Computer Forensic Investigation Service: Leave it to the Experts

Technology has greatly influenced the way we work. All established companies have their own IT departments to keep systems and networks secure. Computers have become an important part of our lives and have been used for a variety of purposes. Unfortunately this does not stop criminals and offenders.

Cyber crimes are now becoming more and more common. Millions of dollars are lost due to sabotage, fraud and employee theft. Fortunately there are computer forensic investigation organizations that offer consulting services.

As an entrepreneur we all want to reduce cost as much as possible. Some of may even send our own IT professionals to do some digging for us to investigate. Unfortunately even though these professionals mean well and they are well informed about your company's system they will compromise the whole situation without intending to do so.

Leave it to the experts

Any employee can turn into an offender and before you know someone has hacked into your company's network. In this situations, and other wherein the company's security have been breached most of us would usually send in their own people. Unfortunately in computer crimes this is not a good idea.

In fact these well meaning employees that are there to do their job may unintentionally make matters worse. Computer forensic experts do their job in a way that complies with the standards of evidence so that it will be admissible in the court of law.

If the electronic evidence is tampered in anyway it will be inadmissible in court. Your IT professional may know what to do but they do not have the legal qualifications for this job. It is always advisable to hire professional help from the outside. If a computer forensic analyst is not able to address the situation at the start of the problem the operating system will randomly overwrite the data on the hard drive. The longer that the involved computer system is used there's more possibility that the evidence will be lost.

In this situation no matter how much we want to do it ourselves, we have to hire professionals. Computer forensics analysts don't just collect data but they also thoroughly examine and analyze the information gathered.

They can also obtain relevant evidence from an opposing party which works the same way as requesting for production of documents and determine if the computer was used for a criminal act or violation of policy. They can also retrieve deleted data from an operating system and preserve it.

The internal cost, time and pulling out employees from their jobs will also affect the outcome of the situation. Paying for a computer forensic expert will be considerably less compared to time and money you will spend in making your own investigation. The price of a computer forensic expert can cost from $250 to $350 per hour.

Their work involves three phases: acquisition, investigation and reporting. Acquisition costs about $500. Investigation and reporting will depend upon the nature of the case. Usually it can be completed in 15 hours. The total analysis will cost around $4,500. Business will not be interrupted while the investigation is going on.

There are computer forensic companies that offer a quick analysis. They will examine a hard drive and send you the report. You can then examine if there is substantial evidence that warrants further examination.