizations…
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