Cyber security expert witnesses are experts in cybersecurity and related disciplines, who, by virtue of their notable accomplishments over many years of professional experience, as well as from their certifications, formal and informal education, continuous training, and exemplary skills are deemed judges (and society in general) to be experts on cybersecurity and related matters, and, as a result, are allowed to write “expert reports” as well as testify as in depositions and trials as experts on cybersecurity-related matters.
Cybersecurity expert witnesses must translate complicated technical concepts into simple to understand arguments – and help attorneys prove their cases to judges and juries.
Cybersecurity expert witnesses are often asked to render opinions as to whether a cyberattack that inflicted damage was the result of some party’s negligence or whether the incident occurred despite that party’s reasonable cybersecurity efforts.
Likewise, a cyber security expert witness may be asked to opine as to whether or not an invention described in a cybersecurity-related patent is truly original – and the patent should be considered valid and enforceable – or if prior art existed before the patent was filed that made the patented invention’s potential to exist obvious to ordinary people skilled in the art of cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity expert witnesses are also often called upon to analyze evidence in civil or criminal cases involving cybersecurity or to review computerized evidence in legal cases otherwise unrelated to cybersecurity.
Joseph Steinberg has served as a cyber security expert many times and has worked on all of the aforementioned types of cases.