Donna Chanel is a high-end fashion house catering to the fashion needs of the rich and famous in Lesotho. Donna Chanel was working on its Spring Collection and its upcoming fashion show in 2 months time. Alexander Coco, the lead designer of the company went out for coffee with a friend and suddenly noticed a mannequin dressed in the show stopper Donna Chanel signature design a design that has not yet been released to the public. Alexander is flabbergasted and suspects a member of his team had sold the design to competitors.

Joseph Wallace is the procurement officer at Donna Chanel. Last week, he was suspended from his post for visiting gambling sites from his office computer during office hours, pending investigation. Upon examining his OneDrive folder, the IT administrator found a folder named Spring Designs that had a number of the Spring Collection finalized designs. Joseph Wallace has no reason to have access to the Spring Collection designs as he only deals with procurement. He has also taken the office laptop back home on the day that he was suspended.

An investigation team lead by your manager, requested that you prepare a discussion paper, exploring the key principles of an effective and fit-for-purpose professional digital practice and challenges that may be faced during this investigation.

Required:

Write an essay, contextualising and examining issues in this scenario, discussing the key principles of a professional digital practice, including chain of custody and best practice processes. Diagnose and appraise mechanisms to uncover or recover evidence in this investigation, as well as explaining the key issues most likely to be encountered by a computer forensics professional.

Please refer to at least 5 peer-reviewed academic journals extensively to support your answers above.