What is a Computer Forensics Expert Witness?

A computer forensics expert witness is a person who works with attorneys as a witness in cases that involve computer information. He or she may be someone who also works in computer forensics and may be testifying regarding data that he or she directly recovered, or the expert witness may simply represent others who were part of the work. This type of witness will usually be an expert in the field of computers, computer science, or computer forensics and should be able to effectively communicate concepts regarding those subjects to others. A computer forensics expert witness may work on civil or criminal cases.

Since a computer forensics expert witness will typically testify in court about data gathered from computers, he or she will usually be an expert in some field of computer science. The exact nature of the work can vary, from professors who teach computer science at universities to computer forensic workers who testify about their own work. Computer forensics is the field of study and research that utilizes information or data that can be gained from computer systems, both hardware and software, to help in criminal or civil investigations.

A computer forensics expert witness will typically work with an attorney to provide testimony in a court hearing about some aspect of computer forensics. This is usually done to help a judge or jury understand fairly complex technical issues and language relating to the computer forensics work that was done on a case. Such testimony can be especially important if computer forensics was used to gather information crucial to a case, and proper defense of this information may affect how it is received in the courtroom. A computer forensics expert witness may, for example, explain how a piece of information was retrieved from a program found on a defendant’s computer in order to support the admission of that information as evidence in a trial.

Due to the nature of computer forensics work, a computer forensics expert witness may work on civil or criminal trials. For civil trials, it is likely that he or she would work on divorce hearings, bankruptcy proceedings, and lawsuits in which data on a computer can provide culpability or establish negligence. Computer forensics has also been used to track down suspects in criminal investigations. When this type of investigation goes to trial, a computer forensics expert witness may need to testify to explain how the information was obtained and prove that the process by which it led to a defendant was legal and reliable.