Can You PROVE When You Wrote a Note or Saved a Document?
The ability to prove when you wrote a note or saved a document is essential in both civil and criminal court.
Being able prove that a document existed or was written on a particular date can often determine the outcome of the trial.
This can be especially true in Workplace Bullying & Harassment cases where it often becomes a “he said, she said” situation.
Due to how prevalent harassment is within many organizations, civil courts have begun to award large settlements to victims who are able to prove that they were a victim of harassment within an organization.
As a result, Human Resource (HR) Departments need to ensure they are properly documenting all employee interactions as a lack of notes is considered a lack of evidence.
The inability to properly recall events potentially months or years in the past can be detrimental to the outcome of the case.
However, the reality is that it is nearly impossible to PROVE the date of a document unless it is Digitally Signed and Timestamped.
The only way that you can potentially prove the date of an electronic file that is not Digitally Signed and Timestamped is to hire an experienced Digital Forensic Examiner to examine the computer system that created the document.
Digital Forensic Examination
An independent and experienced Digital Forensic Examiner will cost between $150 – $350 / hour with most forensic examinations taking a minimum of 40hrs.
(avg. $240/hr x 40 = $10,000 USD)
In many cases, the Digital Forensic Examiner will still be unable to state with 100% confidence that the file existed and that no manipulation of the date and time had occurred within the system.
Document Dates Are Important – Google Proof
A recent Google search for the following terms was conducted.
~ Date: 2016-08-27
How do I prove when I wrote a word document
Results: 172,000,000
How do I prove when someone wrote a word document
Results: 169,000,000
How do I prove the date of a file
Results: 114,000,000
As you can see, the above questions are commonly Googled and as a result they have between 114 to 172 Million results each!
Date Altering Programs
Watch the following video to see how easy it is to change the Date Created, Date Modified and Date Accessed values within Microsoft Windows.
Fake a Date – Change Microsoft Windows Date & Time
Watch the following video to see how easy it is to change the date & time within Microsoft Windows.
Almost all programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Adobe PDF rely on the date & time set within Windows to timestamp files with an internal date & time (metadata).
This metadata is often used within court proceedings to prove the existence of a document at a particular date & time as it’s believed to be accurate.
In most circumstances this metadata is accurate, but as you will see, it can be easily manipulated for nefarious reasons.
Fake A Date Documents
The following Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF documents are the files created within the “Fake a Date” video above.
Both were created on 2016-08-01 but the metadata within the files show that they were created on 2010-06-10.
Do you Trust the Metadata within documents?
Can You PROVE When You Wrote a Note or Saved a Document?
The Solution is Forensic Notes!
Forensic Notes is your solution to PROVING the date of every important document in your future.
Every Forensic Notebook, Note and Attachment is Digitally Signed, Independently Timestamped and easily verifiable.
Interested in seeing how Forensic Notebooks, Notes and Attachments are validated?
Tour & Features
Interested in seeing all the features of Forensic Notes?
Validating Forensic Notes
The following page will allow you to test the Validation Process so that you can see how easy it is to PROVE when you Wrote a Note or Saved a Document.