Global Digital Forensics Helps Tackle Social Media to Maximize eDiscovery Benefits
When social media and digital evidence collide, Global Digital Forensics can help.
New York, NY, August 27, 2011 --(PR.com)-- In a world overflowing with Electronically Stored Information (ESI), it only stands to reason that eDiscovery can play a crucial role in deciding the success or failure of most legal cases today. But just having data, doesn’t mean you have digital evidence. It’s the eDiscovery process that takes you from rivers of raw data to the source spring of relevant and admissible evidence. Global Digital Forensics has the experience and savvy necessary to help successfully navigate your case upstream and through those treacherous waters, without running your chances aground.
When it comes to successful eDiscovery, the first steps can be critical. Right out of the gate, one mistake in preserving or acquiring digital data can render that precious needle finally found in the haystack as tainted and inadmissible. Even the simple act of turning a computer off and back on can damage crucial elements like timelines by changing meta information - modified and created times and dates of certain files for instance – exponentially driving up eDiscovery and analysis costs for any subsequent attempts to work around such problems, with no guarantee of success. Making sure accepted and verifiable methods are used every step of the way with meticulous attention paid to chain of custody and other evidentiary procedures is also a must.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Joseph Caruso, CEO/CTO of Global Digital Forensics (GDF) expanded on some of the newer challenges litigators and courts are seeing in the world of eDiscovery, “The new white whale making its presence felt in the realm of eDiscovery is social media. For the last decade, email forensics and analysis was usually considered the holy grail of eDiscovery because it was such a prevalent form of communication, for both private individuals and businesses alike, outpacing telephone calls and paper forms combined, and more often than not, that’s where the 'smoking gun' would inevitably be found. But today, social media sites like Facebook are quickly turning that paradigm on its head.”
A study sponsored by Clearwell (now part of Symantec) and Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) called Trends in E-Discovery: Cloud and Collection, lends statistics gathered from over one hundred Fortune 2000 companies and government agencies to this observation. A full 58% of the survey respondents said that in 2011 they expect the need to manage social media applications will be a standard part of the eDiscovery process, up more than double from the 27% that thought so in 2010. A whopping 79% of the survey respondents named Facebook as the social media application which will affect their eDiscovery plans the most, followed by Twitter at 64% and LinkedIn at 55%.
“Keeping pace with evolving technologies and the newest social trends of communication is what really separates the contenders from the pretenders when it comes to the eDiscovery game. We’ve been involved in computer forensics and digital evidence since floppy disks were all the rage. What kept us viable all these years is our constant striving to stay ahead of the newest trends and master the nuances of each. Once you slip behind the times, you may as well turn in your keys, because your journey will quickly come to a screeching halt once your clients start losing cases because you were not ahead of the curve,” Caruso added.
It only takes one weak link in the eDiscovery chain holding up your case for it to snap, and that weak link can hide itself anywhere along its length, from the initial call to preserve and acquire digital evidence, to the painstaking work of forensic analysis needed to reduce the vast amounts of raw ESI to a manageable yield of only the most relevant and useful data. Then of course comes the grueling task of ensuring admissible and acceptable production of the relevant digital evidence to use in court.
Global Digital Forensics is up to the task. Whether the trail of digital footprints leads to email, Weblogs, or social media, on any of the plethora of digital systems and devices in use today, you can always count on Global Digital Forensics to turn your raw ESI into quality digital evidence with highly detailed reports, timelines and player lists, as well as expert witness testimony, all of which will stand up to the highest scrutiny of the courts and opposing counsel.
Global Digital Forensics understands that every case is as unique as the client. To speak with an eDiscovery specialist about how GDF can help your case, call toll free (800) 868-8189, or visit the GDF website at www.globaldigitalforensics.com for more information. The earlier in the process you get digital evidence specialists like GDF involved, the better your chances of success.
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When it comes to successful eDiscovery, the first steps can be critical. Right out of the gate, one mistake in preserving or acquiring digital data can render that precious needle finally found in the haystack as tainted and inadmissible. Even the simple act of turning a computer off and back on can damage crucial elements like timelines by changing meta information - modified and created times and dates of certain files for instance – exponentially driving up eDiscovery and analysis costs for any subsequent attempts to work around such problems, with no guarantee of success. Making sure accepted and verifiable methods are used every step of the way with meticulous attention paid to chain of custody and other evidentiary procedures is also a must.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Joseph Caruso, CEO/CTO of Global Digital Forensics (GDF) expanded on some of the newer challenges litigators and courts are seeing in the world of eDiscovery, “The new white whale making its presence felt in the realm of eDiscovery is social media. For the last decade, email forensics and analysis was usually considered the holy grail of eDiscovery because it was such a prevalent form of communication, for both private individuals and businesses alike, outpacing telephone calls and paper forms combined, and more often than not, that’s where the 'smoking gun' would inevitably be found. But today, social media sites like Facebook are quickly turning that paradigm on its head.”
A study sponsored by Clearwell (now part of Symantec) and Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) called Trends in E-Discovery: Cloud and Collection, lends statistics gathered from over one hundred Fortune 2000 companies and government agencies to this observation. A full 58% of the survey respondents said that in 2011 they expect the need to manage social media applications will be a standard part of the eDiscovery process, up more than double from the 27% that thought so in 2010. A whopping 79% of the survey respondents named Facebook as the social media application which will affect their eDiscovery plans the most, followed by Twitter at 64% and LinkedIn at 55%.
“Keeping pace with evolving technologies and the newest social trends of communication is what really separates the contenders from the pretenders when it comes to the eDiscovery game. We’ve been involved in computer forensics and digital evidence since floppy disks were all the rage. What kept us viable all these years is our constant striving to stay ahead of the newest trends and master the nuances of each. Once you slip behind the times, you may as well turn in your keys, because your journey will quickly come to a screeching halt once your clients start losing cases because you were not ahead of the curve,” Caruso added.
It only takes one weak link in the eDiscovery chain holding up your case for it to snap, and that weak link can hide itself anywhere along its length, from the initial call to preserve and acquire digital evidence, to the painstaking work of forensic analysis needed to reduce the vast amounts of raw ESI to a manageable yield of only the most relevant and useful data. Then of course comes the grueling task of ensuring admissible and acceptable production of the relevant digital evidence to use in court.
Global Digital Forensics is up to the task. Whether the trail of digital footprints leads to email, Weblogs, or social media, on any of the plethora of digital systems and devices in use today, you can always count on Global Digital Forensics to turn your raw ESI into quality digital evidence with highly detailed reports, timelines and player lists, as well as expert witness testimony, all of which will stand up to the highest scrutiny of the courts and opposing counsel.
Global Digital Forensics understands that every case is as unique as the client. To speak with an eDiscovery specialist about how GDF can help your case, call toll free (800) 868-8189, or visit the GDF website at www.globaldigitalforensics.com for more information. The earlier in the process you get digital evidence specialists like GDF involved, the better your chances of success.
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Contact
Global Digital Forensics
Aris Demos
800 868 8189
www.globaldigitalforensics.com
Aris Demos
800 868 8189
www.globaldigitalforensics.com
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