EnCase Portable Saves E-discovery Time and Costs

Guidance Software E-discovery is an accepted component of practicing law. However, with that acceptance come demands to streamline related costs and timeframes while still accommodating increasing volumes of data, sometimes from multiple locations.

Document Solutions, Inc. (DSi), an e-discovery and digital forensics company based in Nashville, Tennessee, is constantly working to solve this problem and announced that it is now offering a new money-saving technology for its clients: remote data collection using EnCase® Portable from Guidance Software.

EnCase® Portable is a pocket-sized USB data collection and triage solution that leverages the powerful capabilities of EnCase®. The solution automatically searches a targeted computer and collects data, including documents, Internet history and artifacts, images, other digital evidence, and even entire hard drives. During this search and collection, images, documents, Internet history and a variety of other data can be reviewed in real time on the target computer.

"We don’t jump on new technology simply because it’s new. However, if our tests show that something can save money and time for our clients, and help to ensure the highest quality product, then we include it in the mix of services we offer. Remote collection passed these tests with flying colors,” said Kevin Tyner, CFO and co-founder of Document Solutions, Inc.

Remote data collection allows DSi to send a small piece of hardware, similar to a thumb drive, to a location where it is used to gather data in a forensically sound and accepted manner. The recipient plugs the device into the target computer and the device, pre-programmed by DSi’s technicians, automatically finds the data that has been deemed relevant and saves it to an accompanying hard drive. The result is exact, quick and defensible.

“When we determined that this technology would be beneficial to us and to our clients we got a few options in to test,” said Gary Torgersen, DSi’s vice president of operations and technology “We determined that EnCase® Portable, a pocket-sized USB device that can quickly search and collect documents, Internet history, images and other digital evidence, was the best solution available.”

DSi recently completed a project involving 65 individuals in 12 different locations, including Puerto Rico. They had 45 days to collect, process, review and produce. Traveling from place to place, coordinating with various people and companies to obtain access to each computer would be both time and cost-intensive. Instead, these “plug-and-play” devices were sent to each location, with the software programmed to filter and hash-verify as it collects.

The total universe of data was equivalent to approximately 45-50 million pages of information, which was obtained over a 25-day period. As data was received back, DSi was able to process it for their client to start the review, allowing them to meet the short deadline.

Not only did the EnCase® Portable devices save time by allowing filtering at the point of collection, they saved money. These small devices allowed DSi to provide a flat rate per machine, including collection and filtering. They were able to lower their cost to one-third of what it would have been using traditional techniques – not including travel expenses. With 65 machines, that’s a substantial savings.

Learn more about EnCase® Portable.

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