E-Investigations Now Offers "EI-Direct" - a Patent Pending Hard Drive Self-Imaging Tool Aimed at Reducing eDiscovery Costs
Houston, TX (PRWEB) April 08, 2014 -- To deal with the high demand for hard drive self-imaging tools, E-Investigations, a Houston, Texas computer forensic and private investigations firm, has developed and is now offering "EI-Direct", a patent pending, easy to use, affordable, and forensically sound way to image hard drives. With eDiscovery costs seemingly out of control, many companies are looking for an alternative to traditional computer forensic collections which normally involve travel and on-site computer forensic technician expenses.
Gary Huestis, developer of EI-Direct and the Director of Digital Forensics at E-Investigations, stated that "the traditional digital forensic collection of hard drives, whether it's for simple preservation or suspected intellectual property espionage, can be cost prohibitive; especially if there are many computers to collect or if the computers are in many different locations." Mr. Huestis went on to say that "EI-Direct was developed to help control data preservation cost and to deal with the complicated task of providing a defensible forensic image".
How does it work?
E-Investigations works with attorneys, litigation support or IT support to understand scope and requirements of the data preservation, data collection or computer forensic imaging. EI-Direct is configured and compiled with these requirements for a simple plug-and-go imaging solution and unlike many self-imaging tools, EI-Direct does not rely on installing software or special boot disks to collect a forensic image of the hard drive.
CUSTOM or PRECONFIGURED: Typical pre-configured information may include to prompt for the name of the person running the EI-Direct tool, and to pre-configure the self-imaging tool to image the computer hard drive: the primary hard drive, all non-removable drives, or a custom list of drives. EI-Direct can also be completely automated and pre-configured to just have the user click on the “Backup” button.
FAST DEPLOYMENT: The customized EI-Direct program is loaded onto one or more encrypted drives for deployment to the remote locations. The encrypted drives are sent along with simple instructions and a chain of custody form to the requested location(s). Once the drives are received at the remote locations, the user unpacks the drive and plugs it into their PC.
EASY TO USE: The drive is auto-detected by the computer which prompts the user to close running programs, enter decryption password and any pre-requested information – typically just the custodian's name. The program will auto-detect other necessary information such as computer make, model and serial number as well as the current username, installed drives, drive geometry and drive serial numbers and more.
REAL TIME SUPPORT: If the user has any questions, EI-Direct lists a toll-free phone number to call for support, and a “Support” button for live real-time remote assistance. If the computer has an active internet connection, each step is logged to a secure, encrypted, password-protected web portal that allows the EI support technicians and the end user to see the status of each forensic image. This information can be used to help support the remote user and to verify each step of the imaging process and create a real-time digital chain of custody to verify against the chain of custody provided by the user.
DEFENSIBLE: The forensic imaging process runs to image the requested drive(s) using the industry standard defensible and verifiable E01 forensic image format. Once the imaging process is complete, the user is prompted to complete the chain of custody, unplug the drive and ship it back to E-Investigations in the pre-paid overnight shipping box. The drive is received by EI and verified by E-Investigations licensed and certified forensic staff.
EI Direct has been used to collect many different hard drives on many different models and types of computers; all with seamless transfer of the needed data. Cases don’t always go to litigation but it is often imperative to gather and preserve data in a cost effective, forensically sound, manner when potential legal matters loom. E-Investigations’ new self-imaging tool is being used by attorneys, CEOs, and IT Security officers to help manage large scale data preservation orders.
Gary Huestis is the Director of Digital Forensics at E-Investigations. Mr. Huestis is an EnCase certified examiner and a licensed private investigator.
About E-Investigations:
http://www.einvestigations.com
Call us toll-free at 877-305-4935
Gary Huestis, E-Investigations, http://www.einvestigations.com, +1 (832) 230-2851, [email protected]
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