Preserving Electronic Evidence

With increasing volumes of electronically stored information (ESI) being captured, together with the ever present threat of litigation and the resulting e-discovery requirements, organizations are turning to Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions to manage their corporate memory. However, the question still remains, is storing the information in the ECM enough? How can organizations be better prepared for the day they need to leverage that ECM investment to defend the organization in a court of law?
What is electronic evidence?

Electronic evidence is anything that can be used and stored on a computer. This includes documents, emails, logs, audits, images, metadata and any other information that is stored or used digitally. Electronic evidence, unlike paper or physical evidence, is easier to tamper with or destroy. So it needs to be handled differently. Unlike physical evidence which can be put under lock and key and stand the test of authenticity, electronic evidence can be accessed and copied, edited and deleted very quickly and easily – unless systems are put in place to protect against this. It is essential that organizations manage their digital information with the same level of protection as they do any other assets to ensure authenticity and that it can be found.

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