Peer to Peer: ILTA's Quarterly Magazine
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/1538025
46 competitor's Google Workspace. The company needed to swiftly identify and recover the stolen IP to prevent further misuse. The sheer volume of data involved (approximately 13 million documents) complicated the investigation. Traditional forensic methods were too slow to address the urgent nature of the task, particularly in dynamic cloud environments where the data resided. The company required a rapid, efficient, and legally defensible method to handle the situation. FTI Technology leveraged novel cloud forensics workflows and solutions to conduct forensic imaging of the devices involved and establish a baseline of accessible files. A custom workflow was then developed to compare data across the Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace environments, to detect any overlap that could indicate IP theft. In the interest of timeliness, the team collected only the metadata from the relevant documents across both environments to quickly identify instances of potential IP theft without reviewing the entire document set. The investigation was completed quickly, allowing the company to take immediate action to secure and recover the stolen IP. Additionally, by focusing on metadata and employing targeted collection strategies, the volume of documents requiring full review was significantly reduced. Modern data is vast and varied in both format and origin. Legal teams need solutions that seamlessly integrate and capture data from diverse sources while upholding forensic and legal integrity and reliability. Tools that enable efficient sorting, filtering, and triaging of large datasets have become essential for saving time while enhancing the accuracy of investigative findings. When dealing with matters involving cloud data — a key requirement in nearly every dispute and investigation today — legal teams must implement solutions and workflows underpinned by a robust technical architecture and digital forensic principles. Legal teams need solutions that seamlessly integrate and capture data from diverse sources while upholding forensic and legal integrity and reliability.