Peter Garza (born August 6, 1960) is a United States computer forensics expert and

cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing th ...

investigator. As a Special Agent with the

Naval Criminal Investigative Service The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the primary law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of the Navy. Its primary function is to investigate criminal activities involving the Navy and Marine Corps, though its ...

, Peter Garza conducted the first court-ordered Internet

wiretap Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

in the United States while investigating the Julio Cesar Ardita ("El Griton") hacking case. Ardita was charged by the U.S. Justice Department with using compromised user accounts at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

to hack into government and university computer systems in the U.S. and abroad. Ardita pleaded guilty on May 19, 1998 in the United States District Court of Massachusetts to unlawfully intercepting electronic communications and damaging files on military computer systems. Garza founded EvidentData, Inc., a private sector consulting firm specializing in computer forensics, electronic discovery, and expert consulting, in 1999. EvidentData was acquired by First Advantage which he left in 2009 to form Data Forté. Garza continues to be involved in many high-profile

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

cases. He gave expert testimony regarding altered electronic documents in a case (Beckman Coulter Inc. v. Dovatron International Inc.) which resulted in a $934 million jury award and testified regarding critical deleted but recoverable data in a case (Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn, Inc. v. Dunn) brought by sports agent

Leigh Steinberg Leigh William Steinberg (born March 27, 1949) is an American sports agent, philanthropist, and author. During his 41-year career, Steinberg has represented over 300 professional athletes in football, baseball, basketball, boxing, and Olympic sp ...

against former partner David Dunn which resulted in a $45 million jury award. Peter Garza earned a Master of Science in Information Systems from Claremont Graduate University in 2001. He also developed and taught a graduate course in Computer Forensics at

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the ''California State Polytechnic University, Pomo ...

External links

Article regarding Ben Roethlisberger caseFortune Small Business article discussing Peter Garza's workArticle regarding the Julio Cesar Ardita hacking case
from

Informit Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eCollege, ...

Department of Justice press release regarding first Internet wiretap
* ttp://www.devicelink.com/mx/archive/03/11/news3.html Article regarding Beckman Coulter Inc. v. Dovatron International Inc.br>Article regarding Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn, Inc. v. Dunn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garza, Peter Computer security specialists Living people 1960 births