How a Major Tech Company Improved Its eDiscovery Processes while Reducing Costs and Improving Efficiency
Case Snapshot
Challenge
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- Collecting from mobile devices from executives geographically dispersed globally
- Complying with differing local data privacy laws in multiple countries
- Assisting in-house legal counsel by providing forensically sound digital evidence
Result: Endpoint Inspector helped a major technology company reduce operational costs and improve efficiency by remotely collecting data, resulting in efficient corporate investigations
Tools: Endpoint Inspector
Introduction
Electronic discovery, also known as eDiscovery, has become a crucial part of modern litigation. It involves collecting, processing, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to a legal request. However, for large technology companies, eDiscovery can be a complex and time-consuming process that poses significant challenges.
One of the major pain points for technology companies in eDiscovery is the voluminous data they generate. With large volumes of data in various formats and locations, including cloud-based systems, sorting through them can be time-consuming and expensive. Sensitive data such as personal identifiable information (PII) or intellectual property (IP) must be protected from unauthorized access or disclosure. This is because data breaches and unauthorized disclosures can lead to legal, financial and reputational risks for established technology companies.
Organizations also have a legal obligation to preserve relevant ESI once litigation is reasonably anticipated. Failure to preserve ESI can result in severe penalties and sanctions. This can be challenging for technology companies that may not have the processes and infrastructure in place to effectively identify and preserve ESI.
At large, eDiscovery poses significant challenges for major technology companies today. These challenges include voluminous data, data security, multiple data sources, preservation obligations, complex data, and costs. Technology companies must understand these pain points to develop strategies that streamline the eDiscovery process and minimize the risk and cost of litigation. In this win story, we will explore how one global technology company addressed these challenges and implemented an effective eDiscovery process with Cellebrite’s help.
Challenge
One of the primary challenges faced by the digital forensics team of this global technology company was collecting data from the mobile devices of high-ranking executives who were geographically dispersed globally. The sheer amount of data that had to be collected, analyzed, and produced was overwhelming, particularly as they had to do so while complying with complex local data privacy laws in multiple countries to ensure that the data collected was both forensically sound and regulatory compliant.
Solution
To address these challenges, the major technology company turned to Cellebrite’s Endpoint Inspector as their solution. This tool allowed the company to remotely collect data from mobile devices, reducing operational costs and improving efficiency by minimizing investigator travel for collections. It also helped the company comply with local data privacy laws by ensuring the data was securely collected and forensically sound for use during litigation.
In one such case, the quick remote collections allowed by Cellebrite’s Endpoint Inspector were critical in obtaining evidence that assisted in-house legal counsel in providing forensically sound digital evidence. An executive offboarding process had begun, and the window of opportunity to collect from the mobile device was very small, perhaps only a matter of hours.
Having remote collection capabilities allowed the team to complete a collection in India designed and requested from Virginia by their forensic analyst. Without Endpoint Inspector, this collection would not have been made possible.
Outcome
The use of Cellebrite solutions had a positive impact on the global technology company’s investigations, as it allowed them to close cases faster while reducing shipping costs of devices to labs and back. With over 100,000 mobile devices worldwide, and up to 1,000 requests for mobile data collection per year, Endpoint Inspector can greatly reduce this company’s operational costs and improve efficiency.
It also improved usability by multiple investigators at once, enabling multiple collections at once, and reducing lead time on collections. Moreover, it allowed the company to have more cooperative custodians who avoided parting with their phones for physical collection. By reducing investigation overhead costs, investigators used much less time per collection, thus increasing productivity.
Why Cellebrite
Cellebrite solutions and digital intelligence have proven to be a valuable asset to the technology company’s forensic team. By using Endpoint Inspector, the company was able to remotely collect data from mobile devices and solve the case of offboarding an executive. Overall, the use of Cellebrite tools has greatly enhanced the technology company’s ability to conduct efficient, compliant, and forensically sound digital investigations.
