Access to locked materials, under appropriate authority.

Begin with the authority for the work.

We accept engagements where the requesting party has clear authority to access the material. That may be a court order, a receiver's appointment, an authorized corporate request concerning company-owned data, or expert work under lawful discovery.

The scope of that authority and the records sought guide the examination.

Protected documents and business records.

Documents and archives

Microsoft Office documents, older Access databases, PDFs, ZIP, RAR, and 7z archives, and document formats used by legacy business software.

Financial software

Protected accounting and financial records, including systems no longer supported by their original vendors. Access to these records can be important to reconstructing activity in a fraud or receivership matter.

Assess the available recovery paths.

Methods depend on the format, software version, encryption, and available artifacts. Where direct password recovery is impractical, related sources such as credential caches, backup files, or memory-resident keys may offer another path within the authorized scope.

Strong encryption can prevent recovery. We document the approach and its limitations, preserving the evidentiary context of any material accessed.

Scoping the engagement.

Identify the file or software type, the relevant systems or backups, and the authority under which access is requested. Those details allow us to assess the available options.