Uh oh. Somehow you’ve found yourself in the middle of a security breach— and worse still, in legal trouble because of it.
Not only do you have to address the data breach with your customers and weigh its effects on your brand reputation, but you’ll also have to fight a case in court to prove you protected your organization the best you could.
Data breaches, PCI, HIPAA issues, and other compliance violations can mean expensive legal fees, and you need to organize a strong case to save your organization or client from devastating financial losses and bad PR. But even with the best lawyers and legal counsel, you’ll need someone with a deep understanding of cybersecurity to prove you had proper digital defenses in place.
That’s where hiring a computer security expert witness comes into play. Here’s what you can expect when hiring a cybersecurity expert to review and testify your case:
A computer security expert witness will analyze all evidence.
When you find yourself in a sinking ship, a computer security expert witness hops onboard with a bucket to bail out the water. They’re the ones who take on the complex, time-consuming cybersecurity evidence analysis— a feat that your lawyers or legal team can’t do alone.
It’s the computer security expert witness who worries about the technical aspects of your digital defenses and assesses if you are justifiably accountable or not.
After reviewing all your security measures, they’ll evaluate whether your defenses were effective and appropriate or if you really didn’t have the technology you needed to detect or appropriately handle a breach.
They’ll share their findings and counsel on your case.
Once they analyze your security measures, they’ll come back to you with their findings.
Without the complex tech talk, they’ll explain what you did right and what you did wrong in accordance with your company’s legal obligations for cybersecurity.
You can expect your computer security expert witness to not only explain this verbally, but to oftentimes also compile their findings in an organized report. As needed, these experts can also professionally draft a declaration of your cybersecurity defenses for court testimony.
They’ll work with prosecutors, defense attorneys, private council and investigators to provide legal support.
Your computer security expert witness will likely not work independently; instead, they’ll knock heads with the rest of your legal team to explain their findings and move towards next steps together.
Your legal team will rely on this cybersecurity expert to translate complex tech evidence into a language that they understand and feel confident defending against in court.
In this way, your computer security expert witness becomes an essential member of your legal team.
They’ll even give an expert testimony in court, as needed.
Sometimes your lawyers may realize the technicalities of your cybersecurity need to be discussed openly in court by a true professional.
Instead of relying on security evidence from a court testimony document alone, your legal team may call your computer security expert witness to the bench to defend your case.
Before a judge, they may provide an expert testimony, talking as an authoritative source about your cybersecurity preparedness, or lack-there-of, in order to settle on a final verdict.
Additional Support
While commonly called upon to defend data breaches, computer security expert witnesses also may be hired to review cases for:
- Financial Crime and Property Loss
- Identity Theft and Fraud
- Intellectual Property Disputes
- Spying Illegally
- Criminal and Civil Negligence
- Appeals
- Etc.
There’s No Computer Security Expert Witness like Kevin Mitnick
If you’re in deep waters, you’re in no position to hire an ametuer expert witness.
Kevin Mitnick is the industry’s leading hacking expert, world-renowned cybersecurity speaker and an essential part of winning legal teams.
Explore our revered Expert Witness Services and request a consultation, today.
