Leaders in digital investigations

Comprehensive data services combined to provide recovery, security and compliance capability

Pro

VMGroup is a global
firm, operating since 2014, providing extensive knowledge and expertise in the
area of Digital forensics, eDiscovery, Data Recovery, Information Security
consulting, IT Audit, Risk assurance services, and all related areas to their
clients. VMGroup provide services to clients from all spectrum of industries
from large multinationals, financial institutions, FTSE100 clients to SMEs.

VMGroup operate principally in Ireland but have completed investigations worldwide including the UK, across Europe, Australia, Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Since incorporation in 2014, VMGroup has gained a reputation for service excellence. They are retained by likeminded professional organisations that respect our commitment to expertise in quality digital evidence. Our proven forensic, eDiscovery and related services have secured our position in the market place as a brand leader and this has been the foundation of our success and growth.

Our Team
Our success has also grown from the outstanding contribution of a committed VMGroup team. Central to the team is Dr Vivienne Mee with over 18 years’ experience in the field, offering a huge skillset which is core to the team. The team includes highly skilled individuals within the investigations and support functions; Jackie O’Mahony is one of our leading Cyber Forensic Consultants with over 6 years’ experience in the area of Digital Forensics and Ediscovery. Jackie specialises in Cloud Forensics and Ciaran Caldwell is the newest member of our team with over 4 years’ experience in IT security and Digital Forensics.

Pillars of service
VMGroup service offerings can be split into four pillars of service, each in their own right separate to the others, however, with a synergy of expertise throughout to deliver high quality services

• VMForensic

VMForensics services offer all forensic investigatory services. This could be from an inspection requirement right through to expert witness testimony in court for a case. In house expertise are the most qualified and experienced in the state of Ireland who have proven procedures in Ireland and other jurisdictions such as United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, United States, UAE and beyond.

Using state of the art and industry recognised tools and utilities, VMForensics can recover, analyse and present digital evidence stored  on digital devices including PCs, Laptops, mobile devices, CCTV systems and Servers. Digital evidence has become pivotal part of investigations for both criminal and civil cases, as well as Internal investigations within organisations. VMForensics are leading experts in the area, where we assist criminal law firm in legally aided matters, civil law firms specialising in litigation, as well as large corporates and SMEs.

Our Digital Forensics and Investigations Services:

• VMDiscovery

A major aspect of modern litigation requires Electronic Discovery or E-Discovery. As most companies today have adopted an IT approach in the running of their business it is not surprising that the information they possess is being stored electronically. The technology and procedures for managing this information when faced with litigation is known as eDiscovery. VMDiscovery aid our clients in all aspects of discovery.

VMDiscovery, which is part of VMGroup, offers some of the top industry speeds for the turnaround of E-Discovery projects. We can greatly reduce the work load faced by companies involved in litigation and make the review stage as accessible and straight forward as possible. VMDiscovery provides an extensive service covering each stage involved in a typical E-discovery exercise. Clients can choose to tailor the service package to meet their needs.

Electronic Discovery Services:

• VMAudit

VM Group provide a meticulous auditing service ensuring your business is in full compliance with the law and your systems are functioning as they should.

VMAudit, which is part of VMGroup, provides IT audits to companies to examine and evaluate their information infrastructure, policies and operations in line with current standards. It is of high importance that the IT controls a company has in place are protecting corporate assets, ensuring the integrity of data and are working in conjunction with the company’s overall objectives, especially with the growing number of cyber-attacks aimed at businesses around the globe.

Audit services:

• VMSecurity and Compliance

VMSecurity and Compliance offer complete services keeping your business covered when it comes to everything from security reviews to making sure you are GDPR Compliant.

VMSecurity can help your organisation to increase their understanding of the latest cyber threats that could impact your business and carry out a cyber security audit to assess and measure your current security structure. VMGroup can help identify current vulnerabilities and advise on changes required to mitigate risks.

VMGroup can assist organisations who want to either become or confirm that they are GDPR compliant.  We provide a bespoke service approach for each client to help them identify weaker areas in their organisation which may not conform with new GDPR regulation. We can perform a Data Protection Impact Assessment where we audit an organisations own processes and procedures and measure how these may affect or compromise the privacy of individuals whose data is stored, collected or processed.

VMGroup also provide incident response services and can assist your company with GDPR requirements in the event of a breach including notifying the local Data protection authorities within 72 hours of discovery.

Security
and Compliance services:

Latest Industry Trends

• Phishing Attacks
  VMGroup have seen a growing number of phishing attacks over the last 12 months. Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message. The initial phishing emails sent to unsuspecting users are becoming more sophisticated. VMGroup have worked on a number of cases over the past couple of months where an employee of the targeted organisation opened an email that they believed was from a genuine sender. The email often looks like it came from the CE0 of said company, a regular contact or client or a reputable company, for instance, Microsoft. VMGroup can help companies who of have been the target of a successful phishing attack by providing incident response, forensic analysis and security audits.
• Data Theft
  As technology advances and the volume of digital information we stores increases the phenomenon of data theft grows. Data theft is the stealing digital information from an unknowing victim with the intent of compromising privacy or obtaining confidential information. VMGroup has seen a stark increase in the number of corporate firms who suspect they have been the victim of internal data theft from a current or previous employee. VMGroup can assist companies with data theft investigations from the initial scope
• Mobile phone forensics
  Mobile phones are becoming a common end point device for employees in today’s workplace, mobile phones allow them to work remotely, increase productivity and mobility. However, as mobile phone use in the workplace increases so does the need for mobile forensics in the case of a breach, employee dispute, harassment allegation or data theft. VMGroup are leaders in the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data from mobile devices as part of an investigation.
• Data Access Requests
  VMGroup are noticing a steady increase in the number of data access requests being issued to employers since the GDPR commenced in May 2018. Under GDPR employers have obligations when dealing with data requests from a data subject, that data subject could be a potential, current or former employee. One of these obligations is that the employer has to complete a data access request within one month of receiving it. VMGroup have come across a lot of companies who are struggling with this as they have no process or technology in place to capable to locate the subjects data. VMGroup can assist companies with their data access requests to make the process more efficient, cost effective and less time consuming.
• CCTV Forensics and Analysis
  VMGroup have been approached by legal firms, and enforcement officers for the recovery, analysis, and examination of CCTV systems for use in litigation and investigations. VMGroup have the proven capability to forensically examine CCTV systems and produce reports that can be used in investigations and in litigation.

Top tips in the event of a Breach – GDPR Friendly

1. Implement your incident response plan – the moment a breach is detected the full incident response plan should be initiated.  The response plan should lay out what the company employees and third parties should do in the event of a breach
2. Preserve the evidence – Do not delete, alter or remove anything from the system where the breach was detected. The evidence needs to be preserved to understand how and why the breach occurred. Even logging onto a system, or installing a recovery utility on the evidence could overwrite evidence. Ensure you are not destroying your evidence in the event of an incident.
3. Isolate the breach – Where possible without compromising the evidence isolate the affected areas that are identified. For example, disconnect from the Internet and disable remote access. Where a ransomware attack is in progress, turn off the PC or server immediately.
4. Communicate – Speak with the relevant managers, board of directors and the legal department particularly if you have to notify the Data Protection Commissioner, public or subjects of the breach. Also ensure you have advised your Information Security officer.
5. Investigate and rebuild – A forensic investigation will be required to figure out how you were breached to prevent it happening again. Once the investigation is complete the system can be rebuilt, and the source of the breach secured.

www.vmgroup.ie

Read More: data discovery data forensics data management Insights security VM Group