BrightTALK Hosts Digital Investigation Summit

At this online summit, experts will share information on trends in digital investigation, answer questions, and offer strategies and tips to professionals in e-discovery and computer forensics. BrightTALK hosts livewebcast summits each week around themes that matter to businessprofessionals.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 28, 2008, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time

WHO: Presenters at the Digital Investigation Summit include:

Carrie Whitcomb, director of the National Center for Forensic Science

Dave Kleiman, board member of the National Center for Forensic Science

Jeffrey Ritter, CEO of Waters Edge

Patrick Eitenbichler, director of product marketing for HP InformationManagement

Paul Luehr, managing director and deputy general counsel, Stroz Friedberg,LLC

Sean Regan, product marketing manager for Symantec Enterprise Vault

Steven Burgess, founder of Burgess Forensics

iPods Helping Criminal Investigations

Some months ago we reported on the use of iPods as an educational tool, and provided information on schools and universities that have incorporated this technology for the benefit of their students. Our report today involves a more complex use of iPods; iPods used by investigators to collect evidence and by defense attorneys. iPods' storage capability and functionality makes them a perfect device for defense attorneys and criminal investigators. They are inexpensive technology to record or format lengthy information. Maybe its creators did not envisage iPods for purposes other than entertainment but, as my grandmother said, a chair can help reach higher places.

In 2006, a U.S. District Court judge in Toledo, Ohio, approved the purchase of six iPods and power adaptor to be used by defendants in a multi-count drug conspiracy case. The goal was to provide the iPods to six defendants so they could listen to the FBI's wiretaps of their conversations before the case went to trial. Defendants were to listen to these wiretaps either at the U.S. Marshal's office -those detained- or at their defense attorney's office. Formatting the wiretaps into CDs cost the tax payers between $80,000 and $100,000 while the iPods and power adaptors cost less than $2,000 (about $330 per iPod). Content from 13 CDs were inexpensively downloaded in each iPod. One of the defense attorneys in that case said "the iPods are easy to use, save a lot of money, and control access to the information pursuant to the orders of the court. This is a promising solution to a real practical problem." Most of the defendants in this case were convicted; and, as for the iPods, it is not reported but our guess is that the court kept them; not the defendants.

Criminal investigators are also using iPods to record conversations; video-tape certain scenes; and take handy photographs; all these with an innocent-looking device. iPods can store movies, encrypted files, contacts, calendar information, etc., and this data can be later downloaded in a PC. Forensic experts have revealed that iPods have some special features that allow certain content to be hidden so secret information is not noticeable. Experts from Kroll Ontrack, a computer forensic company, state that iPods can serve as external hard drive to a host computer so files can be transferred through programs such as Windows Explorer, instead of iTunes. Kroll Ontrack has conducted forensic examinations on iPods and recommends considering the following issues when an iPod forensic investigation is conducted,

Lawsuit Tsunami: Good for E-Discovery?

Lawsuits driven by the financial crisis may be good news for companies that sell electronic discovery software and services.

As InformationWeek reported yesterday, the tech sector hasn't been immune to the stock market slide. But one segment may find its fortunes bolstered by the turmoil. E-discovery vendors stand to benefit as a tsunami of lawsuits washes over the financial services market.

An Associated Press story reported yesterday that state governments are suing or considering lawsuits against various actors in the financial crisis, including investment banks, bond ratings agencies, and agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Why Records Management?

Recent events are changing the corporate e-discovery climate, causing some business leaders to question the effectiveness of an ad-hoc, “on-the-fly” approach. As high profile cases, including Qualcomm (“Qualcomm and Attorneys Sanctioned for ‘Monumental’ E-Discovery Violations,” Findlaw, 2008 ) and Morgan Stanley (“Morgan Stanley to Pay Millions for E-Mail Mismanagement,” E-Discovery Law, September 2007), have highlighted, waiting until the subpoena arrives and assuming that IT can quickly and easily make the requested materials available--and have the ability to preserve them--is an increasingly tricky bet.

IT analysts, such as Gartner, have long advocated the cost and risk savings available by taking a proactive approach to e-discovery and using an archive with solid records management policies. However, despite numerous cost justification case studies, the adoption rate of this technology has been relatively slow. But this might change in short order, as recent e-mail and IT-related fiascos, including Bear Stearns (“Two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers indicted,” Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2008) and the White House (“Where Are the White House E-Mails?” Time, Jan. 23, 2008), have left corporations scrambling. It seems that nothing speeds corporate action faster than legal challenges with major cost and negative publicity implications.

Will the “summer of shame” (sub-prime fallout and the continued government e-mail scandal) finally turn the procrastinators into proactive managers of electronic records? Or will we continue to see corporations wait for the inevitable subpoena to happen before taking action and pay the price? Only time will tell, but one fact is clear: In today’s corporate climate, electronic records management solutions have never been more in demand.