Experience
JOSEPH M. BURTON, Principal Consultant | 415.957.3014 | JMBurton@wescottcyberconsulting.com
Joseph M. Burton brings more than 30 years’ experience studying, writing, speaking and advising clients regarding cybersecurity and digital evidence issues.
His deep background and experience allows him to provide advice concerning all aspects of the prevention, detection, investigation and response to data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents, and to strategize with inside and outside legal counsel regarding contractual, compliance, statutory and regulatory requirements related to data security and privacy. He has counseled businesses on cybersecurity issues in numerous industries including financial services, retail, real estate, education and others.
For five years, beginning in 1984, he served as the Chief Assistant United States Attorney for the Silicon Valley Office for the Northern District of California, where he supervised and personally investigated some of the earliest cybersecurity hacking and fraud incidents. In 1988, he initiated and managed the investigation of one of the most infamous hackers of all time. The investigation ultimately resulted in the hacker’s indictment and conviction for computer crimes.
As an attorney in private practice and security consultant, he has handled the full range of cybersecurity and digital evidence issues including such high profile cases as:
- Counsel to a co-defendant in a federal criminal investigation, the first of its kind, involving the export of strong cryptography software. As a result of counsel’s activity, the government declined to bring charges against the defendant.
- Counsel for ElcomSoft Company, a Russian software developer, facing the first criminal prosecution under the controversial federal statute known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). ElcomSoft was acquitted of all charges in this precedent-setting case.
Other Representative matters include:
- Providing counsel for a corporate officer charged in federal court with computer hacking and theft of trade secrets under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). As a result of counsel’s effort, his client entered a negotiated plea and was not sentenced to a jail term.
- Providing forensic evidence counseling in a high profile divorce case. Mr. Burton advised the client and litigation counsel on all pre-trial encryption, forensic and digital evidence issues.
- Provided counsel for an SEC-regulated financial services company in regard to their investigation and response to a data security incident involving the potential disclosure of their clients’ confidential financial information due to the actions of a third party. Mr. Burton worked with a team of attorneys to provide legal analysis, incident response advice and coordination of the technical investigation.
- Providing counsel to a publicly traded financial services company undergoing a due diligence investigation in preparation for its sale. Mr. Burton reviewed the client’s information security policies, providing advice and revising or writing new policy provisions as appropriate.
- Provided counsel for a nationally known office services company regarding the client’s legal responsibilities as a third party vendor under applicable data breach notification statutes with respect to a potential disclosure of customer data.
Mr. Burton is a recipient of the CLAY (California Lawyer Attorney of the Year) Award for Criminal and Copyright Law. This award is given to attorneys who have made a significant impact on public policy, creatively managed complicated cases or transactions and have won cases against great odds. Mr. Burton was named in the March 2003 issue of California Lawyer Magazine for his achievements.
Mr. Burton is also a recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Legal Writing Award for his article “4 Steps To Getting Serious About Law Firm Security.” This award is given by the Burton Awards Program in association with the Library of Congress. Award recipients are selected from legal articles submitted by authors from the nation’s most prestigious law firms.