Testimonials
Computer Forensics in the Corporate World:
The need for Computer Forensics Investigation in the corporate world is growing due to the findings of studies that show the following:
- 30% to 40% of internet use in the workplace is not related to business
- 64% of employees say they use the internet for personal interests during working hours
- 70% of all internet pornography traffic occurs during the nine-to-five workday
- most studies show 70% of companies have had pornographic sites accessed using their network
- 37% of workers say they surf the web constantly at work
- 90% of employees feel the internet can be addictive
- around 80% of computer crimes and data theft is committed by insiders
- 60% of security breaches occur within the company – behind any firewalls
- 32.6% of workers surf the net with no specific objective; men are twice as active as women
- a company with 1,000 internet users could lose upwards of $35 million in productivity annually from just an hour of daily web surfing by employees
- nearly 80% of instant messaging in companies is done over public Instant Messaging services such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo, exposing companies to security risks
- 45% of the executable files downloaded through file sharing networks, i.e. Kazaa, contain malicious code
- 73% of all movie searches on file-sharing networks were for pornography
- a company could be liable for up to $150,000 in fines per instance if employees are allowed to use the corporate network to download copyrighted material
- 44% of corporate employees actively use streaming media
Examples of the use of Forensic Examination:
1) An employee suspected of building his personal business on company time is dismissed. The employee’s laptop was seized by the in-house IT department for investigation. Despite being suspected of these activities, as well as the inappropriate use private and confidential client information, the initial investigation could find no evidence to support any wrong doing.
The laptop was given to RBS Computer Foresncis for a forensic investigation. Evidence was found indicating that the employee was accessing the employer’s client base, offering discounted services and specials if clients would deal with his company rather than his employer. It was also discovered that this employee used several e-mail accounts to conduct this private business.
The employee attempted to sue his employer for wrongful dismissal. Once the computer forensic was done, and the information was made known to the employee, the law suit was discontinued.
2) The owner of a family run business suspected his son of embezzling money. RBS Computer Forensics was hired to perform a computer forensic examination on the son’s computer. The investigation not only confirmed that the son was stealing money, but also identified his plans for developing a service that would be in direct competition to the family business. Inappropriate computer usage was discovered.
With this information the owner was able to approach his son. All funds and client records were recovered without incident.
3) The co-owner of a company suspected his brother of under valuing the company’s assets for the sole purpose of enabling the sale of the company at a lower market value. RBS Computer Forensics was hired to extract four computer images from the POS system. During the investigation it was also discovered that the same brother was processing orders and taking payment. The orders were then deleted and the offending brother would pocket the money. A forensic “autopsy” recovered all deleted business records and financial documentation.
As a result the business was valued properly at the time of sale.
4) On another occasion a small fire broke out in the customer area of a particular business. This area had camera surveillance which recorded the incident on a DVR, digital video recorder. Emergency services attended to put out a fire. In the process the DVR sustained water damage. A few weeks later the business was notified of several law suits pending. RBS Computer Forensics was tasked with performing a computer forensic examination of the DVR and was successful in recovering video of the incident.
This resulted in several of these law suits being dismissed as it was proven that some of claimants were not inside the premises at the time of the incident.
Use of Computer Forensics:
- recovery of data
- secure cleaning of digital media prior to disposal
- computer investigations relating to employee conduct
- civil litigation
- corporate theft
- human resource matters
- legal issues
- there are also uses for computer forensic examinations for civil matters outside the corporate setting
The difference between IT personal and Computer Forensic Specialist is the method of recovery. IT personal have a low success rate in recovering most information. Computer Forensic specialist use techniques, software and court recognized methodology to recover information and/or investigate computer related crimes. A Computer Forensic Specialist also examines areas of digital media that are normally not examined by IT personal.
Computer Forensics Examiners have the scientific, educational, and technical skills as well as professional experience enabling them to perform the following tasks:
- hiring and termination security sweeps
- discovery of attempts to destroy evidence
- discovery of attempts to alter evidence
- discovery of encoded and hidden information within graphic, photo, sound or video files
- securing the deletion of essential information when upgrading or disposing of hard drives
- monitoring employee computer usage and securing evidence of unauthorized activity
Sourcing of origins of file transfers using instant messaging or peer to peer sharing programs - Discovery of the source of e-mail, documents or printed notes
- Discovery of the source of any type of e-mail, memo, letter or other document that could potentially expose the employer to criminal or civil liability
