Case Studies

Proprietary Data Theft

Hacker at Computer

Forensic Investigations & Analysis

A regional law firm client represented a large medical staffing company recently selling its assets to a third-party entity. Amid the sale, several of the staffing company’s employees left and started a competing company. This resulted in a significant drop in the value of the assets to be sold while also violating agreed-upon covenants “not-to-compete.”
The law firm called Data Discovery on a Friday afternoon and asked us to collect and preserve various systems and devices at the medical staffing company over the weekend. We deployed our forensic analysts in a matter of hours to do the collection. The suspicion was that the employees who had left the medical staffing company had used proprietary information and had secret meetings on company time to develop their new company. The medical staffing company also believed that they planned to depart with many of the staffing company’s customers in direct violation of their employee agreements.
After preserving numerous laptops, desktops, BlackBerries, iPhones, other PDAs, and fax machines, Data Discovery proceeded with the investigation. We were able to identify relevant data that our client needed. Using effective forensic techniques and timelines, we could turn back the clock and paint a vivid picture of how the systems were used to compromise confidential information. We could document that proprietary information was used and that the employees had started a competing company using stolen information, time, and resources. The results of our investigation led to a settlement between the parties without any harm to our client.