The US Transportation Security Administration has selected Nuix to help it process and search large volumes of data from disparate sources and to do so very quickly. The Nuix press release is here.

Consider three broad types of search requirement. Most of us, making a
Google search, are generally looking for answers to specific questions
or, at least, want to read up about the topic reflected in our choice of
search terms. An eDiscovery search has a  rather different purpose,
broadly aiming to retrieve everything which meets certain criteria. A
third, and much harder, type of search may lack such criteria, having
the general aim of finding out if there is anything interesting in a
large pool of data.

We may not be able to define what is “interesting” in this context,
but are looking for a conjunction of data which, once identified, means
something to the searcher. The recurrence of the same bank account
number, IP address or telephone number may be meaningless, but it may
provide a clue which opens doors to unsuspected criminal or terrorist
activity.

Nuix brings the power to conduct such searches across unstructured
data and this is what has proved attractive to the TSA. Unsurprisingly,
we are not told much about the details of the proposed use of Nuix in
this context, but it seems to be for after-the-fact investigations not
for screening or pre-emptive activity. The starting point might be  the
data on a seized computer where the broad mission is to uncover
connections which might otherwise lie unsuspected.

The expression “Big Data” implies more than mere volume, bringing
with it this implication that forensic gold may lie scattered across a
wide range of sources. Not every eDiscovery / eDisclosure exercise needs
this level of search, but suspected fraud, bribery or anti-competitive
conduct provide examples of investigations which would be quicker,
cheaper and more effective if       this kind of search strategy was
adopted.

Whatever the case, and however sophisticated or not the search
criteria, this kind of raw searching speed and power is important. There
is no case which would not be improved by being finished more quickly.