Employee Turnover And Computer Forensic Analysis Best Practices

EmployeeTurnover and
Computer Forensic Analysis
Best Practices

THIS PRESENTATION IS
BROUGHTTOYOU BY:

Class Ground Rules
• Class content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal
advice.
• Questions posed by and opinions offered by class participants are for the sole
purpose of improving today’s class’s educational value and do not constitute
legal advice.
• There are no bad questions, so please raise your hand and interrupt the
presenter with your questions as they come up rather than waiting for the end
of the class.

Larry Lieb, CASA
• Michigan P.I. License #3701206704
• Cellebrite Certified Physical Analyst (CCPA)
• Fluent in Japanese. Performed Forensic Collections in Japan.
• Worked in Computer Forensics and Electronic Discovery since 1998
• Qualified as a computer forensic expert in both Federal and State
courts

Historical Challenges with
EmployeeTurnover

Common EmployeeTurnover Challenges
•Organization’s current IT policy calls for the ex-
employees’ devices and accounts to be “wiped” and
re-purposed for new employees’ use including:
• Company issued workstations (laptop or desktop
computer)
•“Home” or “Personal” directories
•Company issued smartphone

Common EmployeeTurnover Challenges – Pt. 2
•No written nor practiced policy exists to insure all
organization-provided accounts’ passwords are
immediately changed upon employee
termination.
It is common to encounter evidence of ex-
employees accessing company business systems
weeks after being terminated.

Common EmployeeTurnover Challenges – Pt. 3
•No written nor practiced IT/Legal policy exists to
preserve key “logs” of activity from organizational
business systems.
•Most “user” activity logs generated by business
systems such as Office365 are ephemeral in nature
and must be preserved before they are no longer
accessible.
•Analysis of such logs, which include such important
information as files being downloaded, commonly
reveal misappropriation of company trade secrets.

Immediate Steps toTake When Key
Employees Leave an Organization

EmployeeTurnover Evidence Preservation
• When an employee is terminated or resigns, there are several critical
evidence identification and preservation steps organizations should
perform.
• Some organizations choose to preserve all terminated employees’
electronic evidence whereas some organizations choose to only
preserve “key” ex-employees’ data; a “key” employee is defined as an
employee who is under a restrictive covenant or an employee who had
access to an organization’s trade secrets, or perhaps a disgruntled ex-
employee one can reasonably anticipate later suing one’s organization.
• It is not uncommon for organizations to have additional extensive
preservation steps for terminated C-Suite employees given the C-Suite
employees’ normally extensive access rights to company business
systems.

EmployeeTurnover EvidenceTrackingTool
•Upon employee turnover, the first step one must take
is to identify and track all devices and accounts the
former employee utilized.
•The class handout “EMPLOYEE EVIDENCETRACKER”
is a tool which organizations can use to insure that all
devices and accounts used and accessed by a
terminated employee are appropriately protected and
preserved when employees are terminated.

EmployeeTurnover EvidenceTrackingTool
•Upon employee turnover, the first step one must take
is to identify and track all devices and accounts the
former employee utilized.
•The class handout “EMPLOYEE EVIDENCETRACKER”
is a tool which organizations can use to insure that all
devices and accounts used and accessed by a
terminated employee are appropriately protected and
preserved when employees are terminated.
•Please do not assume termed employees’ account
passwords have been changed, document it!!!

Workstation Forensic Imaging
•Terminated C-Suite and “key” former employees’
workstations should be forensically imaged and
the forensic images should be stored for a
reasonable amount of time so that, in the event
an issue arises in the future, forensic analysis of
the ex-employees’ workstations may be
performed.

EmployeeTurnover Manual
•The class handout “EmployeeTurnover Manual”
provides step by step instructions on creating
forensic images of former employees’
workstations.
•Assuming a forensic image of an ex-employee’s
computer has been created, forensic analysis of
that computer can be undertaken in the event
future concerns arise.

C-Suite Employee Additional Considerations
•It is common to encounter significant data theft
performed by C-Suite (CEO/COO/CFO) employees at
least three weeks before such employees formally
resign.
•Organizations should consider engaging independent
3rd party shield computer forensic specialists to
preserve all devices, accounts and user activity logs
for C-Suite employees as well as for “sensitive”
situations for which one could reasonably anticipate
forensic analysis and sworn testimony.

Forensic Analysis Best Practices

Establishing aTimeline of Events
• One should record and track key events related to every internal
investigation or dispute with parties outside of one’s organization.
• For example, in a theft of trade secrets matter, key events will always
include:
• The date a former employee formally resigned
• The data a former employee turned in their company provided computer and
phone
• The date a former employee began work at his/her new employer.
Based upon theTimeline of Events, activities uncovered during forensic analysis
can be placed into context; was the former employee simply “doing their job”
or was there no conceivable business reason for the former employee to be
sending themselves trade secret documents a week after formally resigning.

Best Practice #2 – KeyWord SearchTerms
• At the outset of a forensic analysis case, it is important to create and maintain a list of
KeyWord search terms.
• KeyWord search terms can include people’s names, email addresses, cell phone
numbers, company names and product names.
• Typically a given matter’s KeyWord search terms will change and evolve in an iterative
fashion as new evidence is uncovered.
• Forensic tools allow for multiple KeyWord search terms to be run concurrently; Key
Word responsive hits can then be reviewed in a targeted and cost effective manner.
• KeyWord search term hits will appear in computer system files as well as email and office
type files
• KeyWord hits in system files can and often do inform forensic analysis such as the
instances where efforts have been made to destroy evidence. System files are files that a
computer uses to function and typically unknown to most computer users.

Evidence Recoverable From
Computers and
Smartphones

Computers and Phones Work Like DigitalVideo Recorders
• Television broadcasts disappear completely from one’sTV
after a broadcast ends unless one records shows using a
DigitalVideo Recorder.
• Content viewed on the Internet using a computer is stored
on the computer that browsed the Internet just like a Digital
Video Recorder.
• As a result, forensic software is often able to recover
evidence from computers and smartphones that most
people are not aware can be recovered.

Types of Evidence Recoverable Directly From Computers and Smartphones
• 3rd Party Email: Gmail,Yahoo Email, AOL Email, Comcast
Email, Etc.
• Social Media: FacebookWall Postings, Facebook
Messenger Messages, Instagram, Etc.
• Locations the Computer/Smartphone User has been and
the locations people the Computer/Smartphone User has
been communication with including specific addresses,
dates and places.

WAR STORY#1 – Racist Facebook Wall Post
• Background: In a Labor and Employment matter,Tyger was
engaged to perform forensic preservation and analysis of a
corporate client’s former employee’s work laptop and
smartphone. The corporate client’s former employee had sued
her former employer for racial discrimination and wrongful
termination.
• A forensic image was created of the former employee’s work
laptop
• A forensic tool called Internet Evidence Finder was able to
recover Facebook wall postings the former employee had made
to her own Facebook account using her former work computer
within a “temporary” internet browser file.

WAR STORY #2 – MacBookTraining and Snippets Databases
• Background: In a theft of trade secrets matter, forensic analysis of a
corporate client’s former employee’s MacBook identifies two key
sources of evidence:
• Training.DB-WAL
• /Users/JDoe/Library/Suggestions/training.db-wal
• Snippets.DB-WAL
• /Users/JDoe/Library/Suggestions/snippets.db-wal
The DB stands for “Database”, which is the equivalent of a multi-
tabbed Excel spreadsheet. “WAL” stands for “Write Ahead Log”;
WAL files hold evidence which the end user has not saved yet, and
is thus very important from a forensic analysis standpoint.

War Story #2 Continued
• Unbeknownst to the former employee, when the former
employee used his work provided MacBook to login to his
personal Comcast and Gmail email accounts, the contents of his
personal email accounts were copied automatically by the
MacBook into both the Training.DB-WAL and Snippets.DB-
WAL files.
• Prior to resigning, the former employee actually attempted to
destroy evidence on his company provided MacBook using a
program called “Clean My Mac”. However, the “Clean My Mac”
program did not delete either the Training.DB-WAL and
Snippets.DB-WAL files.

War Story #2 Continued
•The Snippets.DB-WAL file captured the former
employee emailing a future product’s prototype CAD
drawing from his work email address to his personal
Comcast email account two weeks after officially
resigning his job.
•The Training.DB-WAL file captured the former
employee incorporating an LLC prior to resigning his
position and actually invoicing his former employer’s
customers through his own LLC!

WAR STORY#3 – Smartphone Data Recovered From Computers
•A formerVice President ofTyger’s customer was
caught stealing over $1 million from his
employer.
•The formerVP turned in his company Android
phone in a factory reset state; performing a
factory reset on a smartphone will render all
evidence on that smartphone unrecoverable.

War Story #3 - Continued
•A forensic image was created of the formerVP’s
workstation and a forensic “file-carving” process
was performed on the workstation forensic
image using the forensic tool Forensic Explorer.
•According to Forensic Explorer, “file carving is the
identification and extraction of file types from
unallocated clusters using file signatures.”

•Every type of file in a Microsoft Windows system
has a unique “file signature” which allows
Microsoft to identify the specific file type being
interacted with. All “file signatures” appear as
the first four to eight bytes of every file within a
MicrosoftWindows system. For example, the
first four bytes of Microsoft Outlook .OST email
files have the unique hexadecimal “file signature”
value of “!BDN”.

•The Forensic Explorer forensic software was able
to identify and recover deleted Microsoft Outlook
.OST email files using the aforementioned “file
signature” hexadecimal value of “!BDN”. A
Microsoft OST file is a file which contains
Microsoft Outlook emails, email attachments,
calendar, contacts and SMS text messages.

• The deleted Microsoft OST email files contained text messages
from the formerVP’s factory reset Android phone including
communications regarding cash payments and FedEx tracking
numbers used to send the illicit cash payments.
• The formerVP had configured his Microsoft Outlook software
to synchronize his Android phone text messages with his email
account and although the formerVP took steps to delete the
synchronized text messages from his Outlook email, the
forensic file carving process was able to successfully recover the
deleted content.

War Story #4 – MoreText Messages Recovered from Computers
• In a medical malpractice case, text messages from a no longer
accessible smartphone belonging to the decedent were able to be
recovered from a laptop computer.
• At some point in the past, the smartphone had been backed up to the
decedent’s laptop.
• The forensic software Forensic Explorer created a searchable index of
all possible files on the laptop, which revealed the no-longer-accessible
smartphone’s text messages inWindows system files.
• “System files” are files Windows needs to operate normally, as
compared to “user files” such as email and office type files, but in case
after case, forensic analysis is discovering text messages originating
from smartphones contained with system files.

Recovery of Smartphone Evidence From Computers
•Often times employees leave companies with their
personally owned smartphones.
•However, even if a smartphone is no longer physically
accessible, in case after case, smartphone evidence
including text messages and call logs have been able to
be recovered from laptop and desktop computers,
which underscores the importance of creating a
forensic image of a terminated employee’s computer.

WAR STORY#5 – Recovery of QuickBooks Evidence
• In a family divorce case,Tyger’s client’s opponent was claiming next to no income
for the past several years.
• Tyger made forensic images of our client’s home computers which revealed
QuickBooks “.QBO” files; the QuickBooks files were encrypted with a password
and seeming inaccessible.
• However, the forensic tool “QuickBooks Forensics” by Grideon Software was able
to extract the password; when QuickBooks installed to a local computer logs in to
a QuickBooks online account, the QuickBooks software sends the QuickBooks
account password in plain text, which is then captured by the forensic software.
• After decrypting the QuickBooks data, the “QuickBooks Forensics” software was
able to report on over $3 million in income over the past three years!

3rd Party Subpoenas to
Phone Carriers and Social
Media Companies

Generic Record Request Description Sheet
• Subpoena responses from phone carriers will include:
• Originating phone number and terminating phone number
• The times, dates and durations of phone calls
• The cell tower(s) the originating phone was connected to at the
time phone calls were underway.
• The class handout “Generic Record Request Description
Sheet” includes all of the necessary language required for
the subpoena response to include information attorneys
will be interested in.

Generic Record Request Description Sheet – Cont.
• Cell tower information will include:
• The longitude and latitude of the cell tower(s) that a smartphone
was connected to during specific calls
• The cell tower “zone” that a smartphone was connected to
during specific calls; cell towers typically have three zones, with
each zone comprised of 120º.
• The “azimuth” of each zone, represented in degrees, which
indicates the center of each zone.
• The aforementioned data can inform one as to the physical
location a smartphone was at the time of a specific phone call.

Generic Record Request Description Sheet – Cont.
•The Generic Record Request Description Sheet will also
provide:
• The longitude and latitude of the cell tower(s) that a
smartphone was connected to during specific text
messaging activity
• The cell tower “zone” that a smartphone was connected to
during specific text messaging activity.
• Carriers will not provide the bodies of text messages in
response to civil subpoenas.

Best Practices for Addressing “Burner” Phones
• Oftentimes malfeasant parties will purchase “burner”
phones in order to harass or impersonate another
individual.
• www.WhitePages.com’s Pro service will identify the phone
carrier for “burner” phones.
• A subpoena to the “burner” phone company can reveal the
credit card number used to purchase the “burner” phone
• A timely preservation of video footage of the store from
which the “burner” phone was purchased can reveal the
purchaser’s identity.

Records Request – Social Media Company
Social Media companies collect and store highly detailed information regarding their users.
The class hand out “Twitter Record Request” will return the following information for a
givenTwitter account:
• The email address used to register theTwitter account
• The date and time theTwitter was originally activated
• The IP address recorded at the time of Account Creation.
• All dates and times theTwitter account was accessed by the account owner
• All IP addresses and locations including longitude and latitude, if available, of devices
accessing theTwitter account
• The make and model of all devices accessing theTwitter account
• The login verification phone number, if available, associated with theTwitter account

TwitterWar Story
•An opponent ofTyger’s client created a fakeTwitter
account and then proceeded to tweet harmful
information as a method to gain advantage in a law
suit.
•Twitter responded to the records request with
information that proved that theTwitter account had
been created by the opponent!

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
THERE ARE NO BAD
QUESTIONS, SO LET US
DISCUSS!
Q&A

EXPERT SERVICES
• Internal investigations
• Forensic collection, analysis, reporting and
testimony
• Electronic discovery hosted review services
• Managed review
• International court reporting
• Trial support experts

Laurence D. Lieb, CASA
support@forensics.one | 312-613-4240
ThankYou

Employee Turnover And Computer Forensic Analysis Best Practices

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