Computer Forensics

Most of the time, computer problems are relatively minor—at the worst, hard drive crashes result in lost data, including pictures, spreadsheets, and all-important client databases. Sometimes, though, data loss is more important.

I know, I know; it’s hard to imagine something more important than a complete list of your clients. However, forensic data recovery deals with legal concerns, such as litigation and criminal trials. If you find yourself needing forensic data recovery, be prepared to pay big for results.

Why would I need forensic data recovery? Why wouldn’t normal data recovery be just as good?

Forensic data recovery isn’t for everyone, obviously. If your home or business drive crashes and you need the data back without reconstructing it, a normal data recovery service is by all means precisely what you need.

If, however, you need data recovered from a drive, or if you need to find out if a drive has been illegitimately tampered with, forensic data recovery is the only way to ensure that any information gained through the recovery process will hold up in a court of law. A knowledgeable lawyer will cut down any evidence presented without a full chain of custody report, and you may even need an expert witness to testify.

Here’s a scenario: say one of your employees may have been selling sensitive secrets to a rival company. This violates his contract, and you are entitled to litigate. However, his email correspondence is the only way to prove that he’s been in negotiations with the rival company. If you use a standard data recovery service to retrieve his files, your only piece of evidence is dubious at best. If, however, you have your evidence complete with chain of custody reports and an explanation of what had to be done to retrieve the data, then you’re on top of a much stronger case. Even if the data isn’t recoverable, a forensic data recovery lab can prove that your employee purposely destroyed his email, enough to end a case in many situations. With a standard data recovery, this information may not be given to you, at least not in a legally usable form.