April 12, 2011 - ValuData Turns 1 Year Old!

ValuData Discovery celebrates her first birthday

VDD News: One year after opening its doors, ValuData is still alive and kicking.  We go inside to speak with the owner, Josh Bassan, for more info.

VDD News: How has the last year been?
Josh Bassan: It’s been quite an adventure.  Starting my own business and trying to break into the market has been much tougher than I imagined, but it’s a rewarding effort and I look forward to the years ahead.
VDDN: What do you see in the years ahead?
JB: Well, the goal for now is still the same as when I started, namely expanding the client base.  The immediate goal after that, or in tandem with that, will be to offer processing to tiff in house, which will add more value to our service offering.
VDDN: When do you see this taking place?
JB: It’s difficult to say.  To be honest, I thought I would’ve been there by now.  Since that hasn’t happened, I’m really not sure when it will, but I’ve decided to keep at it and see what comes.  That is one nice thing about being my own boss: I have no manager(s) with potentially unrealistic goals and timelines as relates to company growth.
VDDN: Well, I believe that concludes this interview.  Any closing remarks for our subscribers?
JB: Yes!  I hope that new clients will keep us in mind as we branch out into the marketplace, and thanks again to our current clients for their repeat and referral business.

July 29, 2010 - ValuData Lands Her First Sale!

ValuData Discovery receives her first project from an AmLaw 100 firm

VDD News: After three months, thousands of phone calls, and dozens of meetings, ValuData has finally received a live data set, processed it, and delivered it back.  We go inside ValuData to speak with the owner, Josh Bassan, for more info.

VDD News: First off, how do you feel?
Josh Bassan: I’m on top of the world!  I’m thrilled that someone gave me a shot.
VDDN: How did this come about?
JB: Well, I was in New York the day before yesterday, making my rounds as usual.  I stepped into my last meeting for the day, and the young lady across the table from me asked me what niche I see myself serving.  I told her I view ValuData as a low cost alternative for native processing, and she said something to the effect of, “Y’know, I just had an attorney with a small dataset where the client didn’t want to pay the usual price for processing so we were trying to figure out how to go about reviewing it.”  She called him while we were still in the conference room, got his approval for $150/GB, and it was off to the races!
VDDN: That was quite a coincidence.
JB: To be honest, the situation she described above is exactly where I saw myself being able to get a start when I decided to go out on my own.  Sure, it was quite coincidental that I met her when I did, but I figured if I kept calling and meeting people I was bound to get lucky.  Hopefully these situations will continue to pop up, mutually benefitting both myself and legal teams on a budget.
VDDN: Which firm was it?
JB: I probably shouldn’t say in an interview that will be distributed to a mailing list and then posted on a web site.  I will say it was an AmLaw 100 firm.
VDDN: Fair enough.  Will you be doing any celebrating?
JB: I think so.  As an incentive to make that first sale I haven’t allowed myself to buy any beef or seafood at the grocery store, so I think I’m going to treat myself to a steak and sushi dinner.
VDDN: Well, I believe that concludes this interview.  Any closing remarks for our subscribers?
JB: Yes!  We are currently running a promotion: forward this e-mail to me at josh@valudatadiscovery.com within the next week and receive 10% off your total invoice!  Thanks for reading, and we look forward to serving you in the future.

May 19, 2010 - ValuData Adds Password Cracking

ValuData Discovery is now offering password cracking for pst’s and container files

VDD News: In response to client inquiries regarding password cracking to be able to review more data, ValuData can now crack pst’s or container (zip, rar, etc.) files’ passwords.  We go inside ValuData to speak with the owner, Josh Bassan, for more info.

VDD News: How did this decision come about?
Josh Bassan: Well, password cracking was brought up to me a few times to where I thought I’d look into it.  LAW doesn’t come with a password cracker per se, but when you think of the algorithm involved with something like a brute force attack it sounds rather simple.  I figured I could find a competent tool relatively easily to add that to my service offering should someone prefer to outsource rather than do it in house.
VDDN: How much will you be charging?
JB: PST’s will be a flat rate of $100 per pst, while container files will bill at $100/hr or $1,500/day, whichever is less.  If ValuData processes the pst(s), then the password cracking is included.  I’ve also updated the pricing page on my web site.
VDDN: What tool did you settle on?
JB: We’re actually using two separate tools, and unlike the rest of ValuData where we strive to be transparent, this information is being kept confidential.  I mentioned earlier to you that I thought I could find a competent tool rather easily.  I was surprised at how many tools out there don’t work!  I ended up spending a lot of time researching, downloading, installing, and testing various tools.  I would hate to see that effort go to waste.
VDDN: You mentioned brute force attack earlier.  What other methods do you employ in cracking a password?
JB: For cracking pst’s, I don’t know what the method is; all I know is that it gives instantaneous results, thus the flat rate.  As for container files, there are a couple of methods that revolve around retrieving a partially remembered password, for example x?????99 where the user remembers the first and last two characters and the total length, but not everything in between.  This is really just a variation on brute force.
      Assuming you have no idea what the password may be, I recommend three different methods in succession.  The first is guaranteed WinZip recovery that works when the archive meets specific criteria.  The next is a dictionary attack where roughly 240,000 commonly used passwords are attempted.  If both of those fail, then we’re only left with brute force.
VDDN: How fast does it run?  Is it possible to give time and cost estimates?
JB: Absolutely.  The guaranteed recovery method takes less than an hour, and if the archive doesn’t meet the necessary criteria it’ll error out immediately.  As for a dictionary or brute force attack, you have to look at passwords per second.  It varies based on the encryption used.  In a WinZip archive created using its most basic encryption, I’ve run a benchmark as fast as 2,000,000 passwords per second.  With AES 256-bit encryption, I’ve seen it run as slow as 200 passwords per second.  The dictionary attack has roughly 240,000 passwords to try.  As for brute force, assuming a standard English keyboard, you have 95 possible characters including the space bar, so 95 passwords for a 1 character length password, 95 squared passwords for a 2 character length password, 95^3 passwords for a 3 character length password, etc.  I can run the guaranteed recovery method for free (unless a password is generated), then run a dictionary attack for 1 minute to get a benchmark and provide estimates from there.
VDDN: Well, I believe that concludes this interview.  Any closing remarks for our subscribers?
JB: Yes!  We are currently running a promotion: forward this e-mail to me at josh@valudatadiscovery.com within the next week and receive 10% or $50 off any password cracking project, whichever is more!  Thanks for reading, and we look forward to serving you in the future.

May 2, 2010 - ValuData Adds Data Encryption

ValuData Discovery is now offering data encryption free of charge when delivering data back to its clients

VDD News: In response to client demand for increased security during data transfers, ValuData will now encrypt deliverables when returning data to a client, whether via ftp or media, upon request for no additional fee.  We go inside ValuData to speak with the owner, Josh Bassan, for more info.

VDD News: How did this decision come about?
Josh Bassan: Well, as I’ve been speaking with more and more folks in the business, data security keeps being brought up, particularly regarding ftp transfers.  Some don’t seem overly concerned, but one fellow went so far as to say he would only send data to me via ftp if he encrypts it first!  After that I decided to look into adding that to our offering.
VDDN: What tool will you be using?
JB: I’ve settled on TrueCrypt 6.3a, which was given 4.5 out of 5 stars by cnet (click here for cnet’s review and here for TrueCrypt’s web site).
VDDN: You don’t think it necessary to charge for this additional service?
JB: Not really.  The utility itself is freeware so there’s no hard cost to the company, and the amount of time it adds to packaging up the data didn’t seem to warrant any additional charge.
VDDN: What is your hope/goal in adding this service to your offering?
JB: Simply additional security and the accompanying peace of mind for my clients.  I’m offering it upon request instead of standard so that those who don’t see a need for it are not bothered with the hassle; for them it would simply be an additional step, an inconvenience.  For those who do desire it, I simply want them to know that ValuData takes the confidentiality of their data very seriously.
VDDN: Well, I believe that concludes this interview.  Any closing remarks for our subscribers?
JB: Yes!  We are currently running a promotion: forward this e-mail to me at josh@valudatadiscovery.com within the next week and receive 10% off your total invoice!  Thanks for reading, and we look forward to serving you in the future.