Case Studies

Below is a compilation of some of the projects and investigations 4MAT Data have been involved in ;

AIR ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

4MAT Data were tasked to examine the iPhone of a pilot killed in an air accident to establish timelines and activity prior to the crash. Analysis of the iPhone identified the pilots state of mind and limited sleep pattern, which was presented to the inquiry.

HACKING/UNAUTHORISED ACCESS

Case 1

 A Premiership football club believed that an employee was accessing a secure area of the main server to unlawfully obtain confidential information about player’s salaries and injuries. Evidence was found on computer media by 4MAT Data of unlawful accessing and forwarding of confidential data using advanced hacking techniques. A report was provided to the client, and the employee was dismissed.

Case 2

A leading financial instituition in Jersey had it's email server compromised, with a leak of emails during a case hearing. Incident response by 4MAT Data identified the point and method of access, along with a named suspect, and also identified several areas for security review. 

FRAUD

Case 1

Defendant was one of a number charged with fraud in the form of selling unlocked and unauthorised media viewing cards, and satellite set top boxes. Examination of the prosecution case by 4MAT Data identified that the prosecution had not kept exhibit continuity, and had breeched Principle 1 of ACPO guidelines for the computer based evidence. It was also identified that the seized computers had not run the software needed to alter the satellite boxes to receive the pay per view channels in unencrypted format. A split jury forced a retrial.

Case 2

A defendant was accused of fraud, where it was alleged that hard drives had been swapped between two computers, and the ‘autofill’ function of a Windows operating system, had put bank login details automatically into a banking website, from where money had been removed. 4MAT Data provided evidence that this was not possible, and case was dismissed.

Case 3

A defendant accused of fraud where the prima facia evidence from the prosecution related to the production of key emails. 4MAT Data undertook an examination of the prosecutions’ findings, and identified that a key prosecution witness had received emails exonerating the defendant from the allegation. The case against the defendant was immediately dropped.

CIVIL PROCEEDINGS/EMAIL INVESTIGATIONS

A client as a claimant in a $3 million civil case involving the construction industry in Greece, requested an examination of company email records, and provision of a Civil Procedure Part 35 report. It was alleged that an email previously presented in evidence by the respondent, had been falsified. Examination by 4MAT Data proved the presented exhibit to be a false representation of an email file, allowing the claimant to present the falsified evidence to the court, and successful with their claim.

INTERNET INVESTIGATIONS

Case 1

Complainant discovered that their personal details were being used without consent on a website and requested for it to be researched as to origin, and make an evidential copy of it. Complainant also requested to know of any other instances where her details in connection with the website were being used. 4MAT Data undertook an Internet investigation, and provided a report identifying usage of complainants’ details. This was presented to the respondent, which resulted in the immediate cessation of use by the respondent prior to a court appearance.

Case 2

Open source research was requested to identify online pharmaceutical intellectual property theft. 4MAT Data identified online usage using open source techniques, and provided a report to the client for take down notices to be issued to ISP’s.

Case 3

4MAT Data received a request to recover social media chat from a laptop, to assist a defendant’s appeal against conviction for rape, showing where victim allegedly discusses incident with defendant, indicating that it wasn’t rape. Social media chat was recovered from deleted data, and presented to the Court of Appeal.

FORENSIC LAB IMPLEMENTATION

Case 1

4MAT Data provided strategic and tactical advice to a high profile Ministry of Defence inquiry, with additional responsibility as technical lead for a major server room expansion venture. The data encompasses over 2,000 digital exhibits, which need to be forensically processed and reviewed.

Case 2

Forensic Lab build, forensic software implementation and forensic software training provided to government agencies in Brunei and Abu Dhabi

GLOBAL DATA COLLECTION

4MAT Data assisted a Legal Services provider with a live forensic capture of an Exchange server in Norway, for a patent infringement case.

MATRIMONIAL DISPUTES

A client required recovery of deleted emails, Internet history and files from a laptop, detailing a partners’ infidelity. Deleted emails and files were recovered by 4MAT Data, along with files relating to a previously undisclosed bank account, which were provided to the client.