Not all files are equal. Some are critical to the business. Others could be archived. Still others should be deleted. Files used by desktop applications in particular tend to be under-managed and out of control.
What’s more, the needs of certain files supporting essential business processes — such as files that should influence the design and implementation of a larger IT infrastructure — frequently fly under the IT radar. Files created in older software versions, for example, may not function properly unless you convert the files successfully and image the new desktop operating environment appropriately. Furthermore, files that may be subject to compliance regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley or HIPAA go undiscovered, undocumented and unprotected.
Fortunately, new methods and technologies have emerged that help IT identify which files and applications have high business value for an organization. By determining which files contain critical information or support important business processes, IT can properly support and protect them. In the end, the company reduces waste, protects itself against compliance breaches and fines, and lowers IT deployment and infrastructure costs.
Separate the wheat from chaff
To better manage large IT projects, start by identifying business-critical files. For example, an international power utility recently discovered over two million files existing in duplicate during an enterprise-wide software migration. Of the15 million files on the enterprise’s servers, only five million had been touched in the 18 months preceding the inventory. Nearly 15 percent of all files were for applications no longer part of the enterprise’s standard operating environment.
And 1.9 million legacy documents, spreadsheets and database files were at risk of malfunctioning upon being upgraded to a new version of desktop software.
Each of these data points helped managers better plan and execute a major server consolidation and desktop application upgrade. For example:
Identifying duplicate files helped managers find ways to conserve disk storage space and reduce confusion among file users.
Flagging at-risk business-critical files helped make sure they could be converted to function properly when deployed for use with the new software.
Identifying previously unknown files that tracked key financial data facilitated compliance with regulatory requirements.
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Source: Computer Technology Review
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Women in eDiscovery Launches Chicago Chapter
Women in eDiscovery today announced that there is a new chapter opening in Chicago, Illinois. Women in eDiscovery is an organization that brings together businesswomen interested in technology related to the legal industry and provides opportunities to help each other grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support, and national recognition. The new chapter will hold a kickoff meeting today at Winston & Strawn, LLP.
"We are really excited to launch the Chicago chapter of Women in eDiscovery,” stated Katie Jensen, Women in eDiscovery Chicago chapter director. “We have had a lot of interest and think that it's going to be a great place for women in the legal industry to network with each other and share ideas in the eDiscovery space."
Chicago chapter kickoff meeting details:
Date: April 29, 2009
Location: Winston & Strawn, LLP
35th Floor
35 W. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60601
Cost: FREE
Register for FREE membership: www.womeninediscovery.com
RSVP to kickoff meeting: Chicago@womeninediscovery.com
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: minneapolis.dbusinessnews.com
"We are really excited to launch the Chicago chapter of Women in eDiscovery,” stated Katie Jensen, Women in eDiscovery Chicago chapter director. “We have had a lot of interest and think that it's going to be a great place for women in the legal industry to network with each other and share ideas in the eDiscovery space."
Chicago chapter kickoff meeting details:
Date: April 29, 2009
Location: Winston & Strawn, LLP
35th Floor
35 W. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60601
Cost: FREE
Register for FREE membership: www.womeninediscovery.com
RSVP to kickoff meeting: Chicago@womeninediscovery.com
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: minneapolis.dbusinessnews.com
Tasks you fear to outsource but should try
In a sliding market, outsourcing looks increasingly attractive. In this era of drastic cost cutting and budget squeezing, many IT managers facing diminished budgets and frozen in-house resources are exploring ways of sending even more work off site to save money, or at least take capital costs of their immediate plate.
But with traditional outsourcing opportunities all but played out, many enterprises are asking, "Is there anything left to outsource?"
Four critical IT tasks -- project management, e-discovery, regulatory compliance, and environmental activities -- are all ripe for outsourcing. But today, they are generally not outsourced because managers don't think they can send the work off site due to cost, security, and other concerns. It's time to rethink the anxieties in these four areas.
Outsourcing opportunity No. 1: Project management
Project management involves organizing and balancing three basic elements: people, time, and money. Many IT shops would like to unload the nuts and bolts of IT project management onto an outside provider, but worry that the task is simply too big, too complex, and perhaps even too important to outsource. Managers also fret about losing the precise control and oversight successful project management requires, as well as the ability to turn on a dime if circumstances demand a sudden change in tactics.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: itworld.com
By: John Edwards
But with traditional outsourcing opportunities all but played out, many enterprises are asking, "Is there anything left to outsource?"
Four critical IT tasks -- project management, e-discovery, regulatory compliance, and environmental activities -- are all ripe for outsourcing. But today, they are generally not outsourced because managers don't think they can send the work off site due to cost, security, and other concerns. It's time to rethink the anxieties in these four areas.
Outsourcing opportunity No. 1: Project management
Project management involves organizing and balancing three basic elements: people, time, and money. Many IT shops would like to unload the nuts and bolts of IT project management onto an outside provider, but worry that the task is simply too big, too complex, and perhaps even too important to outsource. Managers also fret about losing the precise control and oversight successful project management requires, as well as the ability to turn on a dime if circumstances demand a sudden change in tactics.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: itworld.com
By: John Edwards
Encryption in data management should never be ignored, expert says
Any organization that manages large volumes of electronically stored information (ESI) may be tempted to cut corners on data encryption, but according to one expert, that's a dangerous mistake.
At the Computer Forensics Show this week, speaker James F. Dawson, former corporate forensic investigations expert with New York-based MetLife Inc., discussed the pain points of managing ESI in support of the insurance conglomerate's litigators.
While it's difficult to manage dozens of concurrent e-discovery matters for an enterprise with approximately 22 petabytes (or more than 22,500 terabytes) of data worldwide, Dawson said that's no excuse not to employ encryption, both at the file level and in the transport layer.
He said desktop encryption programs have evolved to the point where they are cheap to purchase and easy for the typical end user to work with after only minimal training.In fact, Dawson's former organization practices what he preaches. "Any data that moves around, even within MetLife, gets encryption," he said, noting that transporting data from one business unit to another often means sending data across national or international borders.
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Source: searchfinancialsecurity.techtarget.com
By: Eric B. Parizo, Senior Site Editor
Wake-Up Call on Slipshod Search Terms
Given the ubiquitous use of general purpose search engines such as Google and attorneys' routine use of legal search engines such as Westlaw and LexisNexis, it is perhaps surprising that lawyers frequently falter in formulating search terms, or "keywords," designed to retrieve relevant e-mails and other electronically stored information.
Nevertheless, courts have time and again confronted haphazard and uncoordinated search methodologies for ESI.
Evidently weary of deficient keyword searches, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Peck recently issued a self-styled "wake-up call" to members of the bar in the Southern District. Instead of attorneys designing keywords without adequate information "by the seat of their pants," Peck appealed for keyword formulations based on careful thought, quality control, testing and cooperation.
The magistrate judge's admonition arose in William A. Gross Constr. Assocs., Inc. v. American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co.[FOOTNOTE 1] The case involved multiple parties and multimillion dollar claims concerning alleged defects and delays in the construction of the Bronx County Hall of Justice.
The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, a public benefit corporation that acts as the developer of courthouses, directed the project. At the time of the discovery dispute, non-party Hill International served as DASNY's construction manager. DASNY consented to produce Hill's project-related documents and ESI to the other parties in the action.
As obviously relevant ESI, Hill's e-mails presented a classic challenge of devising a proper search methodology for production. Hill understandably did not want to produce e-mails unrelated to the Bronx courthouse project, but combing through the e-mails one by one to cull unrelated e-mails would have been time consuming and uneconomical.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal
Nevertheless, courts have time and again confronted haphazard and uncoordinated search methodologies for ESI.
Evidently weary of deficient keyword searches, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Peck recently issued a self-styled "wake-up call" to members of the bar in the Southern District. Instead of attorneys designing keywords without adequate information "by the seat of their pants," Peck appealed for keyword formulations based on careful thought, quality control, testing and cooperation.
The magistrate judge's admonition arose in William A. Gross Constr. Assocs., Inc. v. American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co.[FOOTNOTE 1] The case involved multiple parties and multimillion dollar claims concerning alleged defects and delays in the construction of the Bronx County Hall of Justice.
The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, a public benefit corporation that acts as the developer of courthouses, directed the project. At the time of the discovery dispute, non-party Hill International served as DASNY's construction manager. DASNY consented to produce Hill's project-related documents and ESI to the other parties in the action.
As obviously relevant ESI, Hill's e-mails presented a classic challenge of devising a proper search methodology for production. Hill understandably did not want to produce e-mails unrelated to the Bronx courthouse project, but combing through the e-mails one by one to cull unrelated e-mails would have been time consuming and uneconomical.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: H. Christopher Boehning and Daniel J. Toal
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Former Motorola CFO denies destroying evidence
He says charges are part of smear campaign against him following his lawsuit
Motorola's ex-chief financial officer, Paul Liska, said he did not destroy evidence and has accused his former employer of crafting an elaborate smear campaign against him as it fights his retaliatory discharge lawsuit, according to a document filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court.
Two weeks ago, Motorola filed a motion seeking sanctions against Liska, who sued the company at the end of February. Motorola accused the executive of destroying important evidence stored on a company-issued laptop computer. Days later, Motorola filed another motion for expedited discovery, asking the court to require Liska to turn over a variety of documents and e-mails.
Liska's attorney, Sean Crotty of Coleman Law Firm, asked Monday for both motions to be denied. Judge Allen Goldberg is scheduled to hold a hearing on the motions Wednesday. Liska denies Motorola's charges of evidence destruction.
Liska's Monday filing said Motorola has hired private investigators to contact his friends and colleagues. The filing also accused Motorola of doctoring an e-mail that was included in an exhibit to its motion asking for sanctions.
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Source: chicagotribune.com
By: Wailin Wong
Motorola's ex-chief financial officer, Paul Liska, said he did not destroy evidence and has accused his former employer of crafting an elaborate smear campaign against him as it fights his retaliatory discharge lawsuit, according to a document filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court.
Two weeks ago, Motorola filed a motion seeking sanctions against Liska, who sued the company at the end of February. Motorola accused the executive of destroying important evidence stored on a company-issued laptop computer. Days later, Motorola filed another motion for expedited discovery, asking the court to require Liska to turn over a variety of documents and e-mails.
Liska's attorney, Sean Crotty of Coleman Law Firm, asked Monday for both motions to be denied. Judge Allen Goldberg is scheduled to hold a hearing on the motions Wednesday. Liska denies Motorola's charges of evidence destruction.
Liska's Monday filing said Motorola has hired private investigators to contact his friends and colleagues. The filing also accused Motorola of doctoring an e-mail that was included in an exhibit to its motion asking for sanctions.
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Source: chicagotribune.com
By: Wailin Wong
Forensic accounting success depends on information security support
There's no room for error in forensic accounting – the process of gathering financial-related information for legal review and potential use in a court of law – as "every mistake will be put under a magnifying glass and made much worse than you thought it was," said Samuel BowerCraft, consulting manager with Camp Hill, Pa.-based accounting firm McKonly & Asbury LLP.
At the Computer Forensics Show in Washington, D.C., SearchFinancialSecurity.com spoke with BowerCraft about the role information security teams play in successful forensic accounting and financial fraud assessment.
Information security teams are asked to participate in forensic accounting because they know the digital forensics realm. How does information security support that process?
Samuel BowerCraft: From an information security standpoint, normally the forensic accountant has a role in gathering information that is accounting-related. That information is usually produced by a business group. That group is using information technology at some level -- applications, operating systems. It's very important for information security teams to work closely with business units to understand what they're trying to achieve from a business perspective, and generate info and support the applications to achieve those business goals. All accounting data comes out of computers now, so infosec teams need to ensure that only the right people have access to them. When data is pulled by the forensic accountant to support whatever hypothesis they are trying to prove, that access control helps prove to the forensic accountant that the data they're pulling is accurate.
What information security processes are most important to forensic accounting?
BowerCraft: Information security teams can support the forensic accountant by being able to provide access to and verify the validity of firewall logs, IDS data, who has logical access, group rights and transaction rights. All of that can be important to support the transactional data on the accounting side.
What are the most common circumstances that trigger a forensic accounting event -- and in turn, the involvement of information security teams -- in financial services firms?
BowerCraft: I would say the top three are a suspected misallocation of funds, a business valuation effort or a bankruptcy. Another one might be an insurance claim, and a forensic accountant might be brought in to make a determination about how much something is worth.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: searchfinancialsecurity.techtarget.com
By: Eric B. Parizo, Senior Site Editor
At the Computer Forensics Show in Washington, D.C., SearchFinancialSecurity.com spoke with BowerCraft about the role information security teams play in successful forensic accounting and financial fraud assessment.
Information security teams are asked to participate in forensic accounting because they know the digital forensics realm. How does information security support that process?
Samuel BowerCraft: From an information security standpoint, normally the forensic accountant has a role in gathering information that is accounting-related. That information is usually produced by a business group. That group is using information technology at some level -- applications, operating systems. It's very important for information security teams to work closely with business units to understand what they're trying to achieve from a business perspective, and generate info and support the applications to achieve those business goals. All accounting data comes out of computers now, so infosec teams need to ensure that only the right people have access to them. When data is pulled by the forensic accountant to support whatever hypothesis they are trying to prove, that access control helps prove to the forensic accountant that the data they're pulling is accurate.
What information security processes are most important to forensic accounting?
BowerCraft: Information security teams can support the forensic accountant by being able to provide access to and verify the validity of firewall logs, IDS data, who has logical access, group rights and transaction rights. All of that can be important to support the transactional data on the accounting side.
What are the most common circumstances that trigger a forensic accounting event -- and in turn, the involvement of information security teams -- in financial services firms?
BowerCraft: I would say the top three are a suspected misallocation of funds, a business valuation effort or a bankruptcy. Another one might be an insurance claim, and a forensic accountant might be brought in to make a determination about how much something is worth.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: searchfinancialsecurity.techtarget.com
By: Eric B. Parizo, Senior Site Editor
E-Discovery on the Cheap
With the economy down, the new mantra for clients is “more for less.” As litigation budgets shrink, litigation teams are forced to deal with the enormous volume of documents produced in e-discovery without the benefit of large teams of paralegals or expensive outside vendors.
The good news for lawyers is, less can be more. Through strategic planning, careful organization and technological savvy, costs can be cut significantly by improving efficiency. Many of the biggest budget-busters in e-discovery can be eliminated by maximizing the potential of a lean litigation team.
The key to maximizing cost-effectiveness is structure and planning through a project-based approach. Experienced litigators know the textbook discovery process strategies, but going “back to basics” is essential to cost-effective compliance in a down economy. The three building blocks of every e-discovery project should be: (1) planning at the outset, (2) selecting appropriate tools for document management, and (3) communicating and defining roles.
IT STARTS WITH A PLAN
The first step for any e-discovery project should always be to formulate a discovery plan determining at the outset what information is necessary to the case and outlining the steps to get that information. This might simply look like an outline of claims or defenses. Crystallizing the essential points in the case maximizes potential savings by focusing e-discovery on relevant issues and enabling the team to identify relevant and irrelevant information.
Developing a budget is the second step in planning e-discovery. Despite the shifting nature of litigation, budgets should always be prepared, however speculative. A budget is useful even if later revised because it forces the team to consider its largest expenses at the outset and compare values.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: Frederick Chockley III, Elizabeth Scully, and Rebecca Bar
The good news for lawyers is, less can be more. Through strategic planning, careful organization and technological savvy, costs can be cut significantly by improving efficiency. Many of the biggest budget-busters in e-discovery can be eliminated by maximizing the potential of a lean litigation team.
The key to maximizing cost-effectiveness is structure and planning through a project-based approach. Experienced litigators know the textbook discovery process strategies, but going “back to basics” is essential to cost-effective compliance in a down economy. The three building blocks of every e-discovery project should be: (1) planning at the outset, (2) selecting appropriate tools for document management, and (3) communicating and defining roles.
IT STARTS WITH A PLAN
The first step for any e-discovery project should always be to formulate a discovery plan determining at the outset what information is necessary to the case and outlining the steps to get that information. This might simply look like an outline of claims or defenses. Crystallizing the essential points in the case maximizes potential savings by focusing e-discovery on relevant issues and enabling the team to identify relevant and irrelevant information.
Developing a budget is the second step in planning e-discovery. Despite the shifting nature of litigation, budgets should always be prepared, however speculative. A budget is useful even if later revised because it forces the team to consider its largest expenses at the outset and compare values.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: Frederick Chockley III, Elizabeth Scully, and Rebecca Bar
New technology key to discovery in legal outsourcing
Technological developments in e-discovery are vital for ensuring that legal process outsourcing (LPO) clients benefit from offshore arrangements, experts say.
According to Morgan Lewis & Bockius partner Stephanie Blair, labour arbitrage offered by LPO is only part of the equation that helps clients to draw value from the process; the labour element must be backed by strong searching technology for LPO relationships to be most effective. A cornerstone of the LPO business, e-discovery has become a crucial tool for assisting IP litigation.
Blair says the labour component of LPO gets clients only 'part of the way there' in terms of fulfilling their cost objectives. In a recent interview with website ESIBytes, she said: 'The problem with electronic discovery – particularly in this environment where we're looking to reduce costs – is [one] of volume. Even if you're paying substantially less per hour for attorneys to review documents, if you're still looking at terabytes of documents, you're still going to sustain a significant cost.'
The e-discovery arena has seen a spate of cutting-edge tools, including concept-based search-and-review techniques, along with other retrieval methods such as clustering, in which documents are construed as related if they contain groups of matching keywords. 'I'm optimistic,' Blair added, 'that some of the new technologies, the new approaches that go to the heart of the problem of volume … are really going to have an impact on cost.'
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: cpaglobal.com
According to Morgan Lewis & Bockius partner Stephanie Blair, labour arbitrage offered by LPO is only part of the equation that helps clients to draw value from the process; the labour element must be backed by strong searching technology for LPO relationships to be most effective. A cornerstone of the LPO business, e-discovery has become a crucial tool for assisting IP litigation.
Blair says the labour component of LPO gets clients only 'part of the way there' in terms of fulfilling their cost objectives. In a recent interview with website ESIBytes, she said: 'The problem with electronic discovery – particularly in this environment where we're looking to reduce costs – is [one] of volume. Even if you're paying substantially less per hour for attorneys to review documents, if you're still looking at terabytes of documents, you're still going to sustain a significant cost.'
The e-discovery arena has seen a spate of cutting-edge tools, including concept-based search-and-review techniques, along with other retrieval methods such as clustering, in which documents are construed as related if they contain groups of matching keywords. 'I'm optimistic,' Blair added, 'that some of the new technologies, the new approaches that go to the heart of the problem of volume … are really going to have an impact on cost.'
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: cpaglobal.com
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Ready to Litigate Through the Clouds?
The massive amounts of data managed via cloud computing create their own twists on traditional e-discovery issues
In the last two years, the term "cloud computing" has infiltrated the mainstream press (although the concept has existed for years). More and more businesses are embracing this way of thinking about information technology. And if the seminar circuit is any evidence, the legal world has awoken to the myriad challenges of cloud computing.
One challenge that corporate counsel should be pondering today is what cloud computing means for civil discovery. The "cloud" represents a potential mother lode of electronically stored information -- both in terms of discoverable data and legal issues. Lawyers should be working hand-in-hand with IT and business resources to ensure that risks are minimized without erasing the tremendous efficiencies of cloud computing.
WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING?
To start, we need a common understanding of "cloud computing." Let's try a real-world analogy: Imagine a company that, instead of using a commercial service like FedEx, decided to create its own worldwide parcel delivery system. The company would buy warehouses, delivery trucks and airplanes. It would hire package handlers, mechanics and logistical experts. All this would require an enormous investment and would be quite impossible for any but the largest of companies to do efficiently or cost-effectively or well.
Cloud computing is the equivalent of hiring FedEx. It is a way to outsource the service of providing the hardware, software, human resources and business model required to deliver, store and manage digital data offsite. The outside service providers in turn achieve economies of scale, lowering the cost to all their customers.
Functions offered through cloud computing can be divided into three core areas: infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and software as a service -- or IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: Jonathan Redgrave and Andrew Cosgrove
In the last two years, the term "cloud computing" has infiltrated the mainstream press (although the concept has existed for years). More and more businesses are embracing this way of thinking about information technology. And if the seminar circuit is any evidence, the legal world has awoken to the myriad challenges of cloud computing.
One challenge that corporate counsel should be pondering today is what cloud computing means for civil discovery. The "cloud" represents a potential mother lode of electronically stored information -- both in terms of discoverable data and legal issues. Lawyers should be working hand-in-hand with IT and business resources to ensure that risks are minimized without erasing the tremendous efficiencies of cloud computing.
WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING?
To start, we need a common understanding of "cloud computing." Let's try a real-world analogy: Imagine a company that, instead of using a commercial service like FedEx, decided to create its own worldwide parcel delivery system. The company would buy warehouses, delivery trucks and airplanes. It would hire package handlers, mechanics and logistical experts. All this would require an enormous investment and would be quite impossible for any but the largest of companies to do efficiently or cost-effectively or well.
Cloud computing is the equivalent of hiring FedEx. It is a way to outsource the service of providing the hardware, software, human resources and business model required to deliver, store and manage digital data offsite. The outside service providers in turn achieve economies of scale, lowering the cost to all their customers.
Functions offered through cloud computing can be divided into three core areas: infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and software as a service -- or IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: Jonathan Redgrave and Andrew Cosgrove
eDiscovery Legal Minefield Migraines
With compliance discovery typically averaging out at a million US dollars per legal case, the whole area of retrieving all digital dialog around a dispute is the time and money sink that stresses IT staff and slows line of business technology adoption.
Legal compliance touches all parts of business, from the dullest process work to the most exciting research and development, and from the smallest project to trawling through terrabytes of email archives and electronically stored information (ESI) for all relevant correspondence.
The legal restrictions that large company legal departments design to comply with international information retention legislation - typically blanket global standards - are what IT departments are tasked to enforce.
The email archiving, retrieval and packaging for corporate lawyers industry is huge - the legal profession is a bastion of the document and email culture. This is the way the legal profession has worked for hundreds of years from back office to day in court.
It would be fair to say that business communication is shaped - and hindered - by the way the legal profession works.
Along come sophisticated ways of working - collaboration networks that resemble sophisticated ‘performance fabrics’ of interoperability - but the boat anchor of legal workflow practice is always lurking in the background.
This arcane legal world tends to make peoples eyes gloss over, and few outside the profession feel they can do anything but follow processes laid out by legal departments they often have little or no contact with.
In fact, many lawyers would like nothing more than to work with the rest of the business to streamline document retention tactics.
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Source: blogs.zdnet.com
By: Oliver Marks
Monday, April 27, 2009
Data classfication best practices
Data classification benefits from a team effort, whether the exercise is associated with a storage tiering project to manage resources more effectively, an e-discovery initiative in response to a lawsuit or some other result.
What follow is a list of best practices to help storage managers establish data classification strategies.
1. Identify the sources and types of data across your organization. Before classifying data and figuring out which information should be retained, backed up, archived or deleted, it helps to know the applications the organization uses, the value they represent, the types of data they produce and the access patterns.
2. Establish data categories before making technology decisions. What data constitutes a record, and do records need to be stored separately? Do intellectual property documents need to be grouped together? Determining the criteria by which you need to classify information will have an impact on a host of other decisions, so it pays to nail down categories first.
Also consider how deeply you need to classify the data. Will it be enough to organize it by document owner, creation date, file type or application? Or will the organization derive benefits from classifying data by multiple criteria, keywords, concepts or context?
3. Assess the technology that will best meet data requirements. Organizations doing e-discovery for litigation or regulatory purposes might need the rich classification capabilities of a specialized tool that can search or index content based on contextual meaning or keyword strings.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: searchstorage.techtarget.com.au
By: Carol Sliwa
What follow is a list of best practices to help storage managers establish data classification strategies.
1. Identify the sources and types of data across your organization. Before classifying data and figuring out which information should be retained, backed up, archived or deleted, it helps to know the applications the organization uses, the value they represent, the types of data they produce and the access patterns.
2. Establish data categories before making technology decisions. What data constitutes a record, and do records need to be stored separately? Do intellectual property documents need to be grouped together? Determining the criteria by which you need to classify information will have an impact on a host of other decisions, so it pays to nail down categories first.
Also consider how deeply you need to classify the data. Will it be enough to organize it by document owner, creation date, file type or application? Or will the organization derive benefits from classifying data by multiple criteria, keywords, concepts or context?
3. Assess the technology that will best meet data requirements. Organizations doing e-discovery for litigation or regulatory purposes might need the rich classification capabilities of a specialized tool that can search or index content based on contextual meaning or keyword strings.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: searchstorage.techtarget.com.au
By: Carol Sliwa
Are security issues delaying adoption of cloud computing?
Cloud vendors should be more forthcoming about their infrastructures, one analyst advises
This is one in a collection of seven pieces on Burning Security Questions. Read the rest here.
"Yes, security is one of the concerns about cloud computing that is delaying its adoption," says Eric Mandel, CEO of managed hosting services provider BlackMesh in Herndon, Va. "One of the biggest security concerns about cloud computing is that when you move your information into the cloud, you lose control of it. The cloud gives you access to the data, but you have no way of ensuring no one else has access to the data. How can you protect yourself from a security breach somewhere else in the cloud?"
Security concerns will continue to keep some companies out of the cloud, Mandel acknowledges.Symplified, a start-up providing a cloud-based security service that extends enterprise access-management controls to cloud computing, agrees there's a strong sense of heightened risk.
"We find the focus is on the credentials. It's the key to the kingdom and we find there's a reluctance to have the keys in the cloud," says Eric Olden, CEO at Symplified. He says the providers of cloud computing would further their own cause if they offered more "transparency" in what occurs in the cloud-computing environment.
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Source: networkworld.com
By: Ellen Messmer
The age of e-discovery Lawyers face daunting challenges in sifting through mountains of e-documents
In a virtual world, discovery becomes e-discovery. The new legal landscape, however, is not a mirror image of the old way of working.
Indeed, it is fraught with challenges.
One reason for those challenges: practice has not changed with the times. “What we’ve had are traditional rules about discovery being applied to electronic documents. It simply hasn’t worked well,” said Kelly Friedman, a partner with Ogilvy Renault LLP in Toronto.
One reason for the disconnect, she noted, is volume. “You’ve had this real data explosion and that affects discovery.” Part of the reason for sticking to the tried-and-true methods is comfort. “There are many, many lawyers who find the whole electronic arena foreign to them,” said Tracy Mettimano, a paralegal with the legal resource services department at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Calgary.
Indeed, said Friedman, “lawyers have to have a certain amount of technical expertise.”
As well as common sense. In an e-environment, for example, accessing every document may simply not be feasible — or necessary. “In the world of electronic data, it is extremely difficult to get your hands on every piece of data that was created, and even if you could, it’s often not reasonable from a cost point of view,” said Friedman.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: lawyersweekly.ca
By: Donalee Moulton
Indeed, it is fraught with challenges.
One reason for those challenges: practice has not changed with the times. “What we’ve had are traditional rules about discovery being applied to electronic documents. It simply hasn’t worked well,” said Kelly Friedman, a partner with Ogilvy Renault LLP in Toronto.
One reason for the disconnect, she noted, is volume. “You’ve had this real data explosion and that affects discovery.” Part of the reason for sticking to the tried-and-true methods is comfort. “There are many, many lawyers who find the whole electronic arena foreign to them,” said Tracy Mettimano, a paralegal with the legal resource services department at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Calgary.
Indeed, said Friedman, “lawyers have to have a certain amount of technical expertise.”
As well as common sense. In an e-environment, for example, accessing every document may simply not be feasible — or necessary. “In the world of electronic data, it is extremely difficult to get your hands on every piece of data that was created, and even if you could, it’s often not reasonable from a cost point of view,” said Friedman.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: lawyersweekly.ca
By: Donalee Moulton
Enterprise search treads water
The market may have gone off the boil, but a fundamental split is emerging
The enterprise search, or information access, market continues to evolve despite the onset of recession. Even though many of the key players have been digesting and assimilating technology acquisitions or putting the brakes on the development cycles of their own products, there is still plenty of activity for information professionals to keep their eyes on.
Few industries are recession-proof, but enterprise search seems to have a better chance than many of weathering the storm. A large number of search vendors reported record profits at the end of 2008, and, according to estimates by analyst firm IDC, the revenue for the search and discovery market in 2008 was $2.2bn, which includes licence and maintenance fees but not services.
Growth falls back
According to IDC analyst Susan Feldman, this year the market is unlikely to match the 22% growth that it notched up last year.
“Strong growth continued into the first quarter of 2009, but we have seen companies delaying orders – not cancellations, but delays,” she explained. “So we’ll see a significant downturn in Q2 and Q3, with conservative growth estimated at 9% for 2009.”
Feldman said over the last few years many customers had changed their perception of search. They no longer saw it as a technology that integrates disparate systems (by putting a search layer over the top of them) but as “the next great computing platform”. She said this new paradigm would lead to the convergence of information access, document and content management, business intelligence and other capabilities to provide the ability to access and make sense of the overwhelming amount of structured and unstructured data residing in multiple internal and external sources.
However, most analysts believe that customers are likely to hold back on any major new investments until the economic situation improves, despite the recognition among many businesses that effective information access can be a valuable cost-cutting aid, and help users meet e-discovery and other compliance requirements.
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Source: pcw.co.uk
By: James Atkin
The enterprise search, or information access, market continues to evolve despite the onset of recession. Even though many of the key players have been digesting and assimilating technology acquisitions or putting the brakes on the development cycles of their own products, there is still plenty of activity for information professionals to keep their eyes on.
Few industries are recession-proof, but enterprise search seems to have a better chance than many of weathering the storm. A large number of search vendors reported record profits at the end of 2008, and, according to estimates by analyst firm IDC, the revenue for the search and discovery market in 2008 was $2.2bn, which includes licence and maintenance fees but not services.
Growth falls back
According to IDC analyst Susan Feldman, this year the market is unlikely to match the 22% growth that it notched up last year.
“Strong growth continued into the first quarter of 2009, but we have seen companies delaying orders – not cancellations, but delays,” she explained. “So we’ll see a significant downturn in Q2 and Q3, with conservative growth estimated at 9% for 2009.”
Feldman said over the last few years many customers had changed their perception of search. They no longer saw it as a technology that integrates disparate systems (by putting a search layer over the top of them) but as “the next great computing platform”. She said this new paradigm would lead to the convergence of information access, document and content management, business intelligence and other capabilities to provide the ability to access and make sense of the overwhelming amount of structured and unstructured data residing in multiple internal and external sources.
However, most analysts believe that customers are likely to hold back on any major new investments until the economic situation improves, despite the recognition among many businesses that effective information access can be a valuable cost-cutting aid, and help users meet e-discovery and other compliance requirements.
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Source: pcw.co.uk
By: James Atkin
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Admissibility of Computer Evidence under Sri Lankan Law
What is the development of Legislation on Information Technology related Evidence?
Information and Communication Technology related evidence may be computer generated or computer related evidence and could be even without human intervention.
Some countries tried to interpret computer evidence as Documentary Evidence or Real Evidence. If computer evidence is interpreted as `documentary evidence' it should be governed under Rules of Primary and Secondary evidence and this shows that computer evidence is not easy to consider as `documentary evidence' under the provisions of the Evidence Ordinance.
What is the legal position in Sri Lanka on Computer Evidence?
Prior to the introduction of Evidence (Special Provisions) Act in Sri Lanka No.14 of 1995, there was no provision under Law of Evidence to admit Computer Evidence. The Act has been introduced to manage computer-based evidence efficiently and legally in civil and criminal proceedings before courts and the Act has accommodated Law of Evidence relating to Information and Communication
Technology in other countries as well as in Sri Lanka.
It is also clear that the legislature has adopted flexible attitude for accepting and adopting of evidence relating to Information and Communication Technology compared to other evidence before Courts under the Act. Presiding judge has an inherent power to determine matters, where it is not appropriate or practical to adapt and apply the provisions of the Evidence Ordinance or other law for the interest of justice may require to make an order.
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Source: sundaytimes.lk
By: Sunil D.B. Abeyaratne
Information and Communication Technology related evidence may be computer generated or computer related evidence and could be even without human intervention.
Some countries tried to interpret computer evidence as Documentary Evidence or Real Evidence. If computer evidence is interpreted as `documentary evidence' it should be governed under Rules of Primary and Secondary evidence and this shows that computer evidence is not easy to consider as `documentary evidence' under the provisions of the Evidence Ordinance.
What is the legal position in Sri Lanka on Computer Evidence?
Prior to the introduction of Evidence (Special Provisions) Act in Sri Lanka No.14 of 1995, there was no provision under Law of Evidence to admit Computer Evidence. The Act has been introduced to manage computer-based evidence efficiently and legally in civil and criminal proceedings before courts and the Act has accommodated Law of Evidence relating to Information and Communication
Technology in other countries as well as in Sri Lanka.
It is also clear that the legislature has adopted flexible attitude for accepting and adopting of evidence relating to Information and Communication Technology compared to other evidence before Courts under the Act. Presiding judge has an inherent power to determine matters, where it is not appropriate or practical to adapt and apply the provisions of the Evidence Ordinance or other law for the interest of justice may require to make an order.
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Source: sundaytimes.lk
By: Sunil D.B. Abeyaratne
Developing a Portal to Share Firm Content
Technology once used solely to power attorney-client collaboration can be used to develop content management systems that make data sharing among office locations a breeze. Here's how we did it at Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold.
Sedgwick is an international law firm with 400 attorneys and 424 support professionals, in 14 offices throughout the United States and Europe.
In December 2008, our Drug and Medical Device practice group faced the challenge of sharing large amounts of information across all offices quickly and efficiently, particularly for business development opportunities. They turned to our internal technology subsidiary, the Xerdict Group, for help.
Linda Willett, a New York-based partner and chair of DMD, assessed the practice group's technology effectiveness, finding it similar to most large law firms. Although our collaborative nature did foster ad hoc information sharing, there was no formal mechanism for broad-based, quick and effective information transmission.
Additionally, our practice groups did not have an electronic system for collaborating on cross-marketing opportunities.
It was clear that a facilitated collaboration vehicle could help the DMD lawyers reduce costs, while improving service to existing clients, and recognizing and developing new business.
To develop that technology would involve adopting a new project management approach -- a methodology broadly used within IT but a relatively new methodology for sharing of practice group information.
Our goal was to develop a content management system that would provide DMD with the ability to create, edit, manage, search against and publish various types of digital media, such as case alerts and business development materials. The practice group envisioned a system where its content could be posted and shared through a single portal. DMD also wanted easy access to administrative tools, such as budgets, monthly meeting reports, team objectives, group calendars and other management materials.
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Source: law.com
By: Kenneth Jones
Sedgwick is an international law firm with 400 attorneys and 424 support professionals, in 14 offices throughout the United States and Europe.
In December 2008, our Drug and Medical Device practice group faced the challenge of sharing large amounts of information across all offices quickly and efficiently, particularly for business development opportunities. They turned to our internal technology subsidiary, the Xerdict Group, for help.
Linda Willett, a New York-based partner and chair of DMD, assessed the practice group's technology effectiveness, finding it similar to most large law firms. Although our collaborative nature did foster ad hoc information sharing, there was no formal mechanism for broad-based, quick and effective information transmission.
Additionally, our practice groups did not have an electronic system for collaborating on cross-marketing opportunities.
It was clear that a facilitated collaboration vehicle could help the DMD lawyers reduce costs, while improving service to existing clients, and recognizing and developing new business.
To develop that technology would involve adopting a new project management approach -- a methodology broadly used within IT but a relatively new methodology for sharing of practice group information.
Our goal was to develop a content management system that would provide DMD with the ability to create, edit, manage, search against and publish various types of digital media, such as case alerts and business development materials. The practice group envisioned a system where its content could be posted and shared through a single portal. DMD also wanted easy access to administrative tools, such as budgets, monthly meeting reports, team objectives, group calendars and other management materials.
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Source: law.com
By: Kenneth Jones
Friday, April 24, 2009
Don't Mess With System Metadata
Why do people who know better than to traipse through crime scenes blithely muck about with digital smoking guns? With computers, it seems we must trip over the corpus delecti and grab the knife before we realize we're standing in a pool of blood!
Sometimes a computer holds evidence, and sometimes a computer is evidence. It's a distinction with a difference when deciding whether to act in ways that will stomp on data essential to computer forensic examination.
In most e-discovery efforts, computers are just digital file cabinets, and the evidence is the e-mail and files stored within. Just as paper records require a modicum of care to avoid ripping and staining, digital documents require preservation of basic metadata akin to date stamps and margin notes on paper documents. But, we needn't go to extraordinary lengths to protect this information. It's either embedded in the files and e-mail messages as application metadata, or stored by the operating system as accessible system metadata -- such as file names, folder locations and the dates files were created, modified and accessed. We use such stuff every day, so preserving it isn't rocket science and needn't be expensive or cumbersome.
But computers aren't always simply repositories of evidence. They may be the instrumentalities of a crime, tort or conduct under investigation, or carry clues to the origins and integrity of suspect electronic evidence. In these instances, the computers, too, are evidence -- virtual crime scenes where careless conduct compromises outcomes and diligence demands scrupulous protection and analysis of the revealing, complex and obscure data about data they hold. Now, we do have to go to extraordinary lengths to protect the information.
In civil litigation, computer forensic examiners often see the evidence only after some well-meaning soul has poked around and unwittingly changed last access dates and registry values. That's the trade-off: Without that first look, the misconduct might have been discovered too late or overlooked altogether.
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Source: law.com
By: Craig Ball
Sometimes a computer holds evidence, and sometimes a computer is evidence. It's a distinction with a difference when deciding whether to act in ways that will stomp on data essential to computer forensic examination.
In most e-discovery efforts, computers are just digital file cabinets, and the evidence is the e-mail and files stored within. Just as paper records require a modicum of care to avoid ripping and staining, digital documents require preservation of basic metadata akin to date stamps and margin notes on paper documents. But, we needn't go to extraordinary lengths to protect this information. It's either embedded in the files and e-mail messages as application metadata, or stored by the operating system as accessible system metadata -- such as file names, folder locations and the dates files were created, modified and accessed. We use such stuff every day, so preserving it isn't rocket science and needn't be expensive or cumbersome.
But computers aren't always simply repositories of evidence. They may be the instrumentalities of a crime, tort or conduct under investigation, or carry clues to the origins and integrity of suspect electronic evidence. In these instances, the computers, too, are evidence -- virtual crime scenes where careless conduct compromises outcomes and diligence demands scrupulous protection and analysis of the revealing, complex and obscure data about data they hold. Now, we do have to go to extraordinary lengths to protect the information.
In civil litigation, computer forensic examiners often see the evidence only after some well-meaning soul has poked around and unwittingly changed last access dates and registry values. That's the trade-off: Without that first look, the misconduct might have been discovered too late or overlooked altogether.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: Craig Ball
Four Trends Will Change The Face Of The Paralegal Profession
Paralegals will benefit from changes to the field
Remember when corporations were trusted entities, jobs were obtained after a quick reference check (or none at all) and all those who wanted to could call themselves paralegals?
Today, four trends are reshaping the paralegal field. Ignore these at your peril: if you don’t educate yourself about the latest innovations in legal, social and business practices, you’ll be left sitting on the dock as the ship pulls away.
1. Learn About Social Networks
Even if you don’t understand what all the excitement is about (particularly if you are past 40), web-based social networking is hotter than ever. Sites such as Facebook, My Space, Linkedin, and other Web 2.0 communities have enabled millions of people to amass a rich network of old and new friends. With the click of the mouse, you can learn more about them than you could have shared in years.
Once you create a profile that includes your date of birth, home town, high school, college, employer, political views, and marital status, you start inviting people to be your friend. Other people invite you to be their friend, too, including people you don’t even know. On business networking sites such as LinkedIn, business “friends” write references for you and people are introduced to potential clients, employers and colleagues. You can even send a virtual martini to a sales prospect to break the ice.
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Source: thecompletelawyer.com
By: Chere Estrin
Remember when corporations were trusted entities, jobs were obtained after a quick reference check (or none at all) and all those who wanted to could call themselves paralegals?
Today, four trends are reshaping the paralegal field. Ignore these at your peril: if you don’t educate yourself about the latest innovations in legal, social and business practices, you’ll be left sitting on the dock as the ship pulls away.
1. Learn About Social Networks
Even if you don’t understand what all the excitement is about (particularly if you are past 40), web-based social networking is hotter than ever. Sites such as Facebook, My Space, Linkedin, and other Web 2.0 communities have enabled millions of people to amass a rich network of old and new friends. With the click of the mouse, you can learn more about them than you could have shared in years.
Once you create a profile that includes your date of birth, home town, high school, college, employer, political views, and marital status, you start inviting people to be your friend. Other people invite you to be their friend, too, including people you don’t even know. On business networking sites such as LinkedIn, business “friends” write references for you and people are introduced to potential clients, employers and colleagues. You can even send a virtual martini to a sales prospect to break the ice.
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Source: thecompletelawyer.com
By: Chere Estrin
Thursday, April 23, 2009
LegalTech West Coast Keynote Panel to Focus on Ethics and E-Discovery Issues
A panel of four noted e-discovery experts, including two United States Magistrate judges, will discuss a wide range of practical ethical issues related to today’s e-discovery environment in a keynote address at Incisive Media's upcoming LegalTech West Coast conference. LegalTech West Coast 2009, the region’s largest and most prestigious legal technology conference and trade show, will take place June 24-25 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Complete conference information is available at www.legaltechshow.com.
The keynote will take place at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 25th. This session is open to all attendees and has been approved for one free ethics CLE credit.
Moderated by Carole Basri, author, adjunct professor, consultant and former practicing attorney, the panel will feature Thomas Allman, a former general counsel and corporate litigator, and currently co-chair of the Sedona Conference working group on E-discovery; the Honorable Andrew Peck, United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York; and the Honorable David Waxse, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas. Both judges have handed down numerous key decisions involving e-discovery, influencing today's standards for both ethical and practical e-discovery practices, while Allman is known for his extensive writing on these topics.
"With rules changing and technology evolving, attorneys and corporations need to think about e-discovery from a different point of view," said Judge Peck. "Attendees will come away from this panel with a better understanding of working with both sides and the judge to have a transparent and ethical process for e-discovery on any case."
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Source: search.sys-con.com
The keynote will take place at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 25th. This session is open to all attendees and has been approved for one free ethics CLE credit.
Moderated by Carole Basri, author, adjunct professor, consultant and former practicing attorney, the panel will feature Thomas Allman, a former general counsel and corporate litigator, and currently co-chair of the Sedona Conference working group on E-discovery; the Honorable Andrew Peck, United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York; and the Honorable David Waxse, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas. Both judges have handed down numerous key decisions involving e-discovery, influencing today's standards for both ethical and practical e-discovery practices, while Allman is known for his extensive writing on these topics.
"With rules changing and technology evolving, attorneys and corporations need to think about e-discovery from a different point of view," said Judge Peck. "Attendees will come away from this panel with a better understanding of working with both sides and the judge to have a transparent and ethical process for e-discovery on any case."
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: search.sys-con.com
Socha-Gelbmann to Lead 5th EDRM Kick-Off Meeting in May
Two New Projects for Jobs and Information Management to Be Launched at the Annual Meeting by the Leading e-Discovery Industry Group
Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), an industry group created to develop and establish practical guidelines and standards for electronic discovery, is holding its 5th EDRM Kick-Off Meeting in St. Paul, Minn., on May 13 and 14, 2009. At this meeting, EDRM participants will meet to:
-- Celebrate the conclusion of the EDRM IV projects -- Evergreen, Model Code of Conduct, Metrics, XML, Search and Data Set
-- Launch two new projects -- EDRM Jobs and the Information Management Reference Model
-- Renew six projects in EDRM's current groups: Evergreen, Model Code of Conduct, Metrics, XML, Search and Data Set
-- Discuss current trends and market advancements projected for 2009
Attendees, comprising e-discovery leaders from corporations, law firms, technology vendors and service providers, as well as individual consultants, will gather at The Saint Paul Hotel, in St. Paul, Minn., for the two-day meeting.
"We are very much looking forward to this year's kick-off meeting," said George Socha, principal of Socha Consulting and co-leader of EDRM with Tom Gelbmann. "We've already seen tremendous progress this year with the completion of the EDRM Search Guide and the Metrics code set, in addition to strengthening the content within the original model. Continuing to refine the definitions and processes for managing e-discovery is critical, especially in light of today's economic climate. The talent, skills and expertise of the 90 to 100 individuals anticipated to attend this year's meeting will help us build on our current successes and strengthen the standards provided through the EDRM project."
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: search.sys-con.com
Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), an industry group created to develop and establish practical guidelines and standards for electronic discovery, is holding its 5th EDRM Kick-Off Meeting in St. Paul, Minn., on May 13 and 14, 2009. At this meeting, EDRM participants will meet to:
-- Celebrate the conclusion of the EDRM IV projects -- Evergreen, Model Code of Conduct, Metrics, XML, Search and Data Set
-- Launch two new projects -- EDRM Jobs and the Information Management Reference Model
-- Renew six projects in EDRM's current groups: Evergreen, Model Code of Conduct, Metrics, XML, Search and Data Set
-- Discuss current trends and market advancements projected for 2009
Attendees, comprising e-discovery leaders from corporations, law firms, technology vendors and service providers, as well as individual consultants, will gather at The Saint Paul Hotel, in St. Paul, Minn., for the two-day meeting.
"We are very much looking forward to this year's kick-off meeting," said George Socha, principal of Socha Consulting and co-leader of EDRM with Tom Gelbmann. "We've already seen tremendous progress this year with the completion of the EDRM Search Guide and the Metrics code set, in addition to strengthening the content within the original model. Continuing to refine the definitions and processes for managing e-discovery is critical, especially in light of today's economic climate. The talent, skills and expertise of the 90 to 100 individuals anticipated to attend this year's meeting will help us build on our current successes and strengthen the standards provided through the EDRM project."
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: search.sys-con.com
Wikipedia Too Malleable to Be Reliable Evidence
A New Jersey judge who allowed a lawyer to plug an evidentiary gap with a Wikipedia page has been reversed on the ground that the online encyclopedia that "anyone can edit" is not a reliable source of information.
"[I]t is entirely possible for a party in litigation to alter a Wikipedia article, print the article and thereafter offer it in support of any given position," an appeals court held. "Such a malleable source of information is inherently unreliable and clearly not one 'whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned,'" such as would support judicial notice under New Jersey Evidence Rule 201(b)(3).
The ruling tossed out a judgment in a collection case, Palisades Collection v. Graubard, A-1338-07, in which the plaintiff relied on a Wikipedia entry to help trace ownership of a credit-card debt to establish standing to sue.
In 2005, Palisades Acquisition X, a Palisades Collection subsidiary, bought Steven Graubard's delinquent Visa account debt from Chase Bank USA, along with numerous other accounts identified on a compact disc or CD handed over as part of the transaction.
Palisades' lawyers at Pressler & Pressler in Parsippany contacted Graubard about the debt in February 2006, advising him the company bought the account "previously owed to Chevy Chase Bank" and was seeking to collect an outstanding balance of $30,543. Graubard disputed the claim and stated he had never held a Chevy Chase credit card, and Palisades sued.
During a bench trial before Bergen County Superior Judge Brian Martinotti, Graubard contended that Palisades lacked standing. The challenge for Palisades' lawyer, Thomas Brogan, was to show how the obligation wound up in the company's hands, providing proof for each step of the way.
A balance transfer authorization showed that in 1999, Graubard transferred an $18,000 balance from a prior credit card to a Bank One Credit card. Palisades also had an April 25, 2003, Bank One statement reflecting Graubard's $522 payment on a $25,733 balance.
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Source: law.com
By: Mary Pat Gallagher
"[I]t is entirely possible for a party in litigation to alter a Wikipedia article, print the article and thereafter offer it in support of any given position," an appeals court held. "Such a malleable source of information is inherently unreliable and clearly not one 'whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned,'" such as would support judicial notice under New Jersey Evidence Rule 201(b)(3).
The ruling tossed out a judgment in a collection case, Palisades Collection v. Graubard, A-1338-07, in which the plaintiff relied on a Wikipedia entry to help trace ownership of a credit-card debt to establish standing to sue.
In 2005, Palisades Acquisition X, a Palisades Collection subsidiary, bought Steven Graubard's delinquent Visa account debt from Chase Bank USA, along with numerous other accounts identified on a compact disc or CD handed over as part of the transaction.
Palisades' lawyers at Pressler & Pressler in Parsippany contacted Graubard about the debt in February 2006, advising him the company bought the account "previously owed to Chevy Chase Bank" and was seeking to collect an outstanding balance of $30,543. Graubard disputed the claim and stated he had never held a Chevy Chase credit card, and Palisades sued.
During a bench trial before Bergen County Superior Judge Brian Martinotti, Graubard contended that Palisades lacked standing. The challenge for Palisades' lawyer, Thomas Brogan, was to show how the obligation wound up in the company's hands, providing proof for each step of the way.
A balance transfer authorization showed that in 1999, Graubard transferred an $18,000 balance from a prior credit card to a Bank One Credit card. Palisades also had an April 25, 2003, Bank One statement reflecting Graubard's $522 payment on a $25,733 balance.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: Mary Pat Gallagher
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Data classification for storage managers
The latest wave of data classification products is focused on helping organizations with specific initiatives such as e-discovery and storage tiering .
The information lifecycle management (ILM) buzz of the last few years spawned a rash of data classification products that aimed to locate and identify files and documents, categorize them with greater precision based on policies and business value, and, in some cases, search or index the information and assist in migrating lower priority data to less expensive storage.
But as the initial noise died down, some of those vendors dissolved or were acquired, and many of those left standing recognized a need to focus their attention on the markets where they apply their technology.
"What we discovered over time is that customers need to be able to take some action on the data, not just find it," said Karthik Kannan, vice president of marketing and business development at Kazeon Systems Inc. "Nobody wants to do data classification just for the sake of it. It has to be coupled with a strong business reason."
Kazeon Systems invested engineering resources to build applications on top of its core enterprise search and indexing technology and concentrated its messaging on e-discovery, as did vendors such as Autonomy Corp., Guidance Software Inc. and StoredIQ Inc., to name a few.
"That's where the market demand is right now. E-discovery is usually what is bringing us into accounts," said Ursula Talley, vice president of marketing at StoredIQ. Talley added that once some customers complete their litigation and records management work, they realize the product can also help to classify data for storage optimization purposes.
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Source: searchstorage.techtarget.com
By: Carol Sliwa
The information lifecycle management (ILM) buzz of the last few years spawned a rash of data classification products that aimed to locate and identify files and documents, categorize them with greater precision based on policies and business value, and, in some cases, search or index the information and assist in migrating lower priority data to less expensive storage.
But as the initial noise died down, some of those vendors dissolved or were acquired, and many of those left standing recognized a need to focus their attention on the markets where they apply their technology.
"What we discovered over time is that customers need to be able to take some action on the data, not just find it," said Karthik Kannan, vice president of marketing and business development at Kazeon Systems Inc. "Nobody wants to do data classification just for the sake of it. It has to be coupled with a strong business reason."
Kazeon Systems invested engineering resources to build applications on top of its core enterprise search and indexing technology and concentrated its messaging on e-discovery, as did vendors such as Autonomy Corp., Guidance Software Inc. and StoredIQ Inc., to name a few.
"That's where the market demand is right now. E-discovery is usually what is bringing us into accounts," said Ursula Talley, vice president of marketing at StoredIQ. Talley added that once some customers complete their litigation and records management work, they realize the product can also help to classify data for storage optimization purposes.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: searchstorage.techtarget.com
By: Carol Sliwa
A new generation of cyber-sleuths is on the trail of electronic crime
Until recently, crime scene investigations typically involved searching for minute specs of blood, or threads of fabric linking a suspect to a victim. Or, detectives would wade through mountains of paperwork, trying to link evidence in bank statements, letters and other documents to complex frauds.
Now, while none of those aspects has gone away, there's a third, almost ever present, element to police investigations: what's known as digital evidence. Here the specs, traces and trails are virtual ones, contained in computers and other electronic devices. Understanding this is the discipline known as forensic computing, which is the central element of 90 undergraduate courses, at 21 different universities, all designed to provide the first career step for the would-be digital detectives of tomorrow.
"Nowadays you would struggle to find a crime that doesn't have a computer element involved somewhere," says Tim Watson, leader of the BSc forensic computing course at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester. "That element might be anything from mobile phones to personal digital assistants and home or work-based computers."
De Montfort was one of the first British universities to launch a course in this area, and it is growing in popularity. The first wave of seven students is due to graduate this summer, but the current cohort of entrants numbers 60, from hundreds of applicants.
The common component of such courses is learning how to detect and extract data stored on electronic devices, especially when criminals have used their own knowledge of computers to conceal it. This means teaching students criminal techniques.
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Source: independent.co.uk
By: Steve McCormack
Now, while none of those aspects has gone away, there's a third, almost ever present, element to police investigations: what's known as digital evidence. Here the specs, traces and trails are virtual ones, contained in computers and other electronic devices. Understanding this is the discipline known as forensic computing, which is the central element of 90 undergraduate courses, at 21 different universities, all designed to provide the first career step for the would-be digital detectives of tomorrow.
"Nowadays you would struggle to find a crime that doesn't have a computer element involved somewhere," says Tim Watson, leader of the BSc forensic computing course at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester. "That element might be anything from mobile phones to personal digital assistants and home or work-based computers."
De Montfort was one of the first British universities to launch a course in this area, and it is growing in popularity. The first wave of seven students is due to graduate this summer, but the current cohort of entrants numbers 60, from hundreds of applicants.
The common component of such courses is learning how to detect and extract data stored on electronic devices, especially when criminals have used their own knowledge of computers to conceal it. This means teaching students criminal techniques.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: independent.co.uk
By: Steve McCormack
When the FBI Raids a Data Center: A Rare Danger
As part of coordinated raids in early April, FBI agents seized computers from a data center at 2323 Bryan Street in Dallas, Texas, attempting to gather evidence in an ongoing investigation of two men and their various companies accused of defrauding AT&T and Verizon for more than US$6 million.
The FBI's target in the data center raid-one of five seizures conducted that day-is simply listed as Cabinet 24.02.900 in the affidavit and search warrant.
Cabinet 24.02.900 allegedly held the computers and data used to serve voice-over-IP clients for the companies at the center of the case. Yet, it was also home to the digital presence of dozens of other businesses, according to press reports. To LiquidMotors, a company that provides inventory management to car dealers, the servers held its client data and hosted its managed inventory services. The FBI seizure of the servers in the data center rack effectively shut down the company, which filed a lawsuit against the FBI the same day to get the data back.
"Although the search warrant was not issued for the purpose of seizing property belonging to Liquid Motors, the FBI seized all of the servers and backup tapes belonging to Liquid Motors, Inc.," the company stated in its court filing. "Since the FBI seized its computer equipment earlier today, Liquid Motors has been unable to operate its business."
The court denied the company's attempt to get its data back, but the FBI offered to copy the data to blank tapes to help the company restart its services, according to a report in Wired.
The incident has worried IT managers, especially those with a stake in cloud computing, where a company's data could be co-mingled with other businesses' data on a collection of servers.
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Source: thestandard.com
By: Robert Lemos
The FBI's target in the data center raid-one of five seizures conducted that day-is simply listed as Cabinet 24.02.900 in the affidavit and search warrant.
Cabinet 24.02.900 allegedly held the computers and data used to serve voice-over-IP clients for the companies at the center of the case. Yet, it was also home to the digital presence of dozens of other businesses, according to press reports. To LiquidMotors, a company that provides inventory management to car dealers, the servers held its client data and hosted its managed inventory services. The FBI seizure of the servers in the data center rack effectively shut down the company, which filed a lawsuit against the FBI the same day to get the data back.
"Although the search warrant was not issued for the purpose of seizing property belonging to Liquid Motors, the FBI seized all of the servers and backup tapes belonging to Liquid Motors, Inc.," the company stated in its court filing. "Since the FBI seized its computer equipment earlier today, Liquid Motors has been unable to operate its business."
The court denied the company's attempt to get its data back, but the FBI offered to copy the data to blank tapes to help the company restart its services, according to a report in Wired.
The incident has worried IT managers, especially those with a stake in cloud computing, where a company's data could be co-mingled with other businesses' data on a collection of servers.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: thestandard.com
By: Robert Lemos
Data classfication best practices
Data classification benefits from a team effort, whether the exercise is associated with a storage tiering project to manage resources more effectively, an e-discovery initiative in response to a lawsuit or some other result.
What follow is a list of best practices to help storage managers establish data classification strategies.
1. Identify the sources and types of data across your organization. Before classifying data and figuring out which information should be retained, backed up, archived or deleted, it helps to know the applications the organization uses, the value they represent, the types of data they produce and the access patterns.
2. Establish data categories before making technology decisions. What data constitutes a record, and do records need to be stored separately? Do intellectual property documents need to be grouped together? Determining the criteria by which you need to classify information will have an impact on a host of other decisions, so it pays to nail down categories first.
Also consider how deeply you need to classify the data. Will it be enough to organize it by document owner, creation date, file type or application? Or will the organization derive benefits from classifying data by multiple criteria, keywords, concepts or context?
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: searchstorage.techtarget.com
By: Carol Sliwa
What follow is a list of best practices to help storage managers establish data classification strategies.
1. Identify the sources and types of data across your organization. Before classifying data and figuring out which information should be retained, backed up, archived or deleted, it helps to know the applications the organization uses, the value they represent, the types of data they produce and the access patterns.
2. Establish data categories before making technology decisions. What data constitutes a record, and do records need to be stored separately? Do intellectual property documents need to be grouped together? Determining the criteria by which you need to classify information will have an impact on a host of other decisions, so it pays to nail down categories first.
Also consider how deeply you need to classify the data. Will it be enough to organize it by document owner, creation date, file type or application? Or will the organization derive benefits from classifying data by multiple criteria, keywords, concepts or context?
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: searchstorage.techtarget.com
By: Carol Sliwa
Voyage of eDiscovery
Why Metadata Matters
Metadata is old hat to IT, which has used it for years to classify and store data. But general lawyers are not so certain about what metadata is or how they should use it in the e-discovery process. Guidance Software has come out with a pretty good list of metadata best practices in terms of e-discovery. Below is my commentary on a few of the important points as they relate to the intersection of IT and the legal department.
Point 1 -- Know what metadata is and how IT is using it. Metadata is a linchpin of document retention, which is founded on knowing the creation and modification dates of a piece of data. There are other metadata attached to files as well, such as creators, document types, and respondents and attachments in the case of email. Lawyers should work with IT to understand the nature of metadata and how to use it and preserve it. In the case of IT, they should be using software tools that classify electronically stored information (ESI) by metadata.
Point 2 -- Preserve all metadata with ESI and produce as requested. In Bray & Gillespie v. Lexington, B&G had correctly preserved metadata with its large ESI collection -- hundreds of thousands of emails, files, and attachments. But then B&G's lawyers took it upon themselves to strip the metadata from the collection and produce it as graphic images, even though the Lexington lawyers had requested native files in the meet-and-confer. This left the large collection completely unsearchable. Opposing counsel bitterly complained, and the judge agreed.
This resulted in serious sanctions on both the offending law firm and its individual lawyers.
Point 3 -- Track everything so you can prove the methods you used to collect preserve and produce ESI, including metadata. The more automated you can make this process the happier you will be and the better defensible evidentiary record you will have. Most e-discovery classification software will track and report on actions -- just make sure that a) your tool can do it before you buy it, and b) you are using the feature. (You'd be surprised…)
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: Byte and Switch
By: Christine Taylor
Metadata is old hat to IT, which has used it for years to classify and store data. But general lawyers are not so certain about what metadata is or how they should use it in the e-discovery process. Guidance Software has come out with a pretty good list of metadata best practices in terms of e-discovery. Below is my commentary on a few of the important points as they relate to the intersection of IT and the legal department.
Point 1 -- Know what metadata is and how IT is using it. Metadata is a linchpin of document retention, which is founded on knowing the creation and modification dates of a piece of data. There are other metadata attached to files as well, such as creators, document types, and respondents and attachments in the case of email. Lawyers should work with IT to understand the nature of metadata and how to use it and preserve it. In the case of IT, they should be using software tools that classify electronically stored information (ESI) by metadata.
Point 2 -- Preserve all metadata with ESI and produce as requested. In Bray & Gillespie v. Lexington, B&G had correctly preserved metadata with its large ESI collection -- hundreds of thousands of emails, files, and attachments. But then B&G's lawyers took it upon themselves to strip the metadata from the collection and produce it as graphic images, even though the Lexington lawyers had requested native files in the meet-and-confer. This left the large collection completely unsearchable. Opposing counsel bitterly complained, and the judge agreed.
This resulted in serious sanctions on both the offending law firm and its individual lawyers.
Point 3 -- Track everything so you can prove the methods you used to collect preserve and produce ESI, including metadata. The more automated you can make this process the happier you will be and the better defensible evidentiary record you will have. Most e-discovery classification software will track and report on actions -- just make sure that a) your tool can do it before you buy it, and b) you are using the feature. (You'd be surprised…)
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: Byte and Switch
By: Christine Taylor
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Compliance: Keeping E-Mail in Check
According to a survey conducted in 2008 by Emedia Research, 94 percent of C-level executives believed they were powerless to prevent confidential or sensitive information being sent outside of the organization. The same survey also found that 32 percent were unaware if a data leak had taken place. It is clear that the majority of companies do not have the necessary systems in place to protect data and are at risk of triggering a regulatory violation.
Aside from the sensitive documents that are routinely exchanged, e-mail is increasingly the only form of written communication that exists between a company, its clients and suppliers. Most people prefer e-mail over telephone conversations because it allows for easy and efficient communication with multiple parties, with the added benefit of a paper trail that can be tracked and referenced as needed. This situation can leave organizations in a more precarious situation than initially believed, especially for those in highly regulated industries, including financial services, utilities/energy, healthcare and education.
Underscoring the importance of properly categorized and managed e-mail archives, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) requires e-mail and other electronic communications be provided in a timely and organized manner during the litigation discovery process. Additionally, with tightening regulations including SEC Rule 17a-4, SOX, and FERC posing an increased risk to organizations, organizations must find methods to comply with laws and regulations while keeping costs at a minimum. For example, a single e-mail violation under FERC can lead to fines up to $1 million per day.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: wwpi.com
By: Chris Bradley
Aside from the sensitive documents that are routinely exchanged, e-mail is increasingly the only form of written communication that exists between a company, its clients and suppliers. Most people prefer e-mail over telephone conversations because it allows for easy and efficient communication with multiple parties, with the added benefit of a paper trail that can be tracked and referenced as needed. This situation can leave organizations in a more precarious situation than initially believed, especially for those in highly regulated industries, including financial services, utilities/energy, healthcare and education.
Underscoring the importance of properly categorized and managed e-mail archives, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) requires e-mail and other electronic communications be provided in a timely and organized manner during the litigation discovery process. Additionally, with tightening regulations including SEC Rule 17a-4, SOX, and FERC posing an increased risk to organizations, organizations must find methods to comply with laws and regulations while keeping costs at a minimum. For example, a single e-mail violation under FERC can lead to fines up to $1 million per day.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: wwpi.com
By: Chris Bradley
Digital trail led investigators to alleged Craigslist murderer
Digital forensics was a key factor in tracking down a man law enforcement officials say targeted women who advertised massage and other personal services on Craigslist.
Philip Markoff, 22, of Quincy, Mass., was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court today. Ordered held without bail, Markoff is charged with murder, armed robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm, and kidnapping. The charges, according to the Boston Police Department, are in connection with the April 14 murder of Julissa Brisman at the Copley Marriott Hotel in Boston and the April 10 kidnapping and robbery of another woman at the Westin Hotel, also in Boston.
Markoff, a second-year medical student at Boston University, was taken into custody late Monday afternoon. He is due to make his next appearance in Municipal Court on May 21 for a pretrial conference.
Investigators say digital forensics work was key to tracking down the suspect, according to Jake Wark, press secretary for the Suffolk County, Mass., district attorney's office.
"The technology involved was absolutely crucial in identifying the suspect," said Wark in an interview with Computerworld. "The investigation led to the recovery of an abundance of cellular, wireless and other electronic evidence."
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: computerworld.com
By: Sharon Gaudin
Philip Markoff, 22, of Quincy, Mass., was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court today. Ordered held without bail, Markoff is charged with murder, armed robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm, and kidnapping. The charges, according to the Boston Police Department, are in connection with the April 14 murder of Julissa Brisman at the Copley Marriott Hotel in Boston and the April 10 kidnapping and robbery of another woman at the Westin Hotel, also in Boston.
Markoff, a second-year medical student at Boston University, was taken into custody late Monday afternoon. He is due to make his next appearance in Municipal Court on May 21 for a pretrial conference.
Investigators say digital forensics work was key to tracking down the suspect, according to Jake Wark, press secretary for the Suffolk County, Mass., district attorney's office.
"The technology involved was absolutely crucial in identifying the suspect," said Wark in an interview with Computerworld. "The investigation led to the recovery of an abundance of cellular, wireless and other electronic evidence."
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: computerworld.com
By: Sharon Gaudin
Monday, April 20, 2009
Attorneys: Whistleblower faked explosion warning
Attorneys for one of the nation's largest sugar producers accused a whistleblower Monday of faking a report that he says he sent to company executives warning them of the dust hazard at a Georgia refinery days before a blast there killed 14 workers.
Lawyers defending Imperial Sugar in more than 30 lawsuits filed a motion in Chatham County State Court asking a judge to throw out the report and all testimony by Graham H. Graham because he "knowingly provided false testimony." Graham was vice president of operations at the Texas company at the time of the explosion.
Company attorneys said computer forensics experts hired by Imperial Sugar determined the report, which Graham says he e-mailed to top company executives the week of Jan. 20, 2008 — 17 days before the explosion — was actually generated three days after the blast. They say Graham never sent the document to anyone other than his wife.
"They've made a mistake," Graham said Monday. "The allegations are wrong."
Investigators determined the Feb. 7, 2008, explosion at Imperial Sugar's refinery in Port Wentworth, a few miles west of Savannah, was caused by airborne particles of sugar dust that ignited like gunpowder. Dozens of workers were injured along with the 14 who died.
Graham, who lives in Houston, referred further questions to his attorney, Philip Hilder, who did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Mark Tate, a Savannah lawyer who represents the families of 11 victims suing Imperial Sugar, defended Graham as "the hero of this case."
Tate said Graham testified at an Oct. 14 deposition that several e-mails from before the explosion had vanished from his company laptop. Tate said he believes Graham's computer had been tampered with, though he could not say by whom. He said Imperial Sugar was trying to smear Graham.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: ap.google.com
By: RUSS BYNUM
Lawyers defending Imperial Sugar in more than 30 lawsuits filed a motion in Chatham County State Court asking a judge to throw out the report and all testimony by Graham H. Graham because he "knowingly provided false testimony." Graham was vice president of operations at the Texas company at the time of the explosion.
Company attorneys said computer forensics experts hired by Imperial Sugar determined the report, which Graham says he e-mailed to top company executives the week of Jan. 20, 2008 — 17 days before the explosion — was actually generated three days after the blast. They say Graham never sent the document to anyone other than his wife.
"They've made a mistake," Graham said Monday. "The allegations are wrong."
Investigators determined the Feb. 7, 2008, explosion at Imperial Sugar's refinery in Port Wentworth, a few miles west of Savannah, was caused by airborne particles of sugar dust that ignited like gunpowder. Dozens of workers were injured along with the 14 who died.
Graham, who lives in Houston, referred further questions to his attorney, Philip Hilder, who did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Mark Tate, a Savannah lawyer who represents the families of 11 victims suing Imperial Sugar, defended Graham as "the hero of this case."
Tate said Graham testified at an Oct. 14 deposition that several e-mails from before the explosion had vanished from his company laptop. Tate said he believes Graham's computer had been tampered with, though he could not say by whom. He said Imperial Sugar was trying to smear Graham.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: ap.google.com
By: RUSS BYNUM
Choosing From a Plethora of e-Discovery Vendors
Since the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were overhauled in 2006 to address the complicated issues of electronic discovery in civil litigation, the number of e-discovery vendors has more than quadrupled. But not all vendors—while ready and willing—can fit every client’s unique needs.
“The first thing you want to do is figure out what you’re trying to accomplish,” says George Socha of Socha Consulting. The vendor a company ultimately chooses “very much depends on your specific circumstance,” he says. “You will probably have to go to more than one place to get the software that you need.”
For example, a company may need more help managing the litigation-hold process at the start of a lawsuit, or perhaps in collecting data once discovery is underway. “Right away, those quite possibly are very different software providers and very different services providers,” Socha says.
Also important is staying aware of the latest thinking in e-discovery, which is still an emerging phenomenon in legal practice that has plenty of unanswered questions. (To hear a podcast on the challenges of determining appropriate search terms for electronic discovery—one of the latest issues to end up before a judge—please see the Related Resources bar at right.) That means compliance and legal officers should keep up with the case law, attend the CLE conferences, and read the trade journals per usual.
Gathering information from others can also prevent possible conflict-of-interest situations. For example, Socha says, if a vendor your company wants to use is already working with another party in some piece of litigation against you, your company should probably look elsewhere. There is also the risk that a small vendor could go out of business and leave customers scrambling with no support.
“The theme for hiring vendors in 2009 is going to be due diligence … you don’t want to end up hiring a company that’s going to be distressed or out of business,” says Mark Yacano of litigation services firm Wright Robinson Osthimer Tatum.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: complianceweek.com
By: Jaclyn Jaeger
“The first thing you want to do is figure out what you’re trying to accomplish,” says George Socha of Socha Consulting. The vendor a company ultimately chooses “very much depends on your specific circumstance,” he says. “You will probably have to go to more than one place to get the software that you need.”
For example, a company may need more help managing the litigation-hold process at the start of a lawsuit, or perhaps in collecting data once discovery is underway. “Right away, those quite possibly are very different software providers and very different services providers,” Socha says.
Also important is staying aware of the latest thinking in e-discovery, which is still an emerging phenomenon in legal practice that has plenty of unanswered questions. (To hear a podcast on the challenges of determining appropriate search terms for electronic discovery—one of the latest issues to end up before a judge—please see the Related Resources bar at right.) That means compliance and legal officers should keep up with the case law, attend the CLE conferences, and read the trade journals per usual.
Gathering information from others can also prevent possible conflict-of-interest situations. For example, Socha says, if a vendor your company wants to use is already working with another party in some piece of litigation against you, your company should probably look elsewhere. There is also the risk that a small vendor could go out of business and leave customers scrambling with no support.
“The theme for hiring vendors in 2009 is going to be due diligence … you don’t want to end up hiring a company that’s going to be distressed or out of business,” says Mark Yacano of litigation services firm Wright Robinson Osthimer Tatum.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: complianceweek.com
By: Jaclyn Jaeger
Layoffs can make companies vulnerable to data theft
Experts say prevention can be as simple as checking e-mail logs
When a laid-off employee walks out the door, critical company information may already be gone. The soon-to-be ex-worker may have e-mailed valuable data to a personal Web address — and intends to deliver that information to a company rival.
As the recession’s depth and duration confounds forecasters, businesses are laying off experienced employees whose jobs gave them broad access to company intelligence: customer lists, financial information, maybe even the engineering drawings for the company’s next new gadget.
George Wade, director of computer forensics at the accounting and consulting firm Sobel & Co. in Livingston, said it is difficult, but not impossible, for companies to defend themselves against data leakage. Key steps include keeping a good inventory of essential data, knowing where it’s stored and who has access to it, and staying alert for unusual data traffic.
“When you fire people, you don’t just lose that person, you lose the information they take with them,” said Wade, who before joining Sobel a year ago spent 20 years as regional security manager at Lucent Technologies’ corporate security department in the Murray Hill section of New Providence.
Technology exists to safeguard data, but many companies can’t afford to invest the money right now, Wade said. So he advises companies to start with the tools already at hand — and monitoring the flow of e-mail traffic is a key first step to defend the company data.
“Most companies have e-mail logs they can look at to see who is sending information, and where they’re sending it,” Wade said. “It can be as simple as looking at the frequency of messages, destination, the size of file attachments. An employee who normally only sent small text messages may suddenly start sending large attachments to a Yahoo or Google.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: njbiz.com
By: Beth Fitzgerald
When a laid-off employee walks out the door, critical company information may already be gone. The soon-to-be ex-worker may have e-mailed valuable data to a personal Web address — and intends to deliver that information to a company rival.
As the recession’s depth and duration confounds forecasters, businesses are laying off experienced employees whose jobs gave them broad access to company intelligence: customer lists, financial information, maybe even the engineering drawings for the company’s next new gadget.
George Wade, director of computer forensics at the accounting and consulting firm Sobel & Co. in Livingston, said it is difficult, but not impossible, for companies to defend themselves against data leakage. Key steps include keeping a good inventory of essential data, knowing where it’s stored and who has access to it, and staying alert for unusual data traffic.
“When you fire people, you don’t just lose that person, you lose the information they take with them,” said Wade, who before joining Sobel a year ago spent 20 years as regional security manager at Lucent Technologies’ corporate security department in the Murray Hill section of New Providence.
Technology exists to safeguard data, but many companies can’t afford to invest the money right now, Wade said. So he advises companies to start with the tools already at hand — and monitoring the flow of e-mail traffic is a key first step to defend the company data.
“Most companies have e-mail logs they can look at to see who is sending information, and where they’re sending it,” Wade said. “It can be as simple as looking at the frequency of messages, destination, the size of file attachments. An employee who normally only sent small text messages may suddenly start sending large attachments to a Yahoo or Google.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: njbiz.com
By: Beth Fitzgerald
Guidance Software Unveils Top 10 eDiscovery Best Practices for Handling Metadata
Guidance Software Inc. (NASDAQ:GUID), the World Leader in Digital Investigations™, today announced the Top 10 eDiscovery Best Practices for Handling Metadata to help corporate counsel better understand the importance of metadata, how to preserve and maintain it, and the need to address it early on in litigation.
“This past year brought a great deal of attention to the subject of metadata, but many lawyers are unclear on what metadata is or how to handle metadata issues. This list provides suggested best practices from the very beginning of a litigation through production”
With the recent decisions such as Aguilar v. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Division of the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security and Bray & Gillespie Management LLC, v. Lexington Insurance Company, the proper handling of metadata is becoming increasingly important. The metadata best practices listed below were compiled from industry experience, recent relevant cases, and a review of suggestions from the Sedona Principles and the Sedona Guidelines.
“This past year brought a great deal of attention to the subject of metadata, but many lawyers are unclear on what metadata is or how to handle metadata issues. This list provides suggested best practices from the very beginning of a litigation through production,” said Patrick Zeller, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Guidance Software.
Top 10 eDiscovery Best Practices for Handling Metadata:
1. Assess your document retention practices as they pertain to metadata.
2. Impose a litigation hold that preserves all potentially relevant electronically stored information (ESI), including metadata (whether or not you think metadata is likely to be requested in discovery targets).
3. Discuss the kinds of metadata that are associated with potentially relevant ESI and devise a protocol to propose to litigation adversaries.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: eon.businesswire.com
“This past year brought a great deal of attention to the subject of metadata, but many lawyers are unclear on what metadata is or how to handle metadata issues. This list provides suggested best practices from the very beginning of a litigation through production”
With the recent decisions such as Aguilar v. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Division of the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security and Bray & Gillespie Management LLC, v. Lexington Insurance Company, the proper handling of metadata is becoming increasingly important. The metadata best practices listed below were compiled from industry experience, recent relevant cases, and a review of suggestions from the Sedona Principles and the Sedona Guidelines.
“This past year brought a great deal of attention to the subject of metadata, but many lawyers are unclear on what metadata is or how to handle metadata issues. This list provides suggested best practices from the very beginning of a litigation through production,” said Patrick Zeller, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Guidance Software.
Top 10 eDiscovery Best Practices for Handling Metadata:
1. Assess your document retention practices as they pertain to metadata.
2. Impose a litigation hold that preserves all potentially relevant electronically stored information (ESI), including metadata (whether or not you think metadata is likely to be requested in discovery targets).
3. Discuss the kinds of metadata that are associated with potentially relevant ESI and devise a protocol to propose to litigation adversaries.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: eon.businesswire.com
SEC Enforcement Manual
The Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Enforcement’s Manual (the Red Book) is available online. The introduction states:
The Enforcement Manual (“Manual”) is an electronic document designed to be a reference for the staff in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Division of Enforcement (“Division” or “Enforcement”) in the investigation of potential violations of the federal securities laws. It contains various general policies and procedures and is intended to provide guidance only to the staff of the Division.
For individuals working in this area, the information can provide some additional insight. It includes sections on privilege and investigative practice (including discussion relevant to electronic discovery). A nice summary article can be found at Law.com’s In-House Counsel post from December 11, 2008.
To view the Enforcement Manual: Click Here
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Source: wislawjournal.com
By: Bev Butula
The Enforcement Manual (“Manual”) is an electronic document designed to be a reference for the staff in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Division of Enforcement (“Division” or “Enforcement”) in the investigation of potential violations of the federal securities laws. It contains various general policies and procedures and is intended to provide guidance only to the staff of the Division.
For individuals working in this area, the information can provide some additional insight. It includes sections on privilege and investigative practice (including discussion relevant to electronic discovery). A nice summary article can be found at Law.com’s In-House Counsel post from December 11, 2008.
To view the Enforcement Manual: Click Here
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Source: wislawjournal.com
By: Bev Butula
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Two cents: Firms take financial sting out of litigation
With companies looking at cutting costs, the legal budget is among expenditures often ending up on the chopping block.
However, budgets are hard to predict should litigation become a factor, and budgetary goals much harder to achieve.
Below, Houston attorneys give their advice on keeping legal costs — especially litigation expenses — in check.
Drew B. Tipton
W. Ray Whitman
Partners, Houston office, Baker and Hostetler LLP
Although clients are clearly looking to minimize costs, including fees and expenses, they are also looking for ways to avoid surprises, such as dramatic fluctuations in their fees and expenses on a month to month basis. While legal fees necessarily fluctuate because of issues beyond your control, there are steps and processes that may be put in place to help mitigate these effects.
In document-intensive cases and transactions, law firms must be creative in mitigating the costs of copying and reproducing documents. One way to accomplish this goal is to enter into global contracts with trusted scanning and electronic discovery houses in order to leverage volume and take advantage of economies of scale. In matters involving an abundance of electronic information, firms and clients are performing much of the forensic analysis internally in order to limit substantial expenses paid to third-party vendors.
Client “web portals” are also a cost-effective way to provide savings and efficiency. Generally speaking, a portal is a secure Web site that the client and legal team may access in order to review anything that has been uploaded. This substantially reduces the amount of copies needed of documents and makes them available at the user’s discretion. The portal is also an efficient way for everyone to remain up-to-date on the case without a multitude of phone calls, e-mails and/or status reports.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: houston.bizjournals.com
By: Houston Business Journal
However, budgets are hard to predict should litigation become a factor, and budgetary goals much harder to achieve.
Below, Houston attorneys give their advice on keeping legal costs — especially litigation expenses — in check.
Drew B. Tipton
W. Ray Whitman
Partners, Houston office, Baker and Hostetler LLP
Although clients are clearly looking to minimize costs, including fees and expenses, they are also looking for ways to avoid surprises, such as dramatic fluctuations in their fees and expenses on a month to month basis. While legal fees necessarily fluctuate because of issues beyond your control, there are steps and processes that may be put in place to help mitigate these effects.
In document-intensive cases and transactions, law firms must be creative in mitigating the costs of copying and reproducing documents. One way to accomplish this goal is to enter into global contracts with trusted scanning and electronic discovery houses in order to leverage volume and take advantage of economies of scale. In matters involving an abundance of electronic information, firms and clients are performing much of the forensic analysis internally in order to limit substantial expenses paid to third-party vendors.
Client “web portals” are also a cost-effective way to provide savings and efficiency. Generally speaking, a portal is a secure Web site that the client and legal team may access in order to review anything that has been uploaded. This substantially reduces the amount of copies needed of documents and makes them available at the user’s discretion. The portal is also an efficient way for everyone to remain up-to-date on the case without a multitude of phone calls, e-mails and/or status reports.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: houston.bizjournals.com
By: Houston Business Journal
Another Half-Dozen Half-Truths of the Cloud
Last week, I reviewed six half-truths of the cloud. Here are six more commonly held views that, while not completely wrong, may not be entirely accurate:
1) Clouds are less secure: Less secure than what? Given the regular news reports of enterprise data lost through laptop theft, third party misfeasance, WEP hacking, loss of backup tapes, disgruntled employees, etc., it’s not like enterprise data is currently held in impregnable Kryptonite fortresses.
True, clouds “intermingle” information and software assets in shared environments. And, there have been some well-publicized service outages and privacy breaches from a number of service providers.
However, the same way that a hotel can afford to provide better security (video surveillance, guard patrols, key-carded elevators) than you can at your house, cloud providers can offer both better physical security (biometric authentication, physical premises security, mantraps) and process certifications (SAS 70 Type II, SysTrust) than many enterprise data centers — and certainly better than a hodgepodge of corporate server rooms.
From a logical security perspective, a reliable cloud provider will enforce secure separation of multiple tenants, and if it’s an integrated compute and network provider, it can provide enhanced distributed denial-of-service protection through massive bandwidth capacity coupled with packet scrubbers. Finally, larger cloud service providers can afford to hire more certified security professionals than most enterprises.
2) Consumer Cloud = Enterprise Cloud: Some have stated that, except for security, there’s “not that much difference” between the consumer cloud and the enterprise cloud.
True, at a hardware level there may be no difference: one can use the same technologies to build both consumer and enterprise cloud services.
However, that’s where the similarity ends. Consumers getting free (i.e., advertising-supported) service really have no cause to complain if service is out for a few hours. Or days. It is, after all, like complaining because Billy Joel decides not to do an encore after a free park concert. But enterprises, who are being asked to run at least parts of their information infrastructure in the cloud, require service-level agreements with financial recourse, life-cycle service and support, including outage escalation and notification, human relationships with their service providers, rock-solid reliability, and more.
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Source: gigaom.com
By: Joe Weinman
3 Key Questions for Enterprise Archiving Vendors
Sometimes it is easier to figure out why things fail, rather than trying to figure out why things succeed. Maybe because hindsight is 20/20 or because it is hard to predict where the saturation point meets the tipping point. Whatever the reason, we can't help but delve deeper into the psyche of failure in an effort to capitalize and reap success.
In today's installment of Why Things Fail, we take a closer look at the enterprise archiving and three key questions you need to ask before choosing a solution to implement.
eRecords Management Growing At a Fast Pace
eRecords management, for all our nit picking and analysis, is still a fairly new process. It's large, kind of awkward and growing rapidly. Trying to manage it is hard enough, but in order to be effective it needs to be flexible enough to accommodate the evolving archiving demands, including regulatory compliance, search and discovery and be able to scale itself to manage, store and search thousands of documents very quickly.
Because every company is different — some are big, some small; some are proactive in their approach to managing data, some reactive — it's hard to know what strategy will be effective and successful.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: cmswire.com
By: Marisa Peacock
In today's installment of Why Things Fail, we take a closer look at the enterprise archiving and three key questions you need to ask before choosing a solution to implement.
eRecords Management Growing At a Fast Pace
eRecords management, for all our nit picking and analysis, is still a fairly new process. It's large, kind of awkward and growing rapidly. Trying to manage it is hard enough, but in order to be effective it needs to be flexible enough to accommodate the evolving archiving demands, including regulatory compliance, search and discovery and be able to scale itself to manage, store and search thousands of documents very quickly.
Because every company is different — some are big, some small; some are proactive in their approach to managing data, some reactive — it's hard to know what strategy will be effective and successful.
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Source: cmswire.com
By: Marisa Peacock
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