Is there a nephologist in the building?

Nephologist  (nɪˈfɒlədʒɪst) -noun (rare) (meteorology) an expert or specialist in the study of clouds

The advent of cloud computing and cloud storage has undoubtedly had a huge impact on the business and forensic stratosphere. An increasingly common answer to the question “where is your data stored?” is a shrug of the shoulders and a point to the sky.

This can have a serious impact on the security of an organisation's data and on any subsequent forensic investigation. No longer is the dishonest employee required to employ cloak and dagger tactics to smuggle hardware from the premises. No longer are we called upon to investigate physical items that can be removed to a secure lab and, as such, Computer Forensic investigators are becoming nephologists.

Data can be transferred, synced and/or downloaded outside the firewall in minutes, so it is more important than ever to know what data is vital to your business and who can access it. We recently undertook an investigation where an employee in a data sensitive industry had installed a well-known cloud storage facility, transferred thousands of files and then Google searched “how to uninstall [cloud storage facility]”. The elapsed time from install to uninstall was a little more than 4 minutes, and if the internet history for the device had not been available, the outcome of that matter could have been very different.

There are clearly huge business advantages associated with the cloud, however, bearing in mind the strapline for the cloud service of a leading provider: “your stuff, anywhere”, the prudent business owner must exercise caution when choosing the right cloud service for business sensitive data.

If you do fancy a bit of atmospheric storage, Kroll Ontrack’s team of experienced ‘techno-nephologists’ are able to assist you in implementing a bespoke Forensic Readiness Plan to ensure that you are perfectly placed to prevent the loss of key data, and also on hand to help uncover key evidence if an incident does occur.