How modern forensic investigations uncover hidden evidence across devices, emails, documents, and cloud platforms.

In this episode of The Salient Edge, host David Fisk is joined by Frikkie Viljoen to explore the fast-evolving world of digital forensics, cyber investigations and eDiscovery.

From business email compromise and document falsification to USB data exfiltration, GPS tracking and forensic evidence recovery, this episode unpacks how digital footprints left behind by modern technology can support complex investigations and litigation matters.

Drawing on more than 16 years of technical and forensic experience, Frikkie explains how investigators preserve and extract evidence from laptops, mobile phones, cloud platforms and removable storage devices - while maintaining defensible forensic processes and chain of custody.

The conversation explores the growing sophistication of cyber fraud, including compromised business email accounts, fake banking detail changes, falsified employment documents and manipulated PDFs. The episode also highlights how forensic investigators recover deleted files, trace USB activity, analyse metadata, reconstruct print jobs and identify location data through Wi-Fi and GPS records.

Listeners will gain practical insight into:

- Digital forensics and forensic evidence collection

- Business email compromise investigations

- Cyber fraud and document falsification detection

- USB data theft and insider risk investigations

- Metadata analysis and forensic artefacts

- GPS and Wi-Fi location tracking in investigations

- Cloud, mobile, and laptop forensic challenges

- Defensible collections and chain of custody

- The role of forensic technology in legal and corporate investigations

Whether you work in legal, corporate investigations, cybersecurity, forensic accounting or compliance, this episode provides a practical look at how digital forensic specialists uncover evidence hidden across modern technology ecosystems. Visit our website

A practical look at handling high-risk DSARs using modern eDiscovery tools and structured review workflows.

Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs) are becoming more complex, more frequent and in some cases, more strategic.

In this episode of The Salient Edge, David Fisk is joined by Andrew Punter from Reveal to explore how organisations can respond effectively to modern DSAR challenges — particularly where requests are high-risk, multi-faceted, or potentially linked to litigation.

Building on a previous discussion around DSAR strategy, this conversation focuses on the practical application of technology within the process. From early case assessment and data scoping through to review, redaction and disclosure, the episode examines how platforms like Reveal can support structured, defensible responses.

The discussion also addresses the growing reality of “weaponised” DSARs—requests that extend beyond privacy rights and into legal or commercial strategy. In these scenarios, coordination between legal, HR and privacy teams becomes critical, as does having the right investigative and eDiscovery capability in place.

While technology plays an important role, David and Andrew emphasise that DSAR processing still requires careful human oversight—particularly when dealing with nuance, privilege, third-party data and regulatory risk. The episode explores how organisations can strike the right balance between efficiency and control, using tools such as advanced search, analytics, machine learning and visualisation to support decision-making without over-reliance on automation.

Key topics covered include:

- Managing complex and high-risk DSARs

- Understanding and responding to “weaponised” requests

- The role of eDiscovery platforms in DSAR workflows

- Structuring review processes and escalation paths

- Redaction strategies and disclosure considerations

- The importance of proportionality and defensible decision-making

This episode is essential listening for corporate investigators, legal teams, compliance professionals, and anyone responsible for managing DSARs in a regulated environment. Visit our website

Independence, accountability, and human oversight in a technology-driven era.

What do modern corporate investigations really look like - beyond the headlines and beyond the technology?

In this episode of The Salient Edge, host David Fisk speaks with Ash Sharma, seasoned corporate investigator and Chief Strategy Officer of the Association of Corporate Investigators (ACI), about the evolution of corporate investigations over the past 25 years - and the structural, regulatory, and technological forces reshaping the profession today.

From his early career at the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office to leading complex global investigations across banking, Ash shares firsthand insight into how corporate investigations differ fundamentally from law enforcement. Today's investigators must navigate international fraud, bribery and corruption, sanctions violations, supply chain fraud, workplace misconduct, regulatory exposure and cross-border financial crime - all within increasingly complex corporate structures.

A core theme of the discussion is investigator independence. Ash explains why investigations should not sit under legal or HR functions, how reporting structures influence outcomes and why true independence - ideally reporting directly to the audit committee or board - is critical to defensibility, transparency, and accountability.

Current trends covered include:

- The rise in supply chain fraud, vendor fraud, and third party risk

- Increasing workplace misconduct investigations (bullying, harassment, retaliation)

- Cross-border regulatory enforcement under legislation such as the UK Bribery Act and FCPA

- The growing complexity of pharmaceutical, sanctions, and global trade investigations

- The practical realities of AI in investigations - including generative AI, automation, and the risk of over-reliance

While AI and technology are improving efficiency in transaction monitoring, eDiscovery, and case triage, Ash makes a compelling case for maintaining the human-in-the-loop. Investigations require judgement, contextual understanding, and the ability to challenge outputs - qualities that cannot be automated.

This episode is essential listening for corporate investigators, compliance leaders, legal teams, forensic accountants, audit committees, and governance professionals seeking to strengthen investigative independence, reduce regulatory risk, and build defensible internal investigation frameworks.

Corporate investigations are becoming more sophisticated - but independence, professional standards, and human judgement remain non-negotiable. Visit our website

Inside Deep Dive's Knowledge Engine for Open Source Intelligence, EDD, and Risk Insight.

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) has become a powerful parallel capability to traditional eDiscovery — unlocking insight far beyond corporate systems and internal data. In this episode of The Salient Edge, host David Fisk is joined by Dave Pope, COO of Deep Dive, to explore how OSINT is reshaping investigations, enhanced due diligence (EDD), and risk-based decision-making.

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience in fraud investigation, identity verification, and intelligence platforms, Dave explains why traditional search engines fall short for investigators — and how Deep Dive’s “knowledge engine” approach transforms vast volumes of publicly available information into structured, defensible intelligence.

The conversation unpacks how Deep Dive automates the most time-consuming aspects of OSINT research while keeping humans firmly in the loop. From multi-language global searches and entity resolution to AI-driven analysis, source reliability scoring, and adversarial AI quality controls, this episode provides a practical look at how modern investigations can move from manual research to intelligence-led analysis.

Key topics include:

• What OSINT really is — and why it matters in investigations and eDiscovery

• The difference between a search engine and a knowledge engine

• How AI accelerates investigations without introducing bias or hallucination

• Person-centric vs entity-centric investigations (and what’s coming next)

• Using OSINT to support EDD, KYC, fraud investigations, onboarding and reputational risk decisions

• Why OSINT enables investigators to spend less time researching and more time analysing

Rather than replacing investigators, modern OSINT platforms are designed to reduce the time spent on manual research and data gathering, allowing teams to focus on analysis, judgment, and decision-making.

By automating source discovery, data aggregation, and initial structuring of open-source information, OSINT enables investigations and due diligence exercises to be conducted more efficiently, consistently, and at greater scale — particularly in complex, multi-jurisdictional matters.

The value lies not in speed alone, but in repeatability, coverage, and confidence. Investigators gain a broader, more structured view of risk while maintaining human oversight and defensibility throughout the process.

Key takeaway: OSINT enhances investigative workflows by streamlining research and improving visibility, enabling teams to deliver clearer insight within tighter timeframes — without sacrificing quality or control. Visit our website

Why DSARs are more than PII searches - and how technology, people, and defensible process must work together.

Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs) can strike fear into even the most mature organisations. Tight deadlines, complex data environments, and significant reputational risk mean these requests are far more than an administrative exercise.

In this episode of The Salient Edge, host David Fisk is joined by Juan Di Luca of Data Analysis Services (DAS) to unpack the practical reality of responding to DSARs in a defensible, proportionate, and risk-aware way.

The conversation explores why DSARs are often weaponised by disaffected or former employees, why organisations must pause before diving into data collection, and why understanding the motivation behind a request can be just as important as identifying the data itself. While technology — including AI and machine learning — plays an important role, Juan explains why DSARs remain a highly contextual, human-led discovery task.

Key topics covered include:

• Why DSARs should be treated as eDiscovery and potential pre-litigation exercises

• The risks of over-disclosure and accidentally releasing third-party PII

• Why spotting PII is easy — but understanding context is not

• Proportionality, defensibility and the limits of automation

• The importance of legal oversight and structured workflows

• How machine learning can support elusion testing and outlier detection

• Managing redactions, exceptions, secure delivery and regulatory deadlines

• How hybrid review models combine technology, workflows and specialist teams to reduce risk and cost

Juan also shares real-world insights into how organisations misjudge DSAR risk — either by under-responding or relying too heavily on automation — and why reputational damage often outweighs regulatory fines.

Key takeaway: DSARs are not about speed alone. They are about balance — between transparency and confidentiality, automation and human judgment, and efficiency and defensibility.

This episode is essential listening for legal teams, corporate investigators, compliance leaders, forensic accountants, HR professionals, and IT stakeholders navigating the growing complexity of data privacy and discovery obligations. Visit our website

Why collaboration between legal, IT, and eDiscovery specialists is critical to defensible, cost-effective investigations.

In this episode of The Salient Edge, host David Fisk explores one of the most persistent challenges in modern investigations and litigation: the growing gap between eDiscovery technology and the business users it serves.

Joined by Adam Bown, Managing Director of Salient Discovery with over 20 years’ experience across forensic investigations, data analytics, and eDiscovery, the discussion unpacks why lawyers, investigators, IT teams, and service providers often talk past one another - and what that disconnect really costs organisations.

As eDiscovery platforms evolve to include machine learning, generative AI, audio and video transcription, translation, and conceptual clustering, many legal teams struggle to understand how (and when) to trust these tools. At the same time, IT teams understand data environments deeply but may not appreciate the legal, evidentiary, and defensibility implications of data identification, preservation and collection decisions.

This episode covers:

• Why lawyers aren’t technologists — and technologists aren’t lawyers

• The risks of over-collection and under-collection in investigations and litigation

• How poor collection decisions inflate review costs, risk spoliation and weaken defensibility

• The reality of machine learning and generative AI in document review

• Why mobile device collection is a “one bite at the cherry” exercise

• How forensic accounting and business context improve investigative outcomes

• The critical role of a quality eDiscovery service provider in bridging legal, IT and technology gaps

The conversation reinforces a core message: successful eDiscovery is a collaborative partnership. Neither side knows what they don’t know — and value is created when service providers translate complex technology into business-ready, legally defensible outcomes.

Whether you’re a lawyer, investigator, forensic accountant, or in-house leader, this episode decodes the complexity and shows how the right expertise can reduce risk, control costs, and improve results. Visit our website

Discovery Decoded with Cloud Essentials on Data Governance, eDiscovery Risk, and AI-Driven Control.

Data volumes are exploding - and with them, the hidden costs of unmanaged information. In this episode of The Salient Edge, host David Fisk is joined by Chris Hathaway of Cloud Essentials to unpack what data chaos really means for organisations operating in today’s digital, regulatory and discovery-driven environment.

Together, they explore how exponential data growth impacts eDiscovery costs, regulatory compliance, data privacy and cyber risk - and why holding onto “just in case” information can quickly turn from an asset into a liability. From the myth of infinite cloud storage to the reality of $200,000–$500,000 per terabyte in eDiscovery costs, this conversation breaks down where organisations are losing control - and how they can take it back.

Chris shares practical insights on:

• Why knowledge decays over time and increases discovery risk

• The evolving role of data maps and sensitive information classification

• Balancing retention for compliance with defensible deletion

• How AI and metadata enrichment are reshaping governance and discovery workflows

• Why successful data management requires alignment between technology, legal, compliance, privacy and forensics teams

This episode is essential listening for corporate investigators, legal teams, forensic accountants, compliance leaders and business executives looking to reduce risk, control costs, and bring structure to their data estates.

Key takeaway: If you retain it, you own it - and it’s potentially discoverable. Visit our website