You might call it a marriageand a businessmade in cyberheaven.


Ramona and Marcus Lawson, of Spokane, met on the Internet, through a match-making service called love@aol, and enjoy cuddling up at home to watch TechTV, a 24-hour cable and satellite channel dedicated entirely to computing, technology, and the Internet.


It shouldnt be surprising, then, that they also jointly operate a computer-forensics-and-data-recovery business here, called Global CompuSearch LLC, that allows them to pamper and pursue the profit potential of their shared passion.


We love this business. Its so much fun, says Marcus Lawson.


The couple last month moved the 1 1/2-year-old company from their South Hill home into an East Spokane office space, and have visions of building it into a far-reaching enterprise, though theyre intent on growing it slowly.


Global CompuSearch specializes in the pioneering field of computer forensics, which involves gathering computer- and Internet-related evidence for legal use.


The company also offers what Marcus Lawson calls more nuts-and-bolts data-recovery services for businesses and individuals seeking to retrieve information from their computers. Such information often has been rendered inaccessibleor seemingly soby computer viruses or has become hidden inadvertently.


Marcus Lawson is president of Global CompuSearch and oversees the computer-forensics side of the business; Ramona, the companys owner and CEO, handles the data-recovery side.


Shes a natural tech. She can write code. I have more of a legal background. You put that together and we really complement each other, he says.


A mix of experience


Lawson not only has a law degree, which he obtained from Pepperdine University, in Malibu, Calif., but also spent 18 years doing law-enforcement and investigative work as a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and one other federal agency that he asks not be identified. During that time, according to Global CompuSearchs Web site, he investigated more than 1,000 cases.


Computer-related investigations ended up being my shtick from about 1989 until I left federal employment in 2000, he says. During that decade-long period, he says, he participated in investigations of computer hacking, child pornography, and even a major international weapons-smuggling case.


I learned how to use computer forensics before there were any tools, but powerful new software now makes such work much easier, Lawson says.


While working as a federal agent, he says, It occurred to me that the Internet as applied to the legal field was about to explode. I saw the potential for this industry.


Ramona, who admits to being basically a computer nerd at heart, says she picked up much of her computer knowledge while serving in the U.S. Army for eight years and, later, on her own.


She now is enrolled in a computer-forensics training program and hopes to become certified by the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists, the industrys main certifying body, by this summer so she can do more of that type of work with her husband. Marcus, in addition to overseeing the computer-forensics work done by Global CompuSearch, conducts training seminars on computer-related investigations for law-enforcement officials, public defender groups, and others around the country.


The Lawsons say the computer-forensics side of the business generates a lot more revenue per case, $5,000 to $7,000 on average, than the data-recovery side, where the standard rate is $50 an hour and a typical billing is $300 to $500. They add, though, that they intend to expand both sides of the business and maintain a balance between the two.


In forensic computing, Global CompuSearch has been hired to assist in a number of criminal cases. It currently is working, for example, with a team of criminal defense attorneys on a federal computer-hacking case in the northeastern U.S., Marcus Lawson says.


Were helping them to understand the nuances of hacking laws and how these companies (that claim to have been the victims of a database hacking) purportedly were compromised, he says. We set up a server running the same operating system (that the companies were using) and hacked into it the way the government alleges, so we could verify that certain logs were created or not created.


Criminal defense attorneys hire Global CompuSearch as a consulting firm to investigate the validity of computer-related allegations, Lawson says.


In some cases, the person has been charged correctly, and we tell the client that. Weve had other cases where people really did need help. They werent guilty of the crimes they were accused of, he says.


A civil litigation focus


Despite such criminal work, the company expects ultimately to be involved more in civil litigation consulting and support, because of the rising volume of computing-related lawsuits, Lawson says.


We can re-create case scenarios. We can use some (software) applications to make demonstrative evidence, turn the computer screen into a movie camera, he says. Its very valuable evidence for an attorney. Its virtually indisputable.


One of the pluses of computer forensics, Lawson asserts, is that the findings leave little open to interpretation and conjecture.


Either the evidence is in the computer or not, he says. If there is evidence, it needs to be retrieved in a way we can introduce it in court.


As that side of the company grows, the Lawsons hope to hire retired law-enforcement officers to assist with the workload. Meanwhile, they expect to begin hiring right away a few technicians to help do data-retrieval work.


Global CompuSearch currently employs just the Lawsons and office manager Gina Schafer, but the Lawsons expect the business to add three or four employees this year. The company occupies an 1,100-square-foot space in the Red Flag Building of the Tapio Office Center, at 104 S. Freya, and uses a good-sized portion of that space as a computer work area.


Most of the data-recovery work that Global CompuSearch does currently involves software problems. Ramona Lawson says, for example, that she recently has been rebuilding the entire software file structure in an attorneys computer. The computer, containing important contacts and case-related data, had been so corrupted by two viruses that the attorney couldnt get it to reboot or respond to other commands, she says.


The Lawsons are looking to lease additional space in the Red Flag Building for a clean room where technicians could take apart and work on damaged hard drives covered by manufacturers warranties.