Editor’s Note: HaystackID’s October 2025 announcements address a defining challenge for legal technology professionals: the weaponization of synthetic media in litigation and the urgent need for cloud-native discovery infrastructure. The company’s VALID Suite directly confronts the growing threat to evidence integrity posed by convincing deepfakes and AI-generated content that can undermine cases if undetected.

For eDiscovery, cybersecurity, and information governance professionals, these developments represent the industry’s evolution toward forensically defensible AI integration. The three-tiered VALID approach offers an immediately implementable framework spanning rapid triage to courtroom testimony, while certified RelativityOne migration services and CoreFlex’s Innovation Awards recognition demonstrate how cloud-first strategies have shifted from aspiration to operational imperative.

Strategic UK expansion, including experienced Metropolitan Police forensics expertise, underscores the increasingly global nature of digital evidence challenges and cross-border regulatory compliance demands. As the sophistication of synthetic media accelerates, definitively authenticating digital evidence while maintaining chain-of-custody standards becomes foundational to legal practice—making this article essential reading for professionals navigating evidence handling and defensible discovery in an environment where distinguishing authentic from fabricated content becomes increasingly complex and critical.


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Industry News – eDiscovery Beat

HaystackID Launches VALID Suite to Combat Deepfakes as Synthetic Media Threatens Evidence Integrity

ComplexDiscovery Staff

HaystackID is addressing growing challenges in digital evidence authenticity and cloud migration for legal and compliance teams with advanced AI-driven solutions and expertise spanning four key areas: a new digital media authentication suite, expanded Relativity aiR integration, certified RelativityOne migration services, and strengthened UK capabilities. Legal professionals no longer have the luxury of relying on static, legacy solutions—today, mastery over data authenticity, cloud agility, and global responsiveness has become essential.

From the outset, the stakes couldn’t be higher: trust in evidence, pace of review, and defensibility of each step are being scrutinized as never before. The proliferation of deepfake incidents, synthetic media, and the fluidity of data in global litigation has forced organizations to seek partners who can keep pace. HaystackID’s new VALID Suite isn’t just an enhancement—it’s a timely answer to an urgent problem: verifying what’s real.

Authenticating Evidence in an Age of Digital Deception

Across courts, boardrooms, and regulatory inquiries, AI-generated content and digital manipulation threaten to upend traditional approaches to evidence. The VALID Suite establishes a rigorous framework for not simply reviewing images, audio, video, or hybrid files, but for thoroughly authenticating them. Delivered by HaystackID’s Forensics First team, VALID combines advanced analytics, forensic workflows, and court-ready reporting to transform deepfake inquiries from simple visual inspection into robust evidentiary examinations.

The suite operates across three tiers tailored to different authentication needs. VALID Assess provides rapid triage through expert-led screening, delivering reliability scores with automated anomaly detection enhanced by analyst review—designed for incident response and early case assessment requiring decision-grade clarity at speed. VALID Verify offers comprehensive scientific examination to establish definitive origin and integrity, including deep forensic analysis with metadata reconstruction, container/codec inspection, compression lineage mapping, and synthesis/deepfake artifact testing. VALID Expert delivers courtroom-ready advocacy through affidavits, depositions, trial testimony, crisis management for misinformation events, and organizational resilience services.



“A deepfake inquiry isn’t simply an image check—it’s a comprehensive evidentiary examination,” said John Wilson, chief information security officer and president of forensics at HaystackID. “Our unwavering standard is continuity, transparency, and defensibility from intake to testimony.”

Technical capabilities include layered testing across photo, video, audio, and hybrid files to expose cloning artifacts, GAN/diffusion fingerprints, face/voice swaps, morphs, and undisclosed edits, continuously updated to counter emerging synthesis techniques. Chain-of-custody protocols utilize cryptographic hashing, authenticated handling, and access-controlled environments, aligning with GDPR, CCPA, and law enforcement standards. AI-assisted screening surfaces anomalies and assigns reliability scores at scale, creating prioritized queues designed to reduce false positives while accelerating time-to-truth without sacrificing precision.

Organizations with ongoing authentication demands should evaluate subscription-based approaches to VALID services rather than reacting matter-by-matter, with flexible engagement models including fixed-fee packages for defined scopes and time-and-materials for complex matters.

Expanding AI-Driven Discovery Workflows

Building on its authentication capabilities, HaystackID is also advancing how legal teams manage the entire discovery lifecycle. HaystackID CoreFlex has been named a finalist in the 2025 Relativity Innovation Awards in the “Best Innovation: Organize” category, to be presented at Relativity Fest (October 7-9) in Chicago. The platform now includes integrated access to Relativity aiR workflows for all clients, providing a unified, secure, and scalable interface that consolidates eDiscovery operations.

Legal teams gain efficient access to analytics and AI-driven classification, reducing manual intervention and accelerating review across massive datasets. Built on cloud-native Microsoft Azure infrastructure, CoreFlex features single sign-on authentication with Okta, Google Authentication, and Microsoft 365, as well as role-based access controls and compliance-ready security measures. Integration with industry-standard tools, including Relativity, Nuix, and Rampiva, enables seamless workflow management, with planned support for additional AI-driven document review capabilities.

“The combination of CoreFlex and Relativity aiR addresses the growing demand by legal teams seeking efficiency, control, and real-time insights across every stage of the eDiscovery process,” said Hal Brooks, chief executive officer at HaystackID. “We’re seeing clients dramatically improve processing times and reduce manual intervention by leveraging the automation and AI capabilities of our joint solutions. We look forward to helping our clients advance what’s possible as they invest in the next generation of discovery.”

The automation-first approach and near-real-time analytics enable legal teams to navigate complex data challenges with enhanced accuracy and cost-effectiveness while maintaining flexibility to self-manage workflows or transition to full-service support when needed.

Bridging Legacy Systems to Cloud Infrastructure

Complementing these workflow innovations, HaystackID has introduced end-to-end migration services from Relativity Server and other review platforms to RelativityOne. Certified in RelativityOne data migration, the service provides audit-ready documentation and enablement designed to preserve evidentiary integrity while minimizing downtime. By leveraging advanced migration protocols, legal and compliance teams can retire outdated infrastructure, reduce review time by up to 80%, and accelerate adoption of cloud-powered analytics and Relativity aiR capabilities.

“In legal matters, migration is not just a data transfer; it’s an operational transition where continuity and defensibility are non-negotiable,” said Andy Parrish, chief operating officer at HaystackID. “We’re excited to be adding this expert-led service that can help our clients significantly reduce risk and protect evidentiary integrity.”

The service is offered on a fixed-fee basis with options for readiness assessments, accelerated or after-hours cutovers, advanced analytics tuning, and user enablement. Organizations embarking on migration projects should assign a single accountable leader and establish a matter-based migration plan where validation testing, rollback protocols, and post-migration verification are standard procedures rather than afterthoughts.

Strengthening Global Capabilities

To support its expanding service portfolio, HaystackID has strengthened its presence in the United Kingdom with new offices and staff in London, addressing growing client demand for digital forensics and legal discovery services tailored to UK compliance and privacy requirements. Matthew Hamilton has joined as a forensics analyst, bringing 12 years of experience as a digital forensics investigator with the Metropolitan Police in London.

The expanded team will focus on supporting clients navigating nuanced privacy and discovery requirements specific to the United Kingdom, including GDPR compliance and cross-border data challenges, ensuring that investigations and data forensics are robust in any jurisdiction. HaystackID also maintains its European headquarters in Dublin.

Meeting Market Demand

The timing of these expansions reflects broader industry shifts. According to a report by Future Market Insights, the legal technology market is projected to grow from $35.4 billion in 2025 to $72.5 billion by 2035, driven by increasing regulatory expectations and the proliferation of AI across law and compliance.

“The adoption of AI across the legal industry continues to grow at a record pace, especially as corporate legal teams focus on getting more value from outside counsel at lower costs,” said Ryan O’Leary, research director for privacy and legal technology at IDC. “By integrating advanced, AI-driven intelligence into discovery and case analysis, legal teams can enhance efficiency and improve outcomes while staying compliant in today’s evolving regulatory and litigation environment.”

For cybersecurity, information governance, and eDiscovery professionals, HaystackID’s integrated approach addresses three critical imperatives: authenticating digital evidence in an era of synthetic media, modernizing discovery infrastructure through cloud migration, and maintaining defensible processes across global jurisdictions. As the line between real and fabricated content grows thinner, the ability to definitively prove authenticity, streamline workflows, and maintain evidentiary integrity becomes the foundation upon which legal arguments stand or fall.

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