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Legal Talk Network Posts New Digital Edge Podcast

June 4, 2020

Professor Richard Susskind Discusses Online Courts

Professor Richard Susskind shares insights on how the pandemic will impact the future of online legal and court services.

Excerpt:

Until now, the legal profession has largely viewed technology as a thing that should be grafted onto the very traditional practice of law, but the onset of the pandemic has forced this opinion to change rapidly. Lawyers and judges who once eschewed the idea of online legal practice–and particularly online courts–are now working to find ways to innovate legal and court services to continue providing access to justice. In this edition of the Digital Edge, hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway welcome Professor Richard Susskind to survey the new landscape of online courts and discuss changing views toward technology across the profession.

Professor Richard Susskind OBE is an author, speaker, and independent adviser to major professional firms and to national governments.

Special thanks to the podcast sponsors, Clio, Nexa, Scorpion, and Blackletter Podcast.

Listen to the podcast here.

Over a Million Stolen Identities found on Alabama Man’s Laptop

June 4, 2020

According to WBRC News, Trussville Alabama Police recently recovered a laptop during a narcotics raid that reportedly contained over one million stolen identities. Police located the computer when suspect Fred Collins fled during the raid, dropping a bag containing the laptop as well as blank cards with magnetic storage strips and what they believe to be a machine to encode the cards.

Digital forensic investigators who reviewed the computer explained the laptop was seemingly being used to purchase the stolen identities from the dark web. These id packages contained personal information including names, birthdates, social security numbers, email addresses, passwords and credit card numbers. Another source referenced a “beginners guide to credit card fraud” that was also found at the residence. While authorities did recover the laptop, Mr. Collins was able to escape. He is wanted in connection with the incident.

Email: sensei@senseient.com Phone: 703.359.0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://senseient.com/services/digital-forensics

Texas Man Arrested for Secret Videos of Visitors in Guest Room

June 2, 2020

KLTV in Texas recently reported on the arrest of Roland Gaines in Tyler, Texas. Mr. Gaines has been accused of recording video of a woman and her husband without their consent while they were staying in a guest room at his home.

Gaines knew the woman from years earlier when he and his wife sponsored the then young girl in Columbia through the humanitarian organization Compassion International. After she grew older, Gaines began to go on yearly trips to Columbia to visit. After another trip to Columbia in 2016, Gaines’ wife discovered inappropriate photos and videos of the woman on his personal computer. Initially she deleted them and later reported the incident to police. Upon hearing that his wife had contacted the police about the images, he reportedly took all of the household computers outside and shot them in an attempt to destroy their contents.

Also, apparently in 2016, the Gaines’ invited the woman and her husband to visit them at their home in Texas. Years later, in 2019, Gaines’ wife uncovered photos and videos of the couple from their guest room. This time she turned the computer over to police for a digital forensic examination. The police examiners located thousands of photos and videos of the couple seemingly taken without their knowledge.

Investigators then reached out to the couple in Columbia who were able to confirm they were not made aware of the camera in their guest room during the 2016 stay in Texas. The woman also went on to describe a number of inappropriate and unsettling actions taken by Gaines during the 2016 trip to Texas. Gaines has been charged with Invasive Visual Recording and at the time of the report was being held on a $100,000 bond.

Email: sensei@senseient.com Phone: 703.359.0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://senseient.com/services/digital-forensics

Ride The Lightning (RTL) Blog Featured In PinHawk’s Law Technology Digest

June 2, 2020

Recently, the Ride the Lightning post “Law Firm to Celebrities Suffers Major Data Breach” was featured in PinHawk’s Law Technology Digest blog. Ride the Lightning is an electronic evidence and cybersecurity blog written by Sensei’s President, Sharon Nelson. Pinhawk helps thousands of professionals keep up–to–date through emails and web alerts.

Excerpt:

Hackers are relentless

Ransomware hackers have been busy, attacking media and entertainment law firm, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks and the Texas Supreme Court. It would appear from these posts that the hackers were more successful with the law firm, allegedly stealing 756 gigabytes of data (contracts, nondisclosure agreements, phone numbers, email addresses, and personal correspondence). The court caught the attack early and says they won’t be paying ransom and (sadly) that a Dropbox link would be available for people to read the full opinions. No word on what Grubman Shire is doing, but their clients, who include, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Ella Mai, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Cam Newton, Bette Midler, Jessica Simpson, Priyanka Chopra, Idina Menzel, John Oliver, and Run DMC can’t be too happy.

RTL blog excerpt:

Variety (a source I’ve never used before) reported on May 9 that Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, a large media and entertainment law firm, appears to have been the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of an enormous amount of private information on dozens of celebrities, according to a data security researcher.

The data allegedly stolen from the New York-based firm by hackers — a total of 756 gigabytes — includes contracts, nondisclosure agreements, phone numbers and email addresses, and “personal correspondence,” according to an image of the hackers’ post provided to Variety by Emsisoft, a cybersecurity software and consulting company specializing in ransomware.

Read the entire blog post here.