Electronically Stored Information (ESI) data mapping is knowing what electronic data you have, where it resides, and how that information is used is important to managing the discovery process or litigation, or responding to a data security incident. Understanding your adversary’s electronically stored information (ESI) Data Map is also crucial to finding information likely to reveal important documents or other data. Enigma Forensics has experienced eDiscovery and Computer Forensics consultants that can help you craft your discovery strategy.
Enigma Forensics offer you a full array of litigation support services, including the logical or forensic collection of ESI from devices in order to preserve digital evidence and ensure chain of custody of that information is established and that the resulting findings are admissible.
In litigation, when attorneys ask if the other side has conducted a complete search and gathering of potentially responsive data, Enigma Forensics consultants are prepared to help you answer that question. We can assist you with 30(B)6 interrogatories as well as perform ESI Data Mapping.
An ESI Data Map is a complete inventory of your client’s network and is created by allowing a subject matter expert or designated resource to inventory and document all available sources, including the owners of the application or source, whether it is currently in use or legacy as well as the relevant location, custodians, and data types.
The ESI Data Map should identify the relevant IT systems, describe their purpose and role, and answer critical discovery questions about the IT systems.
The ESI Data Map can be used to show that you have taken reasonable steps to learn the relevant sources of ESI and to create a plan to preserve and collect data.
For example, ESI data mapping allows you to start a privacy and security assessment. If you are collecting personally identifiable information (PII), your interview process can help you identify whether you have adequate security controls and storage of PII in your organization.
Some of our clients have taken the proactive step to create an ESI Data Map prior to any litigation, helping them determine their risk profile, and allowing them to save time and effort when they require an ESI Data Map for litigation purposes.
Call Enigma Forensics today at 312-668-0333 or contact us for a complimentary computer forensics expert consultation.
ESI Data Mapping Video
Enigma Forensics’ CEO Lee Neubecker discusses the benefits of proactively performing ESI Data Mapping.
The transcript of the video on ESI Data Mapping follows:
ESI Data Mapping relates to the mapping of (ESI) electronically stored information, and it’s something that is often necessary to do for an organization in order to have a command and control of their network resources and where their data resides.
Data today, electronically stored information, can exist in the cloud, it can exist within your main office, on employee cell phones and laptops, and various other places. So if your company is embroiled in litigation, you need to have an understanding of where your ESI resides. Knowing what you have and where it exists is kind of step one in that process, and some organizations need help from a consultant that can come in and help map that process out.
Once you know where your data is, it puts you in a much better situation if you are involved in litigation. During litigation, it’s common that eDiscovery requests will come forth asking for various information. If you know where your data resides, you are in a better situation to manage both the preservation and the production of that information, which ultimately will save you time and money.
If you don’t know where your data resides, you are often in a situation where you have to over-collect information. You spend much more than is necessary on preserving various sources of data, or worse yet, you fail to preserve something when you’re on notice that you should preserve, and then you’re subject to problems such as spoliation of evidence. It’s important to avoid being in the situation where important evidence gets deleted accidentally or intentionally. When that happens it’s not uncommon for the court to issue an adverse inference, or even a sanction against a company, costing them millions of dollars.
It’s important when you’re involved in litigation that you take appropriate measures to preserve important relevant documents. Not doing so could lead to your firm being the subject of spoliation allegations, or even sanctions by the court which could result in millions of dollars of fines. One of the things we can do to help assist you is to create a visual map rendering of your data, where it exists in the cloud, on your various networks and what-not so the executives can have a high-level understanding of where their data resides and what’s important to preserve.
Some of the benefits of mapping out your ESI data both in the cloud and locally, is that it can save you much money during litigation. It lowers the preservation cost of preserving digital information, and it allows you to only process what is necessary and relevant which can save you a significant amount of money on your eDiscovery bill. It’s also helpful to verify that your ship’s in order, so some companies may want to do this before they’re forced to do it as a result of litigation.
Our firm has experience… personally I have worked for over two decades helping companies get command of their information around the world in various locations and help to respond to data investigations. If you’re looking for help with mapping out your ESI across your network and need help responding to litigation discovery requests, you found the right firm to work with. Give us a call today.
ESI Data Mapping Related Posts:
Other Resources on the Web – ESI Data Mapping
Delaware Court’s Guide to Understanding eDiscovery
Conrad Jacoby, Jim Vint & Michael Simon, Databases Lie! Successfully Managing Structured Data, The Oft-Overlooked ESI, 19 RICH. J.L. & TECH 9 (2013), available at http://jolt.richmond.edu/v19i3/article9.pdf.
Craig Ball has a related article about this that is worth checking out.
https://craigball.net/2011/09/23/a-bit-about-data-mapping/