SMI Aware

Legal turkey talk! ?? While humorous, this turkey's "defense attorney" is a great reminder of the cornerstone of any legal argument: evidence. In the legal world, building a strong case means more than just arguing persuasively, but backing every claim with solid, defensible evidence. Oftentimes, evidence from social media and other open online?sources is ignored and not considered as part of discovery or integrated into the larger legal strategy. This thanksgiving, we're grateful for the incredible tools, technologies, and people that power ediscovery like social media and open-source research and preservation that help bring relevant information into the greater legal strategy for so many cases. Any ideas what this gravy boat could have posted to social media that caused this line of questioning? Share your thoughts in the comments below! ?? Happy Thanksgiving from SMI Aware! ???? #HappyThanksgiving #LegalHumor #ediscovery

Tofurkey will never truly be turkey. ?? At SMI Aware, spotting the difference between what is real and what is not hits close to home. Just like you can’t mistake tofurkey for turkey after the first bite, our expert analysts and tools are designed to uncover subtle differences in social media and open-source content. We specialize in identifying aliases, fake accounts, and disguised identities by looking deeper than what’s on the surface. From uncovering patterns to recognizing red flags, we ensure that you always have the full picture—no imposters or substitutes. So as you sit down this week to enjoy your holiday feast, remember: whether it’s turkey or tofurkey, the details matter. #DetailsMatter #Tofurkey #LegalTech

?? Navigating Privacy Risks in eDiscovery ?? In today’s ediscovery landscape, over-collection not only increases costs but also heightens privacy risks, particularly as data privacy laws tighten across jurisdictions. In Bloomberg Law's latest article, David Cohen emphasizes the critical need for precise and defensible data collection from the source to prioritize essential information collection. At SMI Aware, we understand the importance of balancing thoroughness with precision. Our Deep Report exemplifies this approach by ensuring targeted, defensible data collection based on the unique needs of your case and scope that minimizes over-collection. Our human analysts go to the source of the data such as social media profiles, public records, and other open-source platforms, to look for critical data points to your case. Analysts comb through each profile to ensure relevant information is collected all while verifying and confirming the profile owner even for more difficult profiles like aliases. Right-sizing social media and open-source discovery processes mitigates risks while maintaining efficiency and compliance. By refining our search to capture only relevant results from social media and open sources, we help organizations safeguard privacy, reduce litigation risks, and stay ahead of evolving legal standards. Check out the full article linked in the comments. #ediscovery #dataprivacy #legaltech #innovation

It's #absurd what gets posted to social media. Our analysts find lots of unusual, inappropriate content, but here's a short list of some of the things our reports have contained over the last few months: ??♀?Making offensive or insensitive jokes ??♂?Bragging about inappropriate or illegal behaviors ??♀?Cyberbullying ??♂?Spreading false or misinformation ??♀?Threatening harm or injury ??♂?Participating in dangerous or risky behaviors ??♀?Violating workplace social media policies such as critizing a customer or coworker ??♂?Sharing personal details about others Ever wonder what could be lurking online when it comes to legal discovery, hiring employees, or managing inherent risks? SMI Aware finds and preserves social media and open-source information to help your team stay informed, minimize risks, and strategize legal and business?decisions. #NationalAbsurdityDay

It's time to winterize!?? As the temperature drops and the days become shorter, you may find yourself preparing for the cold and snow that comes with winter. You can winterize your wardrobe by adding layers, sweaters, and boots. You can winterize your home by preparing your pipes and checking your heating elements. You can winterize your car by changing your tires or protecting the exterior?with a fresh wax coating. SMI Aware helps you winterize your social media discovery all year long. Our reports protect the digital chain of custody that comes with finding and securing information. Each finding in our report is backed by source code to preserve the information collected for defensibility. And using a third party for social media and open-source information collection also helps prevent any risks or ethical violations that come with accidentally interacting with the subject of your search. If your social media discovery and evidence preservation doesn't have these elements, you could be susceptible to the pitfalls that accompany inadmissible discovery, uncomprehensive searches that miss critical?information, or ethical violations for contacting a counterparty. #winterize #socialmediadiscovery

And the Step Challenge results are in!??♂???♀? ??Congratulations to the Walkaholics who took 1st place in our step challenge! Together they put 1,703,893 steps on the board since September 16th! In addition to bragging rights, the Walkaholics also earned an opportunity to select a charity of their?choice to receive?a donation from SMI Aware. The Walkaholics chose Samaritan's Purse to assist the community in Asheville following the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene. ??Closely behind, in second place, the Stroll Patrol finished the challenge strong with 1,632,313 steps. ??And our 3rd place team, Party Like Walkstars, had a total of 1,431,928 steps. Many thanks to our coordinator, Ashlyn Gray - your energy and organization made this challenge fun and rewarding! #StepChallenge #WFH #funatwork

Netflix is making it easier to share your favorite clips online.?? Using a new feature called "Moments," Netflix subscribers will now be able to share clips of Netflix shows to their social media pages. What does this mean for social media and open-source discovery? This integration will make it easier for social media users to share video content. It will also mean that there could be relevance in these types of posts when it comes to managing risks and collecting relevant evidence from social media for legal matters and pre-employment screening. Have you seen posts that utilize this feature or used the new feature yourself? Let us know in the comments! ?? And be sure to check out the article linked below to learn more about this new feature. #Netflix #VideoEvidence #VideoClips

The best defense is a good offense.??? In football, a strong offense keeps the ball, drives it down the field, burns the clock, and racks up points making it difficult for opponents to score and win. In legal, being on offense means having a proactive, comprehensive strategy that leaves no stone unturned when it comes to discovery. Legal teams simply cannot afford to ignore relevant information in discovery - especially data shared on social media and other open sources. Public online data from social media is often the puzzle piece to solving complex problems and developing a proactive strategy for achieving?the desired legal outcome. Legal teams that utilize open-source data are: +Better informed about the every day lives of their clients and opponents. +More prepared for depositions. +More confident in the quality and professionalism of experts and witnesses. +More prepared to defend the evidence presented in court with a secure digital chain of custody and source code protecting the data's integrity. Proactively collecting relevant information from social media and the web ultimately delivers an offense with a clear strategic advantage over the opposition. Are you utilizing social media and open-source data to prepare a solid litigation strategy? Let us know in the comments ??

Wait...that's nacho real name! ?? When you don't use your?real name, we call that an alias. And alias accounts are everywhere on social media. Our analysts are experts at finding social media profiles with alias names. They use personally?identifiable information and make comparisons with profile details including the person's date of birth, physical appearance, email address, phone numbers, and even other connections on these platforms. But just like nachos, there are several layers to finding these details below the surface. That's why it's important to have an expert well-versed in OSINT tools and techniques sifting throught the details to find the originator of an account or the author of particular content. So even if it's nacho name, SMI Aware analysts are well-equipped to find the account owner. Have questions about alias accounts? Drop them in the comments ?? #NationalNachoDay #NachoName #AliasAccounts

You still cannot go back in time to collect social media and open-source information that has been deleted. However, you should turn your clock back tonight since tomorrow is the end of #DayLightSavingsTime! ? Time is of the essence when it comes to capturing social media and open-source information. SMI Aware is here to help!