E-Discovery and Computer Forensics
What do you know about ediscovery and computer forensics? There is now a new crime scene. In the cases of lawsuits with companies and businesses, computer forensics can now use electronic evidence, called ediscovery, to look into the background of the company and employees. There are also ediscovery attorneys whose jobs are to assist in these investigations.
The electronic world regarding your business can literally become a crime scene for computer forensic analysts to investigate. Computers and related files and documents both on and offline can be searched and retrieved. You may be very surprised at how much information can be recovered and from what different sources and media sources.
Ediscovery can pull evidence from your:
- Hard drives
- CD ROM read/write
- 3.5 floppy
- Docking station
- Zip/jaz drive
- Emails
- Online servers
- etc
Forensics is able to recover evidence from places you might have thought were deleted or erased. They can even recover corrupted files, damaged files and lost files. Obviously, like paper evidence, any attempts to hide or destroy documents will not look favorably on you in a lawsuit.
Some tips to keep in mind:
- Don’t destroy anything while an investigation is under way.
- Seek the help and advice of an expert to help protect you.
- Make it clear to your employees not to delete documents.
- Remember your emails can also be recovered even if you delete them.
- Get serious with your IT department.
Computer forensics and ediscovery have come a long way and continue to grow and expand. Your best bet is to learn as much as possible on the laws regarding ediscovery to make sure you and your company are abiding by them properly in the event that something should happen or you should fall under investigation.
