Chris Lester
Director
A 30-year veteran of the FBI and a Director at Digitial Forensic Services, Chris has decades of experience in digital forensics, e-discovery, and supporting criminal and civil litigations involving digital evidence. He has repeatedly testified as a computer expert in criminal and civil cases, transforming technical data into relatable, easy-to-comprehend testimony. In tandem, Chris has been a featured lecturer and public speaker, providing education and training in computer forensics.
While working for law enforcement, Chris worked with regulatory organizations such as the SEC and FINRA regarding allegations of securities fraud, assisted trustees in investigating Chapter 7, 11, and 13 bankruptcies, and partnered with Assistant United States Attorneys to investigate and successfully prosecute sophisticated investigations ranging from Intellectual Property Investigations to Vehicular Calamities involving cellular phone data and records. While employed as a Special Agent, he received hundreds of hours of training in disciplines including Detection of Altered Digital Photography, Forensic Video Analysis, Encryption and Applied Decryption, and Cellular Forensics.
At the FBI, Chris worked on high-profile cases, including Zacarias Moussaoui’s involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks and the Red Lake High School shooting investigation, which involved multiple teenage suspects and hundreds of computers. He examined digital media from counter-terrorism investigations, child pornography, white-collar crime, organized crime, civil rights, kidnappings, and thefts of intellectual property.
Chris was a founding member of the Minnesota Cyber Crimes Task Force and was the Acting Supervisory Special Agent for the Cyber Squad in the Minneapolis Division of the FBI. He taught at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, teaching new Computer Forensic Examiners standard operating procedures and techniques and Advanced Unix Techniques. Most recently, he was a featured speaker at the 2025 Michigan Supreme Court Judicial Conference and the 2024 Operations & Technology Conference for the Minnesota Bankers Association.
During his tenure with the FBI, Chris spent over five years on the Evidence Response Team (ERT), a team of special agents and professional support employees trained to respond to large or sophisticated crime scenes to process evidence. In addition to the hundreds of hours of digital forensic training that Chris has received, he has also received over 600 hours of advanced crime scene management training.
Currently, Chris is focused on cases involving the detection and use of generative artificial intelligence in manipulating photographs, audio, videos, and digital documents. His work also includes investigations into algorithm-driven social media activity, specifically creating and distributing deepfake content, reflecting the evolving challenges at the intersection of technology, misinformation, and digital forensics.
The Locked Phone Problem: What Law Enforcement Needs to Know
It’s a challenge law enforcement professionals face regularly: a mobile phone likely holds key evidence—but it’s locked, and no one knows the passcode. Whether the device belongs to a deceased individual, an uncooperative suspect, or a missing witness, the data sits...
Copy ≠ Complete: Why Mobile Extractions Aren’t All the Same
When lawyers request phone data in discovery, the assumption is often this: once you have a copy, you have everything. But that belief can lead to critical mistakes. In mobile forensics, how data is extracted matters just as much as whether it’s been collected at...
What Lawyers Miss About Phone Data
What Lawyers Miss About Phone Data For most of us, mobile phones are an ever-present part of daily life. They’re where we manage schedules, communicate, navigate, document, and remember. In litigation, these devices often hold vital evidence like location data,...