A 2001 survey conducted by the Computer Security Institute in conjunction with the FBI found, among many other disturbing statistics, that:

91% of respondents (primarily large corporations and government agencies) detected computer security breaches within the past 12 months; 91% detected employee abuse of internet access privileges (compared with 79% in 2000); and 64% acknowledged financial losses due to computer security breaches. In fact, the most serious financial losses reported by businesses were from "theft of proprietary information".

As businesses and people get more technologically advanced by the minute, computer crimes are expanding in variety and increasing in volume at alarming rates. Whether it's an employee abusing Internet privileges, a bookkeeper plotting a way to embezzle money, or an unscrupulous insider looking to copy and perhaps sell sensitive data - any organization that uses computers is vulnerable. We have actually seen employees running their own business out of their employers offices! .

At home, children and teens are on the Internet, and are often more computer literate than their parents. There is a tremendous amount of material on the internet that is unsuitable for minors, and there reports of unsavory individuals posting items aimed at minors, or even engaging in real-time "chat" of an illicit nature with children, have become all too common. Although there are ways of filtering and blocking access to internet content (some better than others), youngsters are getting more sophisticated every day and many of those applications are easily bypassed by computer savvy kids.

These situations require the skills of a new breed of detective, with the training and the tools to tackle these complicated cyber-investigations. NGH Associates, Ltd., has been working hard over the past two years to expand our already broad spectrum of investigative services to include Computer Forensic Services. Computer Forensics is the examination and investigation of data in a computer's hard drive and other components such as disks and CD's. We can examine a computer's hard drive including, deleted files, hidden files, downloaded emails and websites visited, and capture and preserve such items as evidence without ever leaving a trace of the hard drive being touched. The subject computer can usually be examined wherever it is, without disturbing anything. The information gathered is analyzed at our offices at which time we can produce a detailed report of our findings along with copies of the actual information/files/photos etc. from the subject computer.

Let's be clear, we are not talking about installing computer security systems, or internet monitoring software. Those tasks are best left to IT and MIS experts. We are talking about investigating specific acts perpetuated through the use of computers. Although computer professionals may offer some type of "forensic" computer service, the key to success in these situations is having trained investigative professionals applying computer forensic tools as one weapon in their investigative arsenal. While a talented IT or MIS person with the proper tools and software might be capable of discovering some of the evidence on a suspect computer, the computer is merely a tool used by the perpetrator. Even a highly skilled computer expert won't know how to properly document their activities and log their results to secure any evidence they find according to legal evidence standards. Furthermore, it takes professional investigators to finally follow up the leads that evidence generates to close the case.

We have already achieved excellent results in a variety of cases by applying these new techniques.