Understanding e-discovery & digital evidence - a look back over the past 30 years
At Cernam we are developing the next generation of digital evidence technology, bringing the principles of digital forensics to the collection and preservation of online evidence. Although we work mainly with web content and “cloud” technologies, our background in e-discovery and corporate investigations gives us a broader perspective on digital evidence.
In our next few blog posts we will look at some of the problems around digital evidence today and how we think they can be solved. To understand the current challenges however, we need to first look at how we got to this point. Our reliance on electronic records as evidence did not emerge overnight and in fact the development of digital evidence can be traced back at least 30 years.
With that in mind we have put together a short tour of the past 30 years, looking at the way business records are used in litigation and the development of workplace technology from the 1980′s to today. Even for us this can be a dry topic so you’ll also find some entertainment references - maybe you don’t remember the lawsuits or the technology changes of a particular decade but you might remember the movies or music.
Our interactive infographic starts out in 1982, at a time when locating documents was far simpler than it is today. A look at the shelves and drawers of an employee could identify most if not all of their business records. In most organisations electronic records were of little concern, limited perhaps to a few floppy disks containing word processing documents. Clearly things have since become rather more complicated for everyone involved in litigation and investigations, but we’ll look at those developments in a later post.
Resurrecting the Cernam blog
After a long hiatus we are resurrecting the Cernam blog. While running the E-Discovery Ireland conference in late 2011 we found there were not enough days in the week to maintain a blog while keeping all of our other plates spinning.
We are hoping that a break of several months and renewed good intentions will make all the difference and we look forward to sharing updates on our work, educational material and our thoughts on developments in e-discovery and digital evidence.
As a reminder, you can follow this blog via RSS, for example using Google Reader. We will also post blog updates to our @CernamOE Twitter account and if you use Twitter you should also follow @CernamOwen and @CernamKaren.
In the meantime for an update on what we have been doing since our last post here is some of our recent press coverage:
- ReadWriteWeb - March 30, 2012 - “Forensics and Facebook: How Cernam Plans to Collect Social Network Evidence“
- SiliconRepublic - March 25, 2012 - “Tech start-up of the week: Cernam“
- Irish Times - January 27, 2012 - “Irish business with tools to dig out digital evidence“
An early Christmas present from Cernam: Capture & Preserve preview
In January we will be launching Capture & Preserve, our purpose-built technology for evidential capture of online content. For a preview of what’s to come take a look at the preview video below, which shows some of the key features in the context of a commercial lawsuit.
Cernam Capture & Preserve allows for the forensically-sound capture of online evidence including content from basic websites, message boards, social networking sites, cloud-based services and web-based enterprise applications. In designing Capture & Preserve we set out to bring forensic rigour to online evidence, moving this field away from screenshots and printouts, towards the type of trustworthy evidence required for digital forensics.
We look forward to sharing more details in the New Year. If you would like to hear more about Cernam Capture & Preserve in the meantime we would love to hear from you, either by email (info@cernam.com) or on Twitter (@CernamOE).
E-Discovery Ireland 2011 - Whitepapers for Download
We finally have a chance to get back to our own Cernam blog after a hectic couple of months organising the E-Discovery Ireland conference. It was a pleasure to be such an integral part of Ireland’s first e-discovery and digital evidence conference and we are hoping to run a similar event in the near future (yes, we are crazy!). We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for attending the conference. It was great to meet so many people who are interested in this area.
Two of our recent white papers were distributed at the event and they are available for download below. If you would like to speak with us about any of our work in this area, please get in touch (karen@cernam.com / owen@cernam.com) or have a look at our other blog posts. We look forward to meeting you all again at a similar event!
Facebook New Messages - Facebook Content as Digital Evidence
Business Records Online - Facing the Reality of End-User Adoption
That’s a wrap – first reactions to E-Discovery Ireland 2011
On Thursday last, October 6th, we held Ireland’s first e-discovery and digital evidence conference.
E-Discovery Ireland 2011 was a one-day event aimed at legal and technology professionals dealing with electronic discovery and the wider use of digital evidence in the Irish courts. The event was a great success and we will post a more detailed summary of the conference in the coming days, but we wanted firstly to highlight some of the online reaction and discussion around the event. Read More
Announcing Cernam’s partnership with GuardTime
We are pleased to announce a partnership with GuardTime, developers of a unique system for digital signatures and secure time-stamping. GuardTime’s Keyless Signatures technology has been integrated within Cernam’s core technology, “Cernam Capture & Preserve”, which enables forensically-sound collection of evidence from websites, social networks, message boards, web-based applications, cloud services and other online sources. As we finalize the beta release of Cernam Capture & Preserve we are delighted to highlight our strategic partnership with GuardTime which represents a key element in our technology for handling online content as digital evidence. Read More
Announcing E-Discovery Ireland 2011
You might have noticed that we have been very busy here at Cernam over the past few weeks and have not been tweeting or blogging as much as we would like. One reason is that we have been working on a rather ambitious event which is taking quite a bit of our time.
E-Discovery Ireland 2011 will be Ireland’s first e-discovery and digital evidence conference and is being held on October 6th and 7th at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire.
We are currently seeking speakers and sponsors for the conference, as well as putting together a group of local practitioners to assist with the content of the conference. If you would like to submit a speaking proposal or talk to us about sponsorship options please get in touch via events@cernam.com or on the conference Twitter account @ediscovery_ie.
For initial information on the conference or to to watch for updates on speakers, registration, etc take a look at www.ediscovery.ie.
This Week in Online Evidence – August 12th 2011
From the Cernam blog
This week we posted a technical podcast discussing a recent project to spec and build a portable workstation tuned for high-volume digital forensics - take a listen!
Online Evidence in Litigation
Eric Goldman at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog reports on a California case involving identification of financial message board participants: ”Defamation Claim Over Stock Board Discussion Easily Dismissed--Desai v. Clark”
Social Media Evidence
Michael Lackey of Mayer Brown in Washington DC discusses the increasingly central role of social media in litigation: “Michael Lackey Jr. on E-Discovery and the Rise of Social Media” (video)
Mara Zazzali-Hogan of Gibbons in Newark highlights a new example of plaintiff’s Facebook content undermining their case: “How a “Stink Bomb” E-Mail and Its Proof That Facebook Pictures Were Deleted Might Have Blown Up a $10.6 Million Verdict”
Ira Pilchen of the ABA summarizes a panel discussion at the ABA’s Toronto conference regarding the impact of social media on the courts: “Social Media Has Benefits and Pitfalls for Courts, Panelists Say” Read More
Tech Podcast: Building a Portable Workstation for Digital Forensics
In our latest podcast we discuss the performance of forensic analysis tools and whether custom-built systems are better suited to digital forensics than off-the-shelf computer systems.
In this podcast one of our summer interns at Cernam, Kevin McGlone of Waterford Institute of Technology, discusses a recent project to spec and build a set of custom systems for bulk forensic processing.
Anyone interested in building a similar system might find the following component list useful:
- 1 * Shuttle XPC SX58H7 Pro
- 1 * Intel Core i7 970 / 3.2 GHz processor
- 4 * Kingston HyperX blu memory
- 1 * eVGA GeForce 210
- 3 * WD VelociRaptor WD4500HLHX
Building a Portable Workstation for Digital Forensics
Building a Portable Workstation for Digital Forensics by Cernam Online Evidence
Since this is our first technology-heavy podcast we would appreciate any feedback, either in the comments or via Twitter (@CernamOwen or @CernamKaren).
This Week in Online Evidence – August 5th 2011
Social Media Evidence
Christopher Boehning and Daniel Toal of Paul Weiss in New York outline legal ethics issues around the use of online evidence: ”Ethical Bounds of Using Evidence From Social Networks”
Social Media & Employment Law
Daniel Ornstein of Proskauer in London discusses social networking misuse with Metropolitican Corporate Counsel: ”Employee Misuse Of Social Networking Found At 43 Percent Of Businesses, According To Proskauer International Labor & Employment Group Survey”
Patrick Collins of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus in New Jersey is interviewed on social media employment law issues: ”Social Media In The Workplace: The New Frontier”
Philip Gordon of Littler Mendelson in Denver discusses recent developments in Facebook terminations: ”When Can Employers Lawfully Fire an Employee for an Offensive Facebook Post? Ask the NLRB” Read More
