Computer Forensics

Computer forensics, a branch of digital forensic science, is considered by most to be a combination of science and a legal art form. Computer forensic examiners utilize active and inactive data on electronic devices and computer systems such as e-mails, electronic documents, log files, registry entries and web browser history in a forensically sound manner with the goal of identifying and presenting facts and opinions about the information.

Electronic evidence needs to be collected, stored and analyzed in compliance with strict evidentiary preservation rules in order to be admissible in court. Furthermore, a computer forensic examiner has to be able to report his/her findings in a clear, concise and accurate manner that can be understood by both technical and non-technical people.

Computer forensics can be used in both criminal and civil cases such as:

• Theft of trade secrets and intellectual property
• Possession or distribution of illegal files
• Software piracy and/or copyright infringement
• Penetration/compromise of a network by a hacker or employees
• Control or exploitation of a computer through malicious software
• Recovery of encrypted volumes, folders and files
• Embezzlement and fraud
• Spousal misconduct and divorce
• Cyber stalking and harassment
• Probation or parole violations
• Employee misconduct and misuse of corporate assets
• Wrongful termination

Meridian Discovery’s certified computer forensic experts are equipped with the tools and experience to identify, preserve, recover and analyze electronically stored information (ESI) and present facts and their opinions in a defensible manner according to the Federal Rules of Evidence. From acquisition to expert testimony, our experts operate with a court trial in mind and use stringent chain of custody practices. Our technology and expertise help increase the accuracy and efficacy of the digital investigation process. We follow industry best-practices and our work product can withstand close scrutiny.

HIGHLIGHTS

Remote Enterprise Data Collections

Meridian Discovery provides enterprise data collection services for organizations that cannot tolerate any service disruption. We connect to workstations and servers remotely over an IP network, mount their storage systems and/or memory in a forensically sound manner and conduct live forensics, data recovery and forensic examinations.

Mobile Forensics

Handheld devices can contain large amounts of discoverable information. We have built the necessary tools to acquire data from handheld devices and incorporate it into our electronic discovery workflow.

If the device is not managed by an enterprise server, such as a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES), most of the data that can be found on the handheld device will most likely not be available anywhere else in the organization. Moreover, the handheld device may also have additional ESI such as third party instant messaging data, images, videos or other electronic documents stored on the device’s internal RAM or on a flash memory card. This data can be collected, recovered if deleted, and processed along with data collected from the organization’s network.

What can be collected from a handheld device?

Typically, we collect the following from handheld devices:

• E-mail messages
• Calendar entries
• Tasks
• Notes
• Contacts
• Phone call logs
• SMS and PIN messages
• Images and videos
• Other electronic documents stored on internal device memory or flash memory

Certified Electronic Data Disposal

Traces of electronic data can remain on electronic devices and hard drives for a very long time. Meridian Discovery provides secure data destruction services to ensure that your sensitive information such as financial information, intellectual property or medical records do not fall into the wrong hands. Upon conclusion of any purging and destruction services, we provide a Certificate of Destruction along with a log documenting all drives destroyed.

Expert Witness Testimony and Review

Our computer forensic examiners document every detail of your case and provide clear, concise and accurate reports that can be used to present the electronic evidence in your case. We stand behind our findings and our certified experts are qualified to testify in court if required.

In the event that your opponent engages a computer forensic expert witness, Meridian Discovery can provide professional expert review and test the accuracy and validity of the reports opposing counsel presents.