Boston Computer Forensics for Research and Biotech Matters

Hold the Repository Before the Access Is Revoked

The Boston office answers at (617) 848-5962, and the 24/7 hotline at (800) 868-8189 reaches an examiner at any hour, which matters when a departing engineer still has repository access tonight.

For a Greater Boston research or technology matter we begin with the specific project, the source repository or the shared research folder in dispute, and then identify the email accounts, the collaborators and the record owners who sit alongside the departing person's computer. Preservation is planned around those connected sources, because the question the matter eventually turns on, who had the data and where did it go, is rarely answered by one device.

A project history is usually distributed across collaboration tools, versioned files and messages, so we ask for the relevant project dates, the account administrators and the record identifiers up front. With those in hand the examination can connect document access, email communication and the movement of proprietary information into a single chronology, and the examiner who assembled it can defend it in deposition or at trial in the District of Massachusetts or the Massachusetts Superior Court.

Departure Reviews at a Fixed Price or Full Scope

Where the question is narrow, flat rate employee exit Core Analysis answers it for an agreed price; where the stakes justify it, a broader trade secret forensic examination carries the matter through to testimony.

If the departure involves a founder, a lab director or a partner, our executive departure and partner separation analyses frame the business records, the account authority and the decisions the examination has to support.

Research Records Belong in the Departure Review

A departure review that stops at the laptop misses the work itself. We scope the project records, email, cloud storage and computer activity together, and the collection plan names each system that holds the research material and the access logs that trace it.

Get a Free Consultation

MassBio's industry reporting documents the depth of the Massachusetts life sciences sector, and for a Greater Boston research or technology matter that depth changes the evidence. Laboratory information systems, electronic notebooks and collaboration platforms can matter as much as conventional computers and mailboxes, and each carries its own record formats, permissions and audit settings. We review those individually rather than assuming a single export captures the history.

MassBio Industry Snapshot on the Massachusetts biopharma sector

If a laboratory system or an electronic notebook sits in your dispute, name the system and the vendor and the examiner will tell you what its standard export leaves out.

Research data and intellectual property

We preserve the relevant project versions, source repositories, electronic notebooks and access records, then answer authorship, possession and transfer as three separate questions. Finding a file on a device proves possession; authorship and use each need their own corroborating records, and the timeline shows which records answer which question.

Trade secret and employee forensics in detail

Cloud and distributed custodians

A Boston team may use email, shared storage and messaging platforms administered by different organizations. We identify the correct tenant and account, the export method the provider actually supports and whether a preservation hold has in fact been applied, keep collection logs and reconcile the expected sources against what was delivered.

Cloud eDiscovery collections in detail

Applications and sensitive workflows

Security testing for a research or software organization describes the application, the user roles, the data boundaries and the connected services before a single request is sent. We agree test accounts, permitted techniques and the handling of sensitive records, and the findings come with reproducible evidence, a practical remediation owner and a way to verify the correction.

Application penetration testing in detail

Every scope starts from the project, the people and the deadline; bring those three to the Boston office and the first plan follows.

The services below reach Boston, Cambridge and the wider region through the same practice that has served AmLaw 100 firms and Fortune 1000 companies since 1992. Mailboxes, cloud tenants and phones are collected remotely where the source permits, examiners travel from our sixteen US offices for device handoffs and laboratory visits, and the reports are written so that a judge, a jury or a board can follow them. The expert practice behind those reports includes federal district court, multidistrict litigation, arbitration and ITC 337 experience.

• Computer and hard drive forensics
• Mobile device forensics
• Email and cloud evidence
• Expert witness support
• Penetration testing
• Vulnerability assessments
• Application penetration testing
• Ransomware and data breach analysis
• eDiscovery collections
• Departing employee analysis
• Evidence aware data recovery
• OT and SCADA security
• AI security consulting

Describe the project or the event, the organizations that administer the records and any device or account scheduled for reuse. A senior examiner tells you what to hold today, then walks through the examination and the report the matter needs. Where counsel is involved we agree the scope and the communication channel before any privileged material is collected, and we check conflicts before engagement. The consultation is free and handled in confidence; call (617) 848-5962 during the day or (800) 868-8189 at any hour.

If IT has already started helping, read what well meaning preservation usually destroys before the next step is taken.

Disputed Text Messages in Massachusetts Courts

A disputed message raises several different questions: whether the displayed conversation is complete, whether a record was changed after the fact, and what connects the account or the device to the person alleged to have sent it. GDF helps Boston litigators answer those questions from authorized phone, backup and account evidence, and our mobile practice includes supported remote collection through a link and a computer connection, so a custodian usually keeps using the phone while the collection runs.

The Massachusetts Guide to Evidence recognizes authentication through witness knowledge and surrounding circumstances as well as technical proof. That makes the forensic record a strong addition to the evidentiary foundation: it shows what the device, the backup and the account actually contain, so the argument rests on the full record rather than a screenshot alone.

We start by preserving context: the application, the participants, the relevant dates, the attachments and the connected accounts, with the original screenshots retained alongside any underlying messages. Where it is authorized and available we compare device records, backups and the other participant's messages, because tying a message to the person who typed it takes more than an account name or a contact label. The timeline records source timestamps, time zone conversions and gaps, since export order, delivery time and the time displayed on a handset may all differ, and the report documents the limits that encryption, application versions, retention and device condition place on what can be recovered, including deleted messages, edit history and read receipts.

Before anyone changes settings, resets a device or runs recovery software, discuss its current state with the examiner. We agree authorized access, collection scope, custody records and the required report or exhibits, and the report explains what the hash values prove: that the collected data set is the one we examined.

Read Massachusetts Guide to Evidence Section 901 on authentication and Section 1119 on digital evidence. For acquisition methods and litigation deliverables, see mobile device forensics and expert witness services.

Get a Free Consultation

What Your OT Sensors Can Actually See

A utility or industrial operator needs to know which control system communications are visible, which are not, and who will act on an alert. For a Greater Boston or New England engagement we bring operations, engineering, IT and the compliance lead into the scope discussion before a sensor is connected or a network configuration is changed, because the people who run the plant are the people who know what a change will do.

GDF reviews network architecture, passive visibility, remote access paths and incident evidence, starting from the approved asset inventory and network diagrams and identifying safe observation points and known blind spots. The report shows exactly which traffic each sensor sees and which it misses, so a product license is never mistaken for coverage.

The assessment documents the network segments and protocols visible at each collection point along with packet loss, encrypted traffic and unmonitored links, then compares the observed communications with engineering expectations and approved maintenance activity while confirming safety constraints and change control requirements. It assigns alert review, escalation and evidence preservation responsibilities and exercises the handoff between the security team and control room personnel. The work product is a coverage map, the identified gaps, the supporting records and a prioritized remediation plan with owners and retest criteria.

For a utility subject to NERC CIP, we map the findings to the standard version and the implementation schedule that apply to your system classification, working from NERC's current reliability standards and implementation plans, so the compliance lead receives evidence organized the way an audit will ask for it.

See OT network assessment methods, ICS and SCADA security assessments and OT incident response. The Boston office plans the site access, the operating windows and the coordination with your control room.

Scope Your Assessment

Three short guides save most of the trouble we see: digital forensics questions covers cost, timing and what to expect, the forensic examination process walks through each stage from preservation to testimony, and digital evidence preservation mistakes explains why a helpful IT department is often the first problem. For an active incident, call (800) 868-8189.