Well – that does shed a different light on things so arrangements were made to secretly image the hard drive of the computer used by the HR manager.  Imaging the hard drive of the computer means to capture every bit of the hard drive.  If done right, nobody should be able to tell the computer was touched.

The image of this hard drive is then looked at using a variety of special tools.  There is a lot more information on the hard drive than your files, pictures and music, and that was definitely the case with the HR manager’s hard drive.

On this hard drive was a file with all of the instant messages that the HR manager had sent and received over the past 6 months.  Some of the messages were with the former employee and contained nasty remarks about other people in the company –particularly the boss.

The rest of the messages were with a distant lover and were the written equivalent of phone sex.  Now instant messaging may qualify as “safe sex”, but it isn’t “safe communications” – even though the HR manager clearly thought otherwise.

“Sorry for being gone so long”, the HR manager wrote.  “I had to deal with a couple of employees that were using the company email to send inappropriate messages…if you know what I mean.  How stupid can you get!”

Wonder how stupid the HR manager felt when presented with the log file of instant messages!

Big Al looks at people’s hard drives for a living.  We’re not talking about a “hard drive” that is caused by traffic or screaming kids.  This is the hard drive in your computer (or cell phone) that stores all of your data.

Looking at these kinds of hard drives is called computer forensics.  It is similar to snooping through somebody’s mail and garbage except it isn’t as messy and you get paid for it.  Plus it should be legal.

Over the years, Big Al has encountered a number of very interesting situations that will be weaved into an entertaining and informative story (at least that is the hope).   All of the characters are fictional and names have been changed to protect the guilty.