Custodian
Definition
In e-discovery, a person who possesses, controls, or has responsibility for documents or electronic records relevant to an investigation. Identifying custodians is the first step in scoping a document collection.
Related terms
- Chain of custody
- The unbroken documentary trail of who held a sealed exhibit, when, and under what seal, from the moment of collection through analysis...
- ERP system
- Enterprise Resource Planning software (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, and similar platforms) that manages financial and operational records. ERP databases are often the...
- Forensic image
- A bit-for-bit verified copy of a storage medium, created using a write-blocker to prevent modification of the original. The copy is verified...
- Hash value
- A fixed-length digital fingerprint produced by running a file through a cryptographic algorithm such as SHA-256 or MD5. Identical files produce identical...
- Write-blocker
- A hardware or software device that prevents any write operations to a storage device during forensic imaging. It ensures the image process...
Explained in
- Evidence Collection and Chain of CustodyIn e-discovery, a person who possesses, controls, or has responsibility for documents or electronic records relevant to an investigation. Identifying custodian...