Computers and digital technologies are a fundamental part of our business, personal and wider social environments. The creation and usage of information has evolved with the overwhelming majority now existing as unprinted, Electronically Stored Information (or “ESI”).

 
 

Electronically Stored Information has brought with it new opportunities and pressing challenges in how we, as professionals, do business and operate in a legal framework.

Digital evidence

Widespread computing means traces of everyday activity are being stored in large quantities on compuers, mobile phones, PDAs, digital cameras, USB drives – the list goes on. Finding, interpreting and presenting such digital evidence in a manner that is acceptable to the courts is complicated by the sheer volume and complexity of electronic information that is typically evident.

The Role of Computer Forensics

Addressing these challenges and opportunities is the role of the field of computer forensics, a scientific discipline that
turns ESI into courtroom testimony.