Challenge:
CRA’s client, a leading health care organization, retained the Forensic Services team to conduct a privileged investigation into an unauthorized access attempt and potential data breach. The team identified approximately 250 GB of data, including several large SQL databases totalling nearly 50 million records. CRA’s eDiscovery team processed this data by extracting text, applying OCR, filtering system files, remediating errors, deduplicating, applying email threading, and leveraging advanced analytics and search terms.
CRA approach:
Initially, the nonSQL data expanded to nearly one million items. Through multiple rounds of search term culling, the team reduced this to 315,000 responsive files. Recognizing the cost and time implications of manually reviewing this volume in parallel with database analysis, a customized approach focused on extracting impacted individuals from the SQL databases was proposed. A limited sampling review of the nonSQL data was also completed. This approach targeted an estimated 80% reduction in cost and time. A 5% sampling review of the nonSQL data yielded 114K entries (pre-deduplication).
From the SQL databases, CRA’s eDiscovery team identified 22,000 deduped individuals and generated reporting for these individuals and their PII/PHI identified. As expected with a healthcare population, the corpus included handwritten files, extensive PHI, large files, and dense records.
Client impact:
A comprehensive presentation of findings, customized reporting, and detailed insights was delivered at the end of the project to assist counsel in responding to regulatory requests. By combining the sampling review with the SQL database analysis, CRA’s experts identified what the client confidently viewed as the notifiable population—ultimately reducing cost by 75% and time by 66%. During the engagement, CRA’s professionals maintained rigorous compliance with legal and regulatory requirements under the continuous guidance of external legal counsel. By delivering meticulous, efficient, and professional support, investigative efforts were significantly augmented, setting a benchmark in eDiscovery excellence.
