Page 1361 - (ISC)² CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide

than likely become public and may embarrass the company. Second,
law enforcement authorities are bound to conduct an investigation

that complies with the Fourth Amendment and other legal
requirements that may not apply if the organization conducted its own
private investigation.

Search Warrants

Even the most casual viewer of American crime television is

familiar with the question, “Do you have a warrant?” The Fourth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution outlines the burden placed on
investigators to have a valid search warrant before conducting
certain searches and the legal hurdle they must overcome to obtain
a warrant:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,

papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons
or things to be seized.

This amendment contains several important provisions that guide
the activities of law enforcement personnel:

Investigators must obtain a warrant before searching a person’s
private belongings, assuming that there is a reasonable
expectation of privacy. There are a number of documented
exceptions to this requirement, such as when an individual

consents to a search, the evidence of a crime is in plain view, or
there is a life-threatening emergency necessitating the search.

Warrants can be issued only based on probable cause. There
must be some type of evidence that a crime took place and that
the search in question will yield evidence relating to that crime.
The standard of “probable cause” required to get a warrant is
much weaker than the standard of evidence required to secure

a conviction. Most warrants are “sworn out” based solely on the
testimony of investigators.