Q: Can digital forensics recover deleted pictures, texts, and other computer or cell phone data?

 

Answer: Whether deleted data can be recovered through computer forensics depends on a number of factors. Even if the data cannot be recovered from the device in question, often the data can be obtained from another source, such as an online backup. Also, artifact may indicate that the data existed at one time even if the content of the data cannot be recovered. Please call Invenius to evaluate the issue.

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Q: Does deleting an app from a smartphone also delete all data associated with the app?

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Answer: Not always. This varies from app to app, but both iOS and Android may retain digital artifact regarding the app, including use of the app, even after the app is deleted. On a Windows computer, traces of an application or its use also often remain even after the application is uninstalled.

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Q: Is Invenius Digital Forensics, LLC, located in Alabama?

 

Answer: Yes. Invenius is based in Helena, Alabama, but also provides computer forensics and electronic discovery consulting in Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee. Many computer forensics providers have websites that make the company appear to be based in Alabama or have an office in Alabama. It may even have an Alabama phone number and mailing address. However, those same companies have similar claims and appearances regarding other states so that they appear in search results even though the company is located hundreds of miles away. If it is important that your forensics expert is actually located here, find out.

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Q: What is the difference between computer/digital forensics and electronic discovery?

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Answer: The definitions and descriptions of each are numerous. Computer or digital forensics can be summarized as the use of reliable and repeatable techniques to collect and analyze digital evidence. Examples would be obtaining location data from a smart phone to determine a person's whereabouts at a particular time or determining whether (and how) an employee exported data in violation of company policy or a non-disclosure agreement. Electronic discovery (eDiscovery) is the process of preserving, collecting, analyzing, and producing electronic documents in the course of an investigation or litigation. For example, finding emails relevant to a contract dispute between two companies from among the thousands or tens of thousands of emails in someone's mailbox  is common in electronic discovery. On the other hand, attempts to recover deleted emails would generally constitute computer forensics. A comparison in the paper document world is helpful: discovery is finding the relevant documents in the filing cabinets and storage boxes, while forensics would be looking for fingerprints or analyzing ink on the documents for clues regarding user activity with the documents. While computer forensics and eDiscovery can overlap in some ways, forensics often uses methods and applies to evidence that is considered "not reasonably accessible" for purposes of electronic discovery. Another distinction can be made with regard to a single electronic document: the process of finding and collecting the document for production in litigation is electronic discovery, while forensics might be applied to determine if the document is authentic or has been altered. Invenius can assist with both digital forensics and electronic discovery.