With the advent of high-tech innovation in web and telephone communications over the last decade or so, it’s no surprise that computers and cellphones have become a new and important part of legal cases and criminal investigations. Computer forensic science is the term for gathering legal evidence from computers and other data-storing devices like cellphones. Mobile device forensics is the more specific term for the practice of obtaining needed information from a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet.
When one considers the amount of immersion Americans currently have with their technology — about 34 percent of Americans said they could only go a few hours without needing their cellphone, and about 68 percent said they sleep with their cellphone right next to their bed — mobile phone forensics and computer forensic science can be a highly valuable way of getting information in a legal case or criminal investigation.
A growing subset of computer forensic science is the electronic discovery reference model, or eDiscovery. Here are the top five things you need to know about eDiscovery services:
1. Any data that has been stored electronically is subject to eDiscovery rules when relevant. Normally, this data consists of emails and office documents, but it could also include photos, video, social media, voicemails, databases and any other file type typically stored electronically.
2. “Discovery” refers to the period of time in the beginning of litigation when all parties are required to provide evidence relevant to the case.
3. Unless you become involved in a legal case, you will have a secure cell phone — but because about 46 percent of Americans say they use their cellphone to browse the Internet, and about 29 percent say their cellphone is the last thing they look at each day, your cellphone data will more than likely be collected by eDiscovery during a case.
4. Because of the dynamic, changeable nature of admissible digital evidence, eDiscovery stores all collected evidence, saved as either a PDF or TIFF file, in a secure location. To see more, read this: www.cloudninediscovery.com
