Forensic Readiness: Protecting Digital Evidence & Securing Company Data - Essay Sample

Introduction

Forensic readiness planning is essential in an organization, especially in the digital forensic space, as it helps the company in the preparation of unforeseen or unprecedented occurrences that might cause harm to the company. It is critically vital for an organization in the digital arena to revise and analyze digital and technical security measures, policies, and procedures (Sachowski, 2019). Through it, organizations can obtain, preserve, safeguard and examine digital evidence to use it in legal issues and corrective matters. For the case provided, forensic readiness plan would have been essential when the problem gets to an employment tribunal or even in a court of law. Forensic readiness plan is vital to a private sector in the following ways;

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Forensic readiness planning is essential in an organization as it helps it in preparation for any need for digital evidence. Forensic readiness aids the collection and storage process of the electronic evidence so that they are admissible in court when needed. Nevertheless, it allows for information management in the e-discovery through data withholding, incident response, tragedy recovery, as well as business continuity plans.

Forensic readiness in the company helps in minimizing resources and time spend in the investigations in the organization. The plan allows for evidence gathering in advance as the company anticipates the occurrence of an incident. Therefore, the process results in the reduction of cost of investigation by reducing the time spent in the process that could otherwise interfere with the normal operations in the company. The faster and easier investigation has the net effect of reducing costs in the entire process.

Employees, in some cases, may use the search and seizure opportunity to cover their misdoings. Implementing forensic readiness helps in preventing such malicious openings (Sachowski, 2019). The implementation also helps in streamlining activities in the organization since the employees know that the accumulation and collection of evidence are always taking place. They, therefore, refrain from any malicious activities. Disclosure of data is a long, tedious process. However, forensic readiness reduces the regulatory requirements in such cases. The company can obtain desired data in a timely fashion which also reduces the costs of the legal requirements.

Forensic readiness policy is proof of excellent governance in the organization. The strategy helps in elevating the status and image of the company since it is focused on prevention and responding to incidents that may affect the performance of the company. Therefore, customers and stakeholders have trust and faith in the organization, knowing that their transactions are under strict monitoring and surveillance.

Finally, forensic readiness is essential in discovering other malicious intents in the organization. For instance, the company may focus on determining the source of malicious malware attacks in its system only to uncover much more significant threats to the company. Therefore, it will put measures in place to tame such malicious intents.

Requirements to Establish a Forensic Readiness Plan

The two most essential elements for the establishment of a forensic readiness policy in a private entity include the definition of the corporate scenarios requiring digital evidence and creating a plan that aids the secure repository and handling of any prospective evidence. Description of the business scenario in the organization calls for the assessment of the risks in the organization. Therefore, the company is in a better position to allocate and concentrate the sections for the collection and storage of evidence. Establishing plans for the secure storage of evidence data is an essential requirement in the scheme since it helps in the protection and ultimate retrieval of these pieces of evidence, which is the ultimate goal of the forensic readiness policy.

The Searching of Mr. Belcamp's Locker

Mr. Belcamp's scenario goes way back into the time when he signed the contract of becoming an employee to the company. The locker is a property of the organization. Therefore, the organization has all the right to search the locker. When engaging in the company, Mr Belcamp had to sign an agreement on the freedom of the company over its property. Thus, the initial step is to examine the contract as well as the policy of the organization regarding the situation. However, in the question of the use of a master key to open the locker in his presence or absence, the case can land the organization into trouble for searching the personal property and infringing on privacy and own property (Jackson, 2018). Mr Belcamp, in his presence, can authorize the search. Other than that, a search warrant is essential for searching the locker with private keys or combinations. The case of K-Mart Corp. v. Trotti is an adequate example of the scenario (Jackson, 2018).

Seizure of Potential Evidence at a Security Checkpoint

The Fourth Amendment protects a person against illegal search and seizure. The law, in most cases, applies to the government and private organizations that have high government control. However, in the case of the company, the employee can be searched, and any evidence seized at this point becomes admissible in the court of law. The reason behind that is because the organization has legitimate reasons for potential misconduct from this particular employee (Bales, 2019). Although the checkpoint is for security and authentication purposes, the company has the right to search the employee's personal space since he is physically present, and they also suspect his possible misconduct.

Mr. Belcamp Failure to Sign the Company's Employee's Handbook

It matters if Mr. Belcamp signs the document or not. Legally speaking, the Provincial Worldwide's Employee's Handbook is not a legal document. The Handbook serves as an acknowledgement and acceptance to work in the company adhering to the rules and regulations of the company (Bales, 2019). The management of the company must follow up with the employees and ensure that they append their signature on the employee's handbook. The management of the company was supposed to conduct due diligence to confirm that Belcamp did not sign and indicate that he indeed refused to sign. Therefore, by continue working in the company ensured that he was not exempted from the rule. Now that he did not sign and none from the management reported his refusal, it means that he is exempted from this regulation.

Involving the Police in Search and Seizure

The involvement of the police in the search and seizure depends on whether the company is operating under the forensic readiness plan or not. If the company operates on the plan, then inviting the law enforcement at this point wouldn't be necessary since the forensic readiness plan is a legally accepted process. It provides the timeframe when the evidence gathered should be handed over to the law enforcement for investigation. The evidence acquired in that process is not illegal and corrupted (Jackson, 2018). However, if the company was operating without the plan, inviting law enforcement would aid the search and seizure. The police will require a search warrant that is necessary for the search. Failure to involve the police at this early stage would lead to the rejection of evidence acquired without a search warrant.

Importance of the Chain of Custody in the Scenario

Chain of custody (CoC) refers to the sequential documentation or recording the trail of evidence. It is the sequence of events that follows the care, control, transference, examination, and disposition of any form of physical or electronic evidence (Badiye, Kapoor, & Menezes, 2019). CoC involves the techniques used in the collection, safeguarding, packaging, conveyance, storage, and formation of the catalog of all the steps. Chain of custody critically crucial if an investigator or information security analysts assume the responsibility of the evidence. Chain of custody is essential in the admissibility of proof in a court of law because it offers the evidence at the scene, as well as the location and condition of the scene.

References

Badiye, A., Kapoor, N., & Menezes, R. G. (2019). Chain of Custody (Chain of Evidence). In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.

Bales, R. A. (2019). Compulsory arbitration: the grand experiment in employment. Cornell University Press.

Jackson, M. I. (2018). Search and Seizure of Mobile Phones Incidental to Arrest: Balancing Law Enforcement Powers and Privacy Protection. The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law Conference. The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law.

Sachowski, J. (2019). Implementing digital forensic readiness: From reactive to a proactive process. CRC Press.