Which factor limits a company's ability to recover certain digital evidence?

Company policies on data security can significantly limit a company's ability to recover certain digital evidence because these policies often dictate how data can be stored, accessed, and shared within the organization. If a company has stringent security measures in place, such as encryption, access controls, or protocols that restrict data access to authorized personnel only, this can impede the ability of investigators to retrieve relevant evidence effectively.

For instance, if sensitive data is encrypted and access is logged or closely monitored, obtaining that data for recovery purposes may require additional steps, such as obtaining permissions or decrypting the data, which can hinder evidence retrieval efforts. Additionally, company policies might outline specific procedures for data handling and evidence preservation, meaning any deviation from these policies could jeopardize the integrity of the evidence collected.

In contrast, other factors like input devices used for data retrieval, limited storage capacity of devices, or physical access to devices can affect the technical aspects of evidence recovery but do not inherently limit a company's broader capability to recover evidence as determined by its internal regulations and protocols regarding data security.