Supporting digital forensics with Azure Blob Storage and Tiger Bridge File Management
Disclaimer: The following is a post authored by our partner Tiger Technology. Tiger Technology has been a valued partner in the Azure Storage ecosystem for many years and we are happy to have them share details on their innovative solution!
Police departments worldwide are grappling with a digital explosion. From body camera footage to social media captures, the volume and variety of evidence have surged, creating a storage, and management challenge like never before. A single police department needing to store 2–5 petabytes of data—and keep some of it for 100 years.
How can they preserve the integrity of this data, make it cost-effective, and ensure compliance with legal requirements? The answer lies in hybrid cloud solutions, specifically Microsoft Azure Blob Storage paired with Tiger Bridge. These solutions are empowering law enforcement to manage, and store evidence at scale, without disrupting workflows.
But what exactly is hybrid cloud, and why is it a game-changer for digital evidence management?
What is a hybrid cloud?
A hybrid cloud combines public or private cloud services with on-premises infrastructure. It gives organizations the flexibility to mix, and match environments, allowing them to choose the best fit for specific applications, and data. This flexibility is especially valuable in highly regulated industries like law enforcement, where strict data privacy, and compliance rules govern how evidence is stored, processed, and accessed.
Hybrid cloud also facilitates a smoother transition to public cloud solutions. For instance, when a data center reaches capacity, hybrid setups allow agencies to scale dynamically while maintaining control over their most sensitive data. It’s not just about storage—it's about creating a robust, compliant infrastructure for managing enormous volumes of evidence.
What makes digital evidence so complex?
Digital evidence encompasses any information stored or transmitted in binary form that can be used in court. It includes computer hard drives, phone records, social media posts, surveillance footage, etc.
The challenge isn’t just collecting this data—it’s preserving its integrity. Forensic investigators must adhere to strict chain-of-custody protocols to prove in court that the evidence:
- Is authentic and unaltered,
- Has been securely stored with limited access,
- Is readily available when needed.
With the surge in data volumes and complexity, traditional storage systems often fall short. That’s where hybrid cloud solutions shine, offering scalable, secure, and cost-effective options that keep digital evidence admissible while meeting compliance standards.
The challenges police departments face
Digital evidence is invaluable. Storing and managing it is a challenging task, and requires dealing with several aspects:
- Short-term storage problems
The sheer scale of data can overwhelm local systems. Evidence must first be duplicated using forensic imaging to protect the original file. But housing these duplicates, especially with limited budgets, strains existing resources.
- Long-term retention demands
In some jurisdictions, evidence must be retained for decades—sometimes up to a century. Physical storage media, like hard drives or SSDs, degrade over time and are expensive to maintain. Transitioning this data to cloud cold storage offers a more durable and cost-effective solution.
- Data integrity and legal admissibility
Even the slightest suspicion of tampering can render evidence inadmissible. Courts require robust proof of authenticity and integrity, including cryptographic hashes and digital timestamps. Failing to maintain a clear chain of custody could jeopardize critical cases.
Solving the storage puzzle with hybrid cloud
For law enforcement agencies, managing sensitive evidence isn't just about storage—it's about creating a system that safeguards data integrity, ensures compliance, and keeps costs under control. Traditional methods fall short in meeting these demands as the volume of digital evidence continues to grow.
This is where hybrid cloud technology stands out, offering a powerful combination of on-premises infrastructure and cloud capabilities. Microsoft Azure, a leader in cloud solutions, brings critical features to the table, ensuring evidence remains secure, accessible, and compliant with strict legal standards.
But storage alone isn't enough. Efficient file management is equally crucial for managing vast datasets while maintaining workflow efficiency. Tools like Tiger Bridge complement Microsoft Azure by bridging the gap between local and cloud storage, adding intelligence and flexibility to how evidence is preserved and accessed.
Typical hybrid cloud approach with Tiger BridgeMicrosoft Azure Blob Storage
Azure Blob Storage is massively scalable and secure object storage. For the purposes of law enforcement, among other features, it offers:
- Automatic Tiering: Automatically moves data between hot and cold tiers, optimizing costs,
- Durability: Up to sixteen 9s (99.99999999999999%) of durability ensures data integrity for decades.
- Metadata management: Add custom tags or blob indexes, such as police case classifications, to automate retention reviews.
Microsoft Azure ensures evidence is secure, accessible, and compliant with legal standards.
Tiger Bridge: Smart File Management
Tiger Bridge enhances Microsoft Azure’s capabilities by seamlessly integrating local and cloud storage with powerful features tailored for forensic evidence management.
Tiger Bridge is a software-only solution that integrates seamlessly with Windows servers. It handles file replication, space reclaiming, and archiving—all while preserving existing workflows and ensuring data integrity and disaster recovery.
With Tiger Bridge, police departments can transition to hybrid cloud storage without adding hardware or altering processes.
Data replication
Tiger Bridge replicates files from on-premises storage to cloud storage, ensuring a secure backup. Replication policies run transparently in the background, allowing investigators to work uninterrupted. Files are duplicated based on user-defined criteria, such as priority cases or evidence retention timelines.
Space reclamation
Once files are replicated to the cloud, Tiger Bridge replaces local copies with “nearline” stubs. These stubs look like the original files but take up virtually no space. When a file is needed, it’s automatically retrieved from the cloud, reducing storage strain on local servers.
Data archiving
For long-term storage, Tiger Bridge moves files from hot cloud tiers to cold and / or archive storage. Files in the archive tier are replaced with "offline" stubs. These files are not immediately accessible but can be manually retrieved and rehydrated when necessary. This capability allows law enforcement agencies to save on costs while still preserving access to critical evidence.
Checksum for data integrity
On top of strong data integrity and data protection features already built-in in Azure Storage Blob service, Tiger Bridge goes a step further in ensuring data integrity by generating checksums for newly replicated files. These cryptographic signatures allow agencies to verify that files in the cloud are identical to the originals stored on premises. This feature is essential for forensic applications, where the authenticity of evidence must withstand courtroom scrutiny. Data integrity verification is done during uploads and retrievals, ensuring that files remain unaltered while stored in the cloud. For law enforcement, checksum validation provides peace of mind, ensuring that evidence remains admissible in court and meets strict regulatory requirements
Disaster Recovery
In the event of a local system failure, Tiger Bridge allows for immediate recovery. All data remains accessible in the cloud, and reinstalling Tiger Bridge on a new server re-establishes access without needing to re-download files.
A real-life scenario
Imagine a police department dealing with petabytes of video evidence from body cameras, surveillance footage, and digital device extractions. A simple, yet effective typical real-life scenario follows the similar patterns:
- Investigators collect and image evidence files,
- Tiger Bridge replicates this data to Azure Blob Storage, following predefined rules,
- Active cases remain in Azure’s hot tier, while archival data moves to cost-effective cold storage,
- Metadata tags in Azure help automate case retention reviews, flagging files eligible for deletion.
This approach ensures evidence is accessible when needed, secure from tampering, and affordable to store long-term.
How it works
The results speak for themselves. Adopting a hybrid cloud strategy delivers tangible benefits:
- Operational efficiency: Evidence is readily accessible without the need for extensive hardware investments and maintenance.
- Cost savings: Automating data tiering reduces storage costs while maintaining accessibility.
- Workflow continuity: Investigators can maintain existing processes with minimal disruption.
- Enhanced compliance: Robust security measures and chain-of-custody tracking ensure legal standards are met.
A future-proof solution for digital forensics
As digital evidence grows in both volume and importance, police organizations must evolve their storage strategies. Hybrid cloud solutions like Azure Blob Storage and Tiger Bridge offer a path forward: scalable, secure, and cost-effective evidence management designed for the demands of modern law enforcement.
The choice is clear: Preserve the integrity of justice by adopting tools built for the future.
About Tiger Technology
Tiger Technology helps organizations with mission-critical deployments optimize their on-premises storage and enhance their workflows through cloud services. The company is a validated ISV partner for Microsoft in three out of five Azure Storage categories: Primary and Secondary Storage; Archive, Backup and BCDR, and Data Governance, Management, and Migration.
Tiger Bridge SaaS offering on Azure Marketplace is an Azure benefit-eligible, data management software enabling seamless hybrid cloud infrastructure. Installed in the customer’s on-premises or cloud environment, Tiger Bridge intelligently connects file data across file and object storage anywhere for data lifecycle management, global file access, Disaster Recovery, data migration and access to insights. Tiger Bridge supports all Azure Blob Storage tiers, including cold and archive tiers for long-term archival of data.
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