Case Studies - Security

A large global financial institution suspected that substantial funds had been fraudulently transferred to various accounts over a period of three years. The organisation alerted their lawyers who stipulated that computer forensic expertise was needed to progress the case and any potential litigation. Based on previous experience the city law firm recommended that QinetiQ Digital Investigation Services were brought in to undertake the investigation.

We were asked if it would be possible to recover evidence going back over a significant time period. Things were further complicated as the organisation did not know which machines were involved or their locations. They were unsure which particular systems and backup media would be of relevance to the investigation and were unsure of the quantities of data that needed to be examined.

We conducted a scoping study on whether it would be possible to recover any deleted documents or emails showing irregularities. The task was massive and involved investigations to be conducted in offices located in different continents.

We conducted interviews with systems administrators and after an extensive investigation the systems and media that were likely to contain relevant evidence were presented to the client. The majority of evidence was on legacy tape archive formats and obsolete hard disk media. Using state of the art technology we were able to restore the data and allow forensic analysis to commence.

In depth forensic analysis enabled us to compile a full client report and supply expert witness testimony outlining the complexities and realities of the data recovery and analysis. The evidence we found provided the basis for a satisfactory out of court settlement for the organisation.