Hi All,
I'm just looking for a little bit of help, advice and friendly input from fellow forensic people!
I'm looking to start my own (albeit) small data recovery company!
A little background info first
I was employed as a software engineer for a tedious and very boring insurance company and was recently, unfortunately made redundant, but not before I completed a Masters in computer forensics. Having decided I want to take this opportunity to start a new career in something I "really" want to do (because the insurance stuff was just a yawn fest and I became very institutionalized… without redundancy I would have stayed in the same role forever!)
So with this new found freedom and opportunity I have been actively seeking forensics roles, I've had an interview or two, but as most people know, its a tough field to get into. I should at this point also say I am living in Ireland (but looking for position in UK and worldwide!)
Anyway, back to the data recovery. Since as we all know its hard to get started and jobs are thin on the ground all over the world, not just forensics, I said I would start my own Data Recovery company and just keep it simple, I would not be repairing broken hard drives… don't get me wrong, I'd give it a look, but I want to focus on all media (cards, USBs, iPods, Phones, HDD, etc that stores data, before I advance in to busted drives.
I am not looking to become a millionaire entrepreneur, but just want to get off the dole and make a little money while still actively seeking forensics work until I land a proper paying job! (although you never now, it might take off…!)
So I'm kinda here asking people for their thoughts and input from their own skills and experience they have that may help me.
I have the website under development and the company registration is in the works, but I just waiting to hear back from a local enterprise group for a grant I requested to get started.
I'm initially going to use Helix and free tools, but I priced Helix Pro and its around $250 (around €230) per year, so if I get the grant I could possibly use this. I have experience in FTK and a little EnCase but these are too expensive.
As for my target, I want to initially approach students, since there are hundreds of thousands of students and I'd say 99% if not 100% have USB sticks. (and a a majority if not all own a PC / Laptop) Excuding the IT grads, not all are computer savvy and have probably lost data, homework etc. Then I want to focus on home users, etc… hopefully grow it slowly from there.
Since I would be working from home my costs would be low, so I can pass these onto the customers.
Anyway, I've go on enough now. So any thoughts, inputs, concerns, experiences etc people can give and advise would be great, just to help me cover all my bases!
Thanks. And thanks for sitting and reading all this if you made it this far D
4R.
If you are doing data recovery you might want to consider tools that are tasked to that rather than using forensic tools.
SalvationDATA, DeepSpar Data Recovery Systems, and Runtime Software are just a few of the companies that make software and hardware dedicated to data recovery.
I've pm you
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If you are doing data recovery you might want to consider tools that are tasked to that rather than using forensic tools.
SalvationDATA, DeepSpar Data Recovery Systems, and Runtime Software are just a few of the companies that make software and hardware dedicated to data recovery.
Oh, I wasn't aware of them. I'll do some googling of them and take a look. I've just go so used to using the forensic tools that they seem to do what I want.
Don't want to be forking out stupid money on licenses either though, just incase nobody comes to me for work and the business fails ( (unfortunately have to consider this possibilities when in these early stages!)
Thanks for the reply.
Bithead - you have no idea (maybe you do) how much you rock for posting SalvationDATA. They have a Flash Data recovery tool that will get a digital voice recorder chip off my desk that has been in an evidence bag for three months!
If anyone needs something like this check it out
http//
I was going to try to engineer something like this and the software. Thanks!
Thanks. I started using their equipment after having to try and recover evidence from a stack of "dead" computers in a suspect's basement.
Hey BitHead, Douglas,
Any jobs in the US? ) Would a UK citizen get a job in forensics over there, or would clearance be an issue?
Would love to leave here and move to US / Oz for a job!
You can get a police job in some Australian states without citizenship, but in the US, non-citizens are cut out of pretty much everything LEO or Gov. They either require a clearance or they want to swear you in, both of which require citizenship.
In the US, much of the big end of the CF market caters to gov/mil, so over half the private jobs will be unavailable to you. This doesn't tend to happen in Oz because the Aussie government does most of it's work in-house. So the private market in Australia would be open to you.
Both these scenarios assume you can get residency with the right to work, which isn't simple in either country.
If you want me to explain either market to you in more detail, pm me with your Skype contact details.
We should start a CF practitioner exchange program. Get to go work and live in another country for a year. I was joking but is that all that crazy?…..
You can get a police job in some Australian states without citizenship, but in the US, non-citizens are cut out of pretty much everything LEO or Gov. They either require a clearance or they want to swear you in, both of which require citizenship.
In the US, much of the big end of the CF market caters to gov/mil, so over half the private jobs will be unavailable to you. This doesn't tend to happen in Oz because the Aussie government does most of it's work in-house. So the private market in Australia would be open to you.
Both these scenarios assume you can get residency with the right to work, which isn't simple in either country.
If you want me to explain either market to you in more detail, pm me with your Skype contact details.
I kind of figured as much. Bit of a shame, I would love to work in the U.S. gain some excellent experience !
I did see a job the other day with the New South Wales Police. I PM'd the person who put it up, but it was his first post, so prob just putting it up and not going to return. I think I will email him directly and see if I can apply for it.
Ah sure… with my business I might be a millionaire soon…. D