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Glossary Term Spoliation

Training Camp • Cybersecurity Glossary

What is Spoliation?

Spoliation is the destruction or alteration of evidence relevant to litigation, which can trigger court sanctions and adverse-inference rulings.

Glossary > Incident Response & Forensics > Spoliation

Understanding Spoliation

Spoliation is the intentional or negligent destruction, alteration, or failure to preserve evidence that is relevant to pending or reasonably foreseeable litigation or investigation. In digital forensics and e-discovery it commonly involves deleting files, wiping drives, or letting log retention lapse after a legal hold should have taken effect. Courts may impose sanctions, including adverse-inference instructions, for spoliation under rules such as U.S. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37e.

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