Digital Investigations

Electronic evidence gathering can be critical to the success of a civil or criminal case. Outside the courtroom, evidence gathered electronically can assist with, among other things, investigation of fraud, harassment, discrimination, employee dismissal cases and misappropriation of intellectual property.

Digital investigations include the acquisition, preservation and analysis of electronic data in a manner that ensures its admissibility as evidence in a court of law.

Quick, reliable and efficient retrieval and analysis of electronic evidence is standard protocol for KPMG Ireland’s team of computer forensic specialists. The highly complex nature of electronic evidence recovery requires the unique expertise of Forensic Technology professionals with extensive forensic investigation experience.

• Our Forensic Technology team specialises in recovering and analysing recovered electronic information, as well as protecting the integrity of the data during the retrieval and presentation process. We can help you navigate through the most technical of data recovery issues.
• Our Forensic Technology team has a broad spectrum of experience including Encase certified, graduate qualified and industry IT specialists. We operate in accordance with the ACPO Guidelines for Electronic Evidence (on which Garda Siochana IT forensic standards are also based).
• The team interrogates various data sources to determine and prove a course of events by building a timeline of activity across single or multiple computer systems. 
• The types of data sources which can be interrogated include desktops, laptops, servers, portable media, and mobile devices (such as iPads, smartphones etc.). The team is also familiar with overcoming data encryption and the technical challenges posed by it. 
• Throughout each investigation our trained staff will maintain detailed notes and prepare reports, witness statements or affidavits to support the work undertaken. All such work is undertaken to a standard which is applicable to court proceedings.

• Acquire and recover any type of electronic information from a single device to a large network environment. 
• Analyse active, deleted and user-created files. 
• Search unallocated and slack space areas of storage media. 
• Identify and restore the files essential for your litigation. 
• Recover most password-protected and encrypted documents. 
• Examine emails, Internet files and Internet history. 
• Secure and provide proper chain of custody documentation for electronic evidence. 
• Apply proprietary KPMG tools to perform data analysis of an organisation’s books and journal entries.

• Demonstrating fraudulent or criminal activity. 
• Substantiating or refuting wrongful dismissal cases. 
• Supporting termination with cause. 
• Providing evidence of insider trading. 
• Analysing data and identifying irregularities in an organisation’s accounting system. 
• Proving theft of trade secrets by employees or others. 
• Determining an individual’s activities on a network or single PC. 
• Substantiating or refuting allegations of harassment.