Sebi invites application to hire digital forensic services provider

Capital markets regulator Sebi is planning to hire an agency that will provide assistance to its search team for onsite data acquisition during search and seizure operations.

In this regard, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has invited applications from eligible service providers experienced in digital forensic services for acquisition, extraction and analysis of digital evidence from mobile, computers, and tablets, among others, on an ongoing basis.

This comes in the backdrop of the Sebi crackdown against entities allegedly involved in a front-running scam using messaging app Telegram. Recently, the regulator carried out a search and seizure operation at the premises of several entities in multiple locations across the country in the matter.

In a notice on Tuesday, Sebi said the agency will be required to provide onsite assistance to the search team and onsite data acquisition during search and seizure operations.

In addition, it will have to undertake forensic acquisition/imaging of different types of digital devices, such as laptops, mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, hard drives, USB drives, CDs/DVDs, servers etc.

The agency will be responsible for the detection, acquisition and analysis of data sourced from cloud networks and carry out such analysis as required by investigating officers using forensic tools.

Listing out the eligibility criteria, Sebi said the applicant should have a minimum of five years of experience in the field of digital forensics and should have at least 10 digital forensic specialists (full time) who can perform the task of digital evidence collection and analysis, among others.

The interested agencies have been asked to submit their applications by April 26.