QCC Forensics Services experts have been instrumental in a new court ruling that sets a precedent on the definition of possession of digital content. The primary aspect of the ruling delivered by Lord Justice Dyson and Mr Justice Grigson, gives clarity to the issue by describing files on MS Win XP systems that have been deleted and then emptied from the recycle bin as being effectively beyond retrieval by a general computer user.

QCC were appointed as experts to the prosecution and we were hampered by our efforts to prove that the defendant was guilty by a poor framing of charges by the CPS. Essentially they had charged the defendant with possession only on the day that they had raided his house and seized his computers. Although we advised the prosecution who then were able to bring further charges at his trial, (resulting in his conviction and sentencing to time in prison), the defendant was still able to challenge the original CPS charges.

The reason why this ruling came about is that we were summoned to the defendants appeal as experts to give an opinion as to the technical issues related to the retrieval of files once they had been deleted and purged from the Win XP recycle bin. We made it clear that tools existed and were available but we had to admit that evidence that such tools existed on the defendants PC could not be found.

The Lord Justices then made a ruling taking into account the technical ability of the defendant to use specialist tools to retrieve the files and the fact that no evidence of such tools could be found. Essentially they found it to be reasonable to assume that he could not access the files.

Whilst we were disappointed at the fact that the defendant had successfully appealed the charges we were pleased that clarity had been given to the issue of possession. The defendant was still convicted on the charges that we were instrumental on advising the prosecution should be brought so a result was achieved.

It should be noted that it is highly likely that the defendant would not have been able to frame his defence on appeal if the charges had been brought properly in the first place. Nevertheless the ruling has caused much interest in the Digital Forensics community and prepares the way for an understanding of the possible defences and a modified approach by both prosecution and technical experts.

Windows Vista effectively shreds files removed from the recycle bin by default and so the historic reliance on evidence recovered from unallocated space may be further threatened.

For the full ruling click here

QCC have launched a new venture that aims to bring refreshing ideas and a new approach to security conferences and exhibitions planning and delivery. "We aim to bring years of experience as events organisers at BSI to the QCC stable" said Jacqueline Emanuel, Head of the new unit, based in Highgate, North London. "There are a small number of players in this market, many of which appear to have a major disconnect with the actual trends in information security" she added.

"They use the same speakers and cover the same subjects over and over again", agreed Neil Hare-Brown, Senior Security Advisor to ConEx. We want to change that by delivering something new and special. By innovating with a range of experts in newly emerging technologies, techniques and fields, and by giving our delegates something else new - real value and knowledge".

New additional offices have been opened to support our growth and resilience strategy. Our Bath office was newly built and completed in early March. This provides a base for our Accounting departments, extends our secure exhibit storage and acts as one of our fallback sites as part of a comprehensive business continuity strategy. Fallback is also catered for with our new office in Highgate, North London, home of our Conferences & Exhibitions function.