From hacking in the news to Harvard rescinding its acceptance to at least 10 students over controversial Facebook posts, you likely have been hearing lately about your digital footprint and digital forensics.

We spent late spring at two conferences devoted to the issue: Techno Security and Enfuse. Outside of law enforcement, the need for digital forensics is often triggered by suspected compromise in security, integrity or confidentiality. And as our professional customers will tell you, the need is growing.

Rather than be blindsided by an incident, and merely react after a cyber threat occurs, an organization or business can take steps to be forensic ready. This means that you are able to preserve, collect, protect and analyze digital evidence for use in security investigations, legal proceedings, disciplinary actions, and even a court of law.

Forensic readiness helps ensure digital investigation activities after a data breach are simplified and the retrieval of digital evidence is streamlined. In addition, readiness requires that digital evidence is properly acquired and stored even before an incident should occur. This is, of course, where CRU comes in with digital forensics and data storage products that can help organizations prevent business and operational disruptions.

Why bother with a readiness plan, you wonder? Forensic readiness can help reduce the cost of a cyber investigation and lessen the time it takes to conduct one. Data disclosure, especially when it is required, is less expensive and time-consuming when documents have been properly preserved and can be easily shared.