'Digital blind spot’ poses legal and security risks for companies

Cernam, an Irish digital evidence firm, today announced the launch of a free software tool to address the escalating problem of ‘digital blind spots’ related to cloud computing.

The increasing adoption of cloud computing has created a digital blind spot which poses new risks for IT and legal departments within companies. Individual employees are increasingly using cloud services in their work, often without official sanction. As a result companies face new challenges when gathering information for lawsuits or investigations.

With digital evidence increasing in importance and visibility Cernam has developed a software tool called ‘Watson’ to assist companies in combating these legal risks.

Watson enables legal and IT professionals to quickly and easily determine whether potentially problematic cloud services are being used within a corporate network. Running Watson requires no special access to servers or networks. It provides an initial assessment of cloud usage within companies which can later be supplemented by deeper analysis to identify specific users and the nature of data being stored in the cloud.

Cernam, is one of the leading companies in the emerging field of online evidence and is headquartered at NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin.

According to Owen O’Connor, founder, Cernam, “Cloud services offer tremendous productivity benefits but unfortunately they also present new challenges. For organisations relying on digital evidence in litigation, investigations or disciplinary matters the cloud potentially reduces visibility and control around corporate records. Many cloud services can be obtained and adopted without any IT involvement, meaning IT and legal departments are developing a digital blind spot where they cannot find or obtain digital evidence.”

He added, “In our view, as experts in online evidence specifically, it is essential that companies consider cloud and other online content in every digital evidence project – if it is important enough to search email, it is essential to also address online evidence. As cloud services like Google Docs, Dropbox, Huddle and Podio become more popular and more visible it becomes far less defensible to ignore cloud sources and to remain focused on data within the walls of a company.”

Cernam officially launched Watson yesterday at the Computer and Enterprise Investigations Conference (CEIC) in Red Rock Resort, Summerlin, Nevada. CEIC, taking place from 21-24 May, is now in its 12th year and is the largest educational and networking event in digital evidence and is expected to attract close to 2,000 attendees.

Watson will be made available to CEIC attendees from Cernam’s stand (#325) in the exhibition hall and will also be available to download after the conference via www.cernam.com/watson

ENDS

23 May 2012

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, University College Dublin, Communications Manager (Innovation), e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: 353 1 716 3712 or Colm Deehan, Cernam, t: +353 1 716 3793, e: colm@cernam.com. At CEIC Owen O’Connor owen@cernam.com or Karen Reilly (karen@cernam.com).

Editors Notes

Cernam is an Irish digital evidence firm which specialises in the use of online content as digital evidence. Cernam’s core technology, “Capture & Preserve”, enables the forensically-sound collection and preservation of online evidence for use in high-stakes contexts such as litigation, investigations and disciplinary matters. www.cernam.com

CEIC is the largest educational and networking event in digital evidence. The conference is run by Guidance Software (www.guidancesoftware.com) and is in its twelfth year. CEIC 2012 is expected to attract close to 2,000 attendees who will have access to more than one hundred educational sessions presented by a wide range of industry experts. CEIC takes place from 21-24 May at the Red Rock Resort, Summerlin, Nevada. Cernam will be exhibiting at booth #325 throughout the conference and Owen O’Connor is giving a talk at the conference entitled Evidence in the Cloud - Business Use of Online Services. www.ceicconference.com

NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, is the hub of innovation and knowledge transfer activities at University College Dublin. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. NovaUCD as a purpose-built centre also nurtures high-tech and knowledge-intensive enterprises such as Cernam. www.ucd.ie/nova