08/03/09 UPDATE:

Commenter “Jane” below won the Phillies tickets after her name was pulled out of a hat. She has been notified and will be enjoying the game August 4th courtesy of New Jersey Legal. Thank you to all who commented! If you haven’t already subscribed to receive our blog’s updates via email, please do so in the right column of this blog. By signing up for email updates you’ll be sure to know the next time we give away Phillies tickets!

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Many open source applications such as Wireshark were designed to be a network tool but have the ability to be much more.  A graphical interface with information sorting and filtering options allows packets to be captured whether wired or wireless.   Consequently making the information you transmit/receive available for others to view.

WiFi can be transmitted and/or received by so many different devices that the amount and type of data passing by us is remarkable.  From cell phones and gaming systems to desktop and laptop computers, packets of data are passing through the air at unimaginable rates.

When you go to the local computer superstore and purchase an access point or wireless router you’re often given misleading advice that give you a false sense of security.  Many of the commonly recommended wireless security tips aren’t actually all that useful and may even do more harm than good by giving you that false sense of security.

Too often, we catch a story about an individual being accused of possession of, or downloading, illegal material.  By having a wireless network unsecured or improperly secured, you become an open portal for the transmission of such material.  On top of that your network is leading the trail for authorities directly to you!

Why? How?

Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) assigns an IP address to you via the router they provided.  The destination or source IP address for the illegal material is simply captured as part of the packets being transmitted.  The authorities trace the IP address to the ISP who then traces the IP address to the one assigned to you.  By not having your network secure, you hold a level of responsibility for the type of data being transmitted to and from your router whether having the knowledge of it or not.  Hypothetically, someone can connect to your network without your knowledge and either download or transmit illegal material.  You’re thinking — The police will just see that I didn’t do it.  Very true, but only after your neighbors saw the police at your home/office seizing your PC and your name was published in the newspaper.  Did I mention a costly defense?

What can I do to secure my wireless network?

Don’t broadcast your SSID

The SSID (Service Set Identifier) is an identification that is broadcasted by a wireless router. Basically, it’s the router saying “I’m out here, this is my name, connect to me.”  Telling a router not to broadcast its SSID may prevent basic wireless access software from displaying the network as a connection option, but it does nothing to actually secure the network. Any time a user connects to a router, the SSID is broadcast in plaintext with that packets sent and received, regardless of whether or not encryption is enabled. SSID information can also be picked up by anyone listening to the network in passive mode.

Disable DHCP

DHCP or Dynamical Host Control Protocol is when an IP address is automatically assigned to your device.  Static IP addressing is when you manually assign an IP address to your device and giving you the ability to change your subnet.  Switching DHCP off and using static IP addressing is no defense against a potential hacker. Anyone sniffing the network can usually figure out the IP scheme that has been used to assign the IP addresses with the subnet range.

Filter MAC addresses

Each NIC card has a unique MAC address.  Theoretically, this sounds great as a wireless access points can be configured to accept or block specified MAC addresses. The problem with filtering by MAC address is that these addresses are easily detected by anyone using appropriate monitoring software like Wireshark.

Filtering MAC addresses is the only one with even a minimal level of value. MAC address filtering can keep a beginner hacker or neighbors from easily connecting and accessing your wireless network, but it won’t do much else. To keep more sophisticated intruders off of your network, you’ll have to use encryption in addition to MAC address filtering

Use Encryption

Even the routers you can purchase locally are capable of using encryption.  What ever encryption you use, your key phrase should consist of as many characters, symbols, and numbers as possible.  WPA is a good encryption method, followed by WPA2, WPA, WPA, and WEP. Generally, any router that supports WPA is good in terms of its overall security. WEP is an “only if you must” protocol, but it’s still a better option than transmitting without encryption.

What does this have to do with computer forensics?

New Jersey Legal posses the expertise to evaluate your network, whether wired or wireless and work with you to firmly secure it.  Often times, a company solicits themselves as having forensic experts on staff.   Without having extensive networking knowledge, the forensic expert will overlook data that may be vital to your case.  Don’t allow the smoking gun be left undiscovered!

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Contract attorneys are available to perform document review for relevance, responsiveness, first and second level privilege and privilege logs. In addition, contract attorneys can perform traditional legal services such as research and writing, motion and deposition attendance, and even manage discovery projects. They can also provide training for document management and review software (e.g. Concordance, Summation, ImageDepot, Concordance-FYI) to you or your staff.

The contract attorneys are specialized in all areas of the law and are handpicked for your project. This in turn can eliminate referrals and produce excellent work product. For additional information please visit www.njlc.net or contact New Jersey Legal’s Contract Attorney Division Manager, Jennifer N. Nelson, Esq. at either (856) 910-0202 or jnn@njlc.net.

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Regardless of the image format, you must OCR image files for them to be searchable. When PDF images are put through the OCR process they treat the OCR text a little differently than TIFF images. A PDF image actually embeds the OCR text within itself (kind of behind the image itself). The PDF software and the OCR software work together to align the OCR text directly behind the words within the image so when you go to the search function within Adobe, the search hit will be highlighted on the image. As a user, all you will see is the PDFs text while the software program will see both the PDF text and the OCR text that is in alignment behind it. Many clients like this method because it is typically fairly cheap and easy to use. This method does have its limits, however, and cannot be utilized with high efficiency in large collections.

This is where TIFF images come in. When a paper document is scanned in a TIFF format it also has to be put through the OCR process to enable search capability. When OCRing a TIFF image a separate text file (.txt) is created and used in the TIFF searching process. So let’s recap real quick…

• A searchable PDF is only one file
• A TIFF image that was OCRed has two files (the actual TIFF image and a text file).

Technically a TIFF image is not really searchable, it is the “text file” produced by the OCR process that is searchable. After OCR, each text file corresponds to its respective TIFF image (where the text came from) and when a search hit occurs in the text file, the TIFF image is indicated in the search hit. This cannot be done in Adobe and requires more advanced document management software to take advantage of these features. In addition to our on-line review platform ImageDepot, the two most common document management packages are Summation and Concordance. We consult with our clients to help them choose the right solution for their case.

These options may seem cumbersome, but in large document collections it is the way to go. You can use multiple search criteria and conditional searching such as “AND/OR” type searches to further cull down your collection. Beginning to understand OCR, and how it works, may mean saving literally hundreds of review hours for you and your client.

Jason Lopez
Imaging Department

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In my second video interview with Jay we’ll be interviewing Jason as people know him in his freetime, on weekends and as he would prefer — but thankfully can’t — at work. We’ll call this one Interview With A Viking.

As usual, below you’ll find the youtube video embedded as well as a link to the interview on another video hosting site if youtube is unavailable for you. If you’re viewing the youtube video, we suggest pressing the ‘HQ’ button after pressing play so you can view the video in high quality.

VIDEO INTERVIEW 1

Video Interview 1 via alternate site, Viddler

VIDEO INTERVIEW 2

Video Interview 2 via alternate site, Viddler

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After a lot of training and many, many hours of practice, I was assigned my first trial.  My first trial was a bench trial in Atlantic City.  It was a complex trial with over 40 video depositions and over one hundred thousand pages of exhibits.  Our client requested that we handle everything on their behalf.  So it began… my first trial.

The New Jersey Legal trial support team started by calling court reporters and requesting deposition transcripts and video of the depositions if they were filmed.  We then had to convert most of the video from either tape or VOB format to a digital MPEG format in order to synchronize the video along with the text from the respective deposition. When it was all said and done we had converted over 80 gigs of video and synchronized them with the text and made them ready for a Sanction court presentation.  We imported them into Sanction and indexed all the depositions in our presentation.  Now we were ready for clip creation.  The law firm gave us multiple time frames to create video clips for quick playback in Sanction during the trial.

We then took the clients Summation database (yes, all 100,000+ pages) and imported that into Sanction along with any available OCR text files to make them searchable on the fly during the electronic courtroom presentation. Any documents that did not contain text we OCR’d and prepared those files for Sanction as well. On many occasions during trial, we will need to perform text or index searches to locate a specific document and it is really easy if you OCR all the documents, index them properly when creating your case from the beginning.

The next step was to meet with law firm’s client, and learn more about the case.  We then use the new case information and our experience to develop custom graphics to help better present their case to the Judge.  The graphics are always interesting. No matter the case, the custom graphics almost always include timelines, call-outs, demonstratives, text highlighting and photos. This was a contract dispute so neither animations nor day in the life videos were needed.  One of the features in Sanction is the ability import a custom graphic (in this case a timeline), and link other documents or videos in the case to the time line.  The lead attorney appreciated the ability to zoom in on a specific time bubble on the timeline and have me click multiple links (depending on his train of thought at the time) to display supporting documents or video at the click of a mouse.  We were also able to output all of the video for the judge to take home and review before the next day’s testimony.

As a courtroom trial presenter, I am also responsible for our trial equipment transportation, set-up, and break-down. We bring computers, back-up devices, monitors, projectors, screens, printers, scanners, wireless cards, etc… Our equipment is excellent, very high end and robust.  At the conclusion of this trial, the judge asked me to stick around to print out the settlement documents, as our printers were better than what his chambers are equipped with. This was unique, as everyone else was dismissed and the attorneys, the judge, and I remained.

Our clients’ trial was a success.  The client got the settlement he wanted, the attorneys got to have a high end trial consultant at their disposal and I got my first trial under my belt.   I am glad I started at New Jersey Legal helping with customer service.  I like to think our company’s outstanding customer service helps our customers feel more comfortable when deciding to go to trial with a courtroom presentation professional.  Experience is New Jersey Legal’s most important asset and I am glad to be contributing to that bank of experience.  We have been providing litigation support for over 15 years and we plan on being around helping clients for the next 15.  I look forward to future posts, have a great day!

Ted Mazurek
Sanction Certified Trial Presenter

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Years ago there wasn’t much of a decision to be made.  Trial exhibits were chosen to be included in trial binders and only a select few documents were either reproduced to hand out or enlarged to present to the jury.

Now, jury’s expect more. In today’s technology driven world, the expectation is more than simple hand outs and an occasional exhibit board. With the likelihood that a potential juror on your case has watched one of the many television shows or movies based in the courtroom, they’re expecting drama, action, and well placed emotionally charged music. While we can’t give them these things, we can help keep them engaged and interested.

In recent years trial consultants and trial presenters have been retained by lawyers to help develop powerful courtroom presentations. Here at NJ Legal this is no different, more and more of our clients depend on our technology during trial preparation as well as the courtroom presentation.  Studies have shown that more than 60% of jurors and judges are the most actively engaged — and retain the most information — during visual presentations.

One advantage of an electronic trial presentation is that the attorney has the entire case file — which includes every document, video, audio, picture, and custom graphic — available with the click of a button.  The attorney can simply refer to an exhibit number and almost instantly, the trial consultant can have that exhibit projected onto a large screen and/or multiple LCD monitors.  No more fishing through boxes and flipping through binders to find the crucial document.  Partnering with a seasoned trial presenter in the courtroom is simply the most organized, effective and powerful courtroom presentation you can give on behalf of your client.

As you prepare for your next trial, Just Call New Jersey Legal!

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• Litigation Copying
• Color copies
• Oversize Copying
• On-Site Copying
• Trial Boards (Black & White)
• Bate Stamping
• Binding Services
• Video and Audio Duplication
• X-Ray Duplication.

Looking at this list made me reminisce about my first years in the “Copy Business” and how much New Jersey Legal has changed over the years.  I have now been in the industry for 12 years and with New Jersey Legal for 9 of those.

It was a totally different job when I started. I didn’t need a computer and without a computer there was no email to answer. I didn’t need a cell phone. When a client called the office their phone number was sent to my pager. Then I had to search and find a pay phone, scrounge up 35 cents, wipe the phone with disinfectant and then finally make the call – and that’s if the pay phone actually worked! I don’t even think my children know what a pay phone is. Every job was a copy job and scanning documents was seldom done.

Over 15 years we have changed with the needs of our loyal customers. I am impressed and thankful that the owner of the company, Gary Overman, has always invested in people and services and has always adapted to the ever changing needs of our customers.

The list of services and our capabilities continue to grow and change. We went from not even having cell phones to having people on staff that can forensically image them.  We went from just being able to print trial boards and graphics to providing full multimedia courtroom trial support backed by our eDiscovery and computer forensics services. We went from just copying paper to imaging hard drives and processing data. I am writing a blog. We even have our own comic strip!

Congratulations to Gary and everyone that has been involved with making us successful. I can’t wait to see what the next 15 years has to offer!

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Our first video is an interview with the friendly and always cheerful Mike. Below you’ll find the youtube video embedded as well as a link to the interview on another video hosting site if youtube is unavailable for you. If viewing the youtube video, we suggest pressing the ‘HQ’ button after pressing play so you can view the video in high quality.

Video Interview via alternate video site, Viddler

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What are the general differences between computer forensics and electronic discovery services?

COMPUTER FORENSICS:

Computer forensics (technical definition) – is a branch of forensic science pertaining to legal evidence found in computers and digital storage mediums. Computer forensics is also known as digital forensics.

Not long ago, discovery consisted mainly of gathering paper documents, but today, it means not only collecting paper, but also collecting any related electronic data. If you think of the lifecycle of a legal case in 2009, most of the cases have to start with a forensically sound “Data Collection.” For this blog post we are going to keep it simple and limit the electronic data in this scenario to three main categories.

1. Loose electronic files (word docs, spreadsheets, PowerPoint files, etc… for example, what you might find in your “My Documents” folder)
2. Image files (Tiffs, jpegs, PDFs, etc… for example, photos or scanned documents you may have saved on your computer or attached to an email)
3. Email files (Mainly PSTs – these are electronic container files that may include emails, attachments, contacts, calendar items, etc… )

Performing a forensically sound and a court defensible data collection will require a Certified Computer Examiner (CCE). CCEs utilize computer forensics software and hardware to gather electronic data (data from computers, hard drives, disks, etc…). CCEs testify in court as to the collection methods used, they verify everything was collected, and they explain any issues or anomalies in the data if there were any. The process of identifying, gathering, and, in theory, cloning the data is called “forensic imaging”. When the CCE is “forensically imaging” a data storage device, they are basically taking a snapshot of the data in its entirety and in its current configuration. Part of this snapshot will include the unused space on your computer. This unused space may appear to be nothing of importance, but after analysis, a CCE may show that it houses deleted files that were never overwritten. In the normal course of computer use, you do not see any of this, but using computer forensic and restoration tools a CCE may reveal electronic files thought deleted and gone forever.

ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY:

Electronic Discovery, eDiscovery or E-Discovery is the discovery process as it applies to electronic records. These electronic records are referred to as ESI (Electronically Stored Information). Electronic Discovery is complex, but for simplicity, in this first post, we will define it as is “the actual processing of electronic data (ESI)”. For this E-Discovery example, let’s say our ESI (electronic data) was first collected or “imaged” by our CCE. Now we have to process the data in our eDiscovery platform. In this simplified example, the process will include the following:

1. Extracting all the text to allow key word searching.
2. Extracting out all of the metadata (metadata is “data about the data” – Medadata fields most commonly utilized in loose files are MAC times – modified, accessed, created. Metadata fields most commonly utilized for emails are – sent by, sent to, cc, bcc, dates, subject, etc…)
3. Identify any files where text extraction was not possible. Further processing will be needed for these files and this processing will be explained in a future blog post.
4. Cull down the data set by keyword, date range, and custodian searches.
5. At client’s request, export out all the relevant data and load files for Concordance, Summation, etc., or host the data on our web based platform, ImageDepot.
6. Once reviewed for privilege, we can export just the responsive data. This data is exported along with a specified “load file” that will allow the party receiving the data to load, into their system, all the records along with the associated metadata for each record.

Again, keeping it simple…

In short, computer forensic services are for collecting data, preserving data, and finding and restoring deleted data. E-Discovery services are for processing, culling, and delivering data. These simplified concepts should help get you started and serve as a guide when strategizing as your case begins.

Gary Overman
President
New Jersey Legal™

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