The nature of our business often requires us to action a task at short notice at the request of a client. Recently we’ve had a couple of examples where scoping a task in detail would have been advantageous to the execution of the task, but time did not allow, this is especially important when it comes to technical work. We often have clients requesting us to do a sweep of an office or check a mobile device to see if it is compromised. They seem simple requests to facilitate and often they are. However, on occasions there is more to it and it’s not always the case of ‘we will come tomorrow because a “room is a room”, or a “phone is a phone”’. Ideally, we need to prepare for all eventualities and prefer not to make assumptions.
Here at Valkyrie, we attempt to get as much information as possible before doing any work for our clients, and it all starts with what the requirements are and what the client is trying to achieve. Only this week, our cyber team were heading into an organisation to preserve multiple mobile devices, but initially due to restrictions on the devices we were not permitted to preserve the data using traditional forensic tools. However, with IT assistance, and before attending the site the restrictions were lifted allowing us to preserve the data. Advanced planning also allows the client to safeguard the budget by eliminating the need to have additional technicians onsite. In this case the process went well and was streamlined and efficient. Key take away, gain as much information as you can in advance, eliminate assumptions, always look at the bigger picture so you can achieve the best outcome for the client.
