In the News

Case Studies

DataMine Forensics, Salt Lake City, Summer 2007

Background:

Salt Lake City-based Company A and east coast-based Company B are competitors. To gain a business presence in Salt Lake City, Company B opened a new facility there.

Company B hired two employees from Company A and had recruiting interaction with at least two more.

Company A learned that prior to their departure, two of the employees had emailed detailed proprietary company information to their home computers. This information included customer lists, pricing, business practices and strategies. It was suspected that this information was then provided to Company B to help them break into the Salt Lake City market and cripple their only local competition. This information was emailed to a third party email service (Yahoo Mail in this case), and retrieved at a later time from their home computer(s).

Company A hired a lawyer and pressed charges.

E-Discovery

Forensic investigation expert J. Church of DataMine Forensics, Milwaukee, Wisconsin was contracted, and traveled to Utah to assist on the case. Upon arrival he was granted access to the home computers of the two employees, as well as their old computers at Company A and their new computers at Company B.

Using specialized forensic tools and techniques, J. and the team were able to unlock passwords and gain access to in-depth information. Data the employees thought had been erased was retrieved intact. A detailed record was compiled of all data stolen from Company A.

J. used this information to develop a timeline that would establish and illustrate the precise times emails were sent, where they were sent, and exactly what they contained.

While the timelines were being assembled, it was also discovered that one of the employees was running software to erase and delete this data even as the examiner arrived to examine the suspect machine.

Company B claimed that they had no knowledge of this activity taking place. But through information revealed by the extraction process, the team discovered that one high-ranking individual from Company B was at the home of one of the employees in question in the same time period that Company A’s proprietary data was transferred via email from the employees Yahoo mail account to his home computer.

Armed with this new information, the attorneys for Company A were able to prove that the employee was lying during a deposition. When all the details were revealed, the law firm representing Company B dropped the employee as a client. Company B also quickly fired this particular employee and offered a settlement to Company A.

This case settled as a DIRECT result of the five-day forensic investigation, saving BOTH of the companies countless thousands of dollars in court costs.

*Disclaimer: The facts presented here are correct, but names and locations have been changed to protect our client’s privacy and maintain confidentiality.

Press Releases

CONTACT: Bill Gramann or J. Church

Phone: 414 221-5996

New company: DATAMINE FORENSICS offers
forensic level e-discovery

DATAMINE FORENSICS and Progressive Imaging & Consulting work together to offer clientele comprehensive document management and litigation support services.

MILWAUKEE, WI, November 1, 2007 – Well over 90% of business documentation is created and stored in an electronic format, without ever being printed to paper. When this documentation forms the basis for a legal dispute, its acquisition, storage and analysis fall under Federal rules of procurement and admissibility.

In 1994 Wisconsin legal firms were first introduced to the concept of using computer-based images as evidence by Progressive Imaging & Consulting. Now, with the launch of DataMine Forensics, the company offers certified forensic-level acquisition, protection, and thorough analysis of electronic evidence from all types of electronic storage media.

Production Manager J. Church is CCE certified by the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners (ISFCE). This certification provides assurance that he has no criminal record, has met experience and training requirements, that he abides by a stringent code of ethics, has passed an examination, and has successfully performed forensic examinations on a variety of test media. Additional proficiency examinations are required bi-annually to maintain this certification.

DataMine Forensics acquires, securely stores, and analyzes the data, maintaining chain of custody throughout. A seamless handoff to Progressive Imaging then occurs, where data is converted to a format usable by the customer. Because of this, says Church, “We’re the only vendor needed for any step in the process of storing, retrieving, reformatting, or presenting computer-based or paper-based data.”

“Whether the data being acquired is for a current legal issue, or due to a company’s data retention policy, what really matters is providing the client with organized, accessible, usable data, without sacrificing admissibility in the process,” adds Bill Gramann, vice-president of PIC Inc. “DataMine Forensics and Progressive Imaging & Consulting work together to close all the loopholes and connect all the dots.”

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328 East Mason Street, Milwaukee, WI 53202 Phone: (414) 221-5996