Four corporate investigation mistakes organizations make under pressure
BlackBerry security executive outlines four investigation mistakes, warning poor chain of custody has cost firms over $2 billion in SEC penalties.
In a Help Net Security video, BlackBerry VP and Chief Security Advisor Christine Gadsby explains how early decisions in corporate investigations—granting access, informal conversations and undocumented choices—damage chain of custody, privilege and regulatory outcomes. She cites more than $2 billion in SEC penalties across over 100 financial firms since 2021 tied to missing records. Her guidance includes naming an incident commander, using communication channels with audit trails, verifying participants, and documenting decisions in real time.
- Treat investigations as business events, not purely technical problems
- SEC penalties since 2021 exceed $2 billion across 100+ financial firms
- Recommendations: incident commander, auditable communications, verified participants, documented decisions
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In this Help Net Security video, Christine Gadsby, VP and Chief Security Advisor at BlackBerry, explains why corporate investigations go wrong before the forensic team arrives. The first hours matter more than leaders assume. Access gets granted, conversations start, and decisions get made that later affect chain of custody, privilege, and how regulators judge the process.
Gadsby walks through four mistakes. Treating an investigation as a technical problem instead of a business event. Losing track of where sensitive conversations happen. Assuming you know who is receiving information. Limiting chain of custody to devices and logs while ignoring findings, interviews, and executive communications. She points to SEC penalties since 2021, more than $2 billion across over 100 financial firms, as proof of what happens when records go missing.
Her guidance covers naming an incident commander, choosing communication channels with an audit trail, verifying participants, and documenting decisions as they are made.
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Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/08/13/corporate-investigation-mistakes-video/