The Director who stole new product IP
QCC received an enquiry from a concerned Head of Corporate Investigations whose employer had recently lost its Marketing Director to a direct competitor company. He suspected that the ex-director had taken intellectual property owned by the company relating to a new product which was soon to go into production. Suspicions had been raised when the routine company staff leaver process was completed and flagged some concerns.
QCC was asked to conduct imaging and analysis of the ex-director’s laptop, mobile phone and iPad. The initial analysis confirmed that large amounts of data had been copied from the company’s network to the iPad and then onto the mobile phone where it was then emailed to a Hotmail account. Using forensic tools, QCC extracted the communication data from both devices and managed to discover historical communications between the ex-director and the competitor.
Information taken included specifications of a new product and a customer data base backup. QCC analysts presented their findings to the Client’s Head of Legal who invoked a legal action against the ex-director which resulted in a successful court action against the ex-director and his new employer.
Contact us for further advice or return to mobile phone forensics services page.
Executive smartphones infected with spyware
Following an overseas business tip to negotiate a major contract three company executives reported abnormalities with the operation of their mobile phones. Their company IT team examined the phones but could not identify the cause of the issues so contacted QCC to assist. QCC’s forensics team extracted the data from the phones using our forensic tools and conducted analysis to identify data transfer activity relating to the time period concerned and changes to the standard software configuration of the phones. It was discovered that ‘malware’ had been introduced to the two iPhones and one Samsung Galaxy which allowed monitoring of communications including email, SMS and phone calls and the use of the phones own microphone as an eavesdropping device.
The Client did not want to pursue the situation legally but did ask QCC to clean the phones of malware and advise on the best way for their executives to communicate securely going forward. QCC assisted by writing a “secure communications while travelling overseas” policy for the Client and provided ongoing advice to Client staff going forward ahead of their overseas trips to ensure staff knew how to conduct their communications in a secure and legal way.
Trackers, jammers & stolen super cars
QCC were requested by a Police Service to conduct forensics analysis on a mixed bag of unusual exhibits which other forensics service providers had been unable to assist with because they did not have the relevant equipment and expertise.
The exhibits concerned included two GSM/GPRS trackers and two Radio Frequency (RF) jammers all seized during the police raid on a garage operated by individuals suspected of involvement in the theft and exportation of luxury cars.
The trackers and jammers were forensically examined by QCC staff and a report and statement were produced and provided to the investigation officer. When the case came to court QCC’s forensics examiner attended court and provided expert witness testimony which contributed to the criminal conviction of the suspects all of whole received prison sentences.
Contact us for further advice or return to mobile phone forensics services page.
Eavesdropping, bugs & drugs
QCC were contacted by the Evidential Services Department of a Police Service and asked to conduct forensics analysis on some exhibits which they thought were SIM card readers. The exhibits had been seized as part of a raid on a major cannabis factory and the investigating officer needed a fast turnaround on the analysis and reporting of the results as the police investigation was still ongoing.
QCC forensically examined the exhibits and quickly discovered that they were not SIM card readers but were in fact GSM eavesdropping devices. QCC conducted further analysis of the exhibits including their SIM cards and discovered that the devices had been used by the cannabis growers to monitor the cannabis factory remotely to avoid being caught by the police. QCC completed the analysis in less than 24 hours and reported back to the investigating officer who used the intelligence gained from QCC to change the mode of the investigation enabling the police to get one step ahead of the cannabis producers which quickly resulted in arrests and subsequent convictions for production and distribution of drugs.