Showing posts with label Data Mapping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Data Mapping. Show all posts

Top Government Agencies Join Guidance Software to Discuss Data Visibility

Guidance Software Today we are excited to announce the Guidance Software Federal Summit 2012: A Focus on Data Visibility, a unique one-day thought leadership summit where data security and e-discovery experts from top government agencies and industry leaders will come together to discuss best practices in achieving end-point visibility for effective digital investigations.

The summit will be held on Friday, February 10, 2012, from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Washington National Airport Hotel in Washington, D.C. It provides a rare opportunity to hear from top government agencies such as the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Justice, USDA Forest Service and many others, as well as Guidance Software executives and industry analysts.

Guidance Software President and CEO Victor Limongelli will deliver a welcome address with co-keynote speaker Matthew McCormack, Chief, Office of Cyber Security, DIA. Key sessions include “I Can See Clearly: Achieving Data Visibility,” “E-Discovery in the Cloud,” “Hot Topics in Criminal E-Discovery,” “A Pro-Active Approach to eDiscovery Management: An IT POV,” and “Zero Day Mitigation.” A full agenda is available on the event website.

“The dramatic proliferation in the type and location of new endpoints such as smartphones, tablets, and cloud servers, in conjunction with the ever increasing need for digital investigations introduces brand new challenges in how to manage and secure the resulting vast web of data,” said Limongelli. “The Guidance Software Federal Summit will arm attendees with invaluable insight into how e-discovery and cyber security best practices and technology can be applied to gain visibility into and control of this vast web of data to ensure the security of confidential and proprietary information.”

Registration is now open and free for federal executives.

Creating a Data Map Is Key to a Litigation Readiness Plan

Guidance Software

Consider for a moment all the locations you store electronic information in your personal life. Your mind likely jumps to your computer's hard drive. This hard drive can be further broken down into dozens of separate storage areas, called directories and subdirectories.  Now consider other storage devices where you keep your data. Perhaps you have a second computer or a laptop? Maybe you have a smartphone, an iPod or a tablet computer? What about a backup hard drive or backup CDs and DVDs? By considering all the locations you store personal data, you can begin to get a sense of just how dispersed electronic information can be.

A thorough knowledge of your corporate IT infrastructure is a key component to a repeatable and defensible e-discovery process. By knowing what storage devices exist and what type of information is stored where, you can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your e-discovery process. It is also a requirement under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which states that litigating parties are to disclose either a copy or a "description by category and location" of responsive electronically stored information.

A data map is a record that details this information. The data map is an integral part of any litigation-readiness plan. It serves to identify all the locations within the corporation where data may be stored. Further information, such as details about what information is stored where, should also be incorporated into the data map. For example, if data related to your company's accounting practices is located on a specific server, that should be noted within the data map. In-house counsel can reference this map when a matter arises to target collection.

But creating a data map on your own is no easy task. In fact, mapping your personal data is a breeze compared to mapping data on an enterprise-wide level. For one, a company is likely to have tremendously more storage devices. Not only do you have to think about computers, laptops and smart phones, but you also should consider servers, flash drives, legacy systems and a variety of backup devices. In addition, a company's IT infrastructure is often in a state of flux. Users create, delete and move information regularly, while IT personnel may add or alter storage devices.

In order to effectively map your enterprise's data, you will need to invest in an e-discovery solution. However, not all e-discovery solutions are equipped with the functionality to facilitate data mapping. You need to look for a solution that has pre-collection analytical capabilities that are powerful enough to enable counsel and IT to collaborate and get critical insight into the company's diverse data stores early in the e-discovery process. Pre-collection analytics also remains a robust and effective tool even as the IT infrastructure evolves over time.

In addition to data mapping, another major concern among legal departments is the issue of data destruction. Much has been discussed about data preservation, but failing to purge unnecessary data presents significant costs and risks as well. But we'll save that for the next post.

Click here to learn about EnCase eDiscovery's pre-collection analytics capabilities.

Guidance Software’s Professional Services team also offers data mapping services.

Russ Gould is director of product marketing at Guidance Software.