Petronella Technology Group
Cybersecurity, Compliance, and AI Experts Serving Clients Since 2002
15-minute introductory call to discuss your needs and check conflicts
1:1 virtual session with Craig Petronella. Pre-qualified, pre-paid.
Litigation support, digital forensics, independent expert opinions
Reserved for Petronella MSP Partners
Select an engagement to begin. Full rates and terms are published below.
A single video, device, wallet trace, or message header set. Written assessment of what the evidence supports, plus priced engagement options.
Full evidence inventory across devices, accounts, and chains. What is provable, what is missing, custody and spoliation risk, and priced engagement options.
What happened, what was taken, what is reportable, and what is provable if the matter becomes litigation. Engaged through counsel where litigation is anticipated.
Devices, cloud accounts, shared plans, trackers, and connected home systems. Scoped on a call first, never booked online, because sequencing and timing affect the client's safety.
1:1 virtual session with Craig Petronella. Strategy consultation on compliance, AI, or fleet architecture.
Deep-dive virtual session. Compliance roadmapping, AI strategy, or architecture review with deliverables.
Virtual strategy plus hands-on implementation. Walk away with a concrete plan.
All private sessions are delivered virtually via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. On-site engagements must be vetted and are priced separately. Contact sales.
VIP coaching slots are reserved exclusively for Petronella MSP Partners (Tier 4: Strategic Partnership). If you are an existing partner, please contact your account manager or reach out directly.
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Craig will reach out prior to your session with preparation materials. Questions? Email [email protected] or call (919) 348-4912.
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One of the country's most experienced cybersecurity, digital forensics, and compliance experts, available for private engagements.
Craig Petronella is the founder and CEO of Petronella Technology Group, Inc., an internationally trusted cybersecurity, compliance, AI, and digital forensics firm serving more than 2,500 clients since 2002 with a zero-breach record among managed security program participants. He is an Amazon #1 best-selling author of 15 or more books on cybersecurity, HIPAA, CMMC, and AI, a CMMC Registered Practitioner (Cyber AB RP-1372), and a Licensed Digital Forensic Examiner who has served as an expert witness in some of the largest SIM swap and cryptocurrency fraud cases in United States history.
Attorneys, executives, and government contractors book time with Craig when the stakes are high: active litigation that needs an independent forensic expert, a merger that needs a security and compliance read before close, a defense contract that hinges on CMMC, or an AI initiative that must not leak data or violate emerging regulation. Every paid engagement is delivered virtually via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, recorded availability is real-time, and every session is with Craig personally, never a junior consultant.
He has been the featured cybersecurity expert on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, and WRAL television, has served as Contributing Editor for Cybersecurity at NC Triangle Attorney at Law Magazine for more than five years, has guest lectured at NCCU School of Law, and is MIT-trained in AI and blockchain. His opinions are independent: fees are never contingent on findings, testimony, or case outcome.
Review the full curriculum vitae for case specializations, published works, certifications, and media history, or book a free 15-minute consultation to discuss your matter.
Four practice areas, one standard: senior expertise, delivered directly.
Independent forensic analysis and expert opinions for civil and criminal matters: cryptocurrency fraud and tracing, SIM swap cases, ransomware and business email compromise, data breach forensics, hidden digital assets in divorce and bankruptcy, and regulatory standard-of-care testimony. Forensic preservation and chain of custody handled to evidentiary standards. Listed expert with Forensic Resources since February 2024.
Frame-level video analysis, forensic imaging, log correlation, intrusion timeline reconstruction, malware analysis, and data exfiltration investigations. Courtroom-tested methodology with documented chain of custody, engaged by law firms, insurers, and corporations across the United States.
Private AI architecture, AI risk management, data poisoning and prompt injection defense, EU AI Act and NIST AI Risk Management Framework alignment. Craig runs production AI agents inside his own firm and advises executives on adopting AI without exposing regulated data.
CMMC 2.0 readiness for defense contractors, NIST 800-171 gap strategy, HIPAA and SOC 2 program guidance, and enclave architecture decisions, informed by 500+ onsite risk assessments across medical practices, hospitals, and defense suppliers. Author of The Ultimate Guide to CMMC 2.0.
Every matter begins with a conflict check, then a paid Assessment that establishes what the evidence will support. Engagement fees are quoted from the Assessment, never before it.
Why the sequence matters. Pricing an expert engagement before anyone has examined the evidence produces a guess, and guesses get renegotiated. The Assessment replaces that with a defined first step: the evidence is inventoried, provable questions are separated from unprovable ones, preservation and spoliation risks are identified, and the engagement comes back priced. Counsel receives a number they can budget against and written work product they can use whether or not they go further.
If the first fifteen minutes of an Assessment show that I am not the right expert for your matter, I will say so and you will not be charged.
Where your evidence is handled. Analysis is performed inside a FIPS-validated, air-gapped enclave that Petronella Technology Group, Inc. owns and operates. No commercial cloud artificial intelligence provider, no third-party processor, and no subcontractor receives your client's data at any point. Every analytical step is logged and reproducible, the methodology is stated in the report, and every asserted fact is independently verified against the underlying artifact. Deliverables are transmitted through PreVeil. For matters involving Controlled Unclassified Information or covered defense information, that is not a convenience, it is a precondition most examiners cannot meet.
Assessments and fixed-fee engagements are payable 100% upfront at engagement. Fees are never contingent on findings, testimony, or the outcome of the matter. Hourly rates apply to deposition, testimony, arbitration, and time spent responding to discovery. Expert work begins once the engagement letter is signed and the retainer is received. Questions: [email protected] or (919) 348-4912.
Independent, courtroom-tested, and engaged on some of the largest cybercrime cases in the country.
Craig has provided expert witness testimony against some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges and telecommunications companies in the United States, and has been retained in some of the largest SIM swap and cryptocurrency fraud cases in history. His litigation practice covers forensic preservation and chain of custody, technical assessment of digital evidence, frame-level video analysis, written expert reports, rebuttals, depositions, and trial testimony.
How an engagement works: it starts with a free conflict check and scoping call. You receive an engagement letter defining scope, deliverables, fees, and independence terms. Analysis begins once the letter is signed and the retainer is received. You get a verbal findings briefing first, then written work product as the matter requires. Deposition, arbitration, and testimony time is billed at $2,500 per hour with a four-hour minimum, at the same rate for every party in every matter. Examination and report work is a fixed fee, scoped and quoted in the Assessment rather than billed by the hour, and is never contingent on findings or outcome.
Fees are never contingent on findings, testimony, or case outcome. That independence is what makes the testimony defensible under cross-examination.
Independence is non-negotiable. Retention is for an independent expert opinion on what the evidence does and does not show. Fees are never contingent on findings or outcome, which is exactly what makes the testimony defensible under cross-examination.
Case specializations include cryptocurrency fraud and tracing, hidden digital assets in divorce and bankruptcy, ransomware kill chain analysis, business email compromise and wire fraud, data breach and exfiltration forensics, HIPAA violation investigations, and regulatory standard-of-care opinions covering CMMC, NIST 800-171, HIPAA, FTC, and SOC 2 matters.
Stalking and technology abuse matters. These are accepted through counsel. Where a client is being monitored, the work divides into two parts that must happen in the right order. Examination establishes what is on the devices and accounts and preserves it in a form that supports a protective order or a criminal referral. Hardening then closes the access: credentials, sessions, recovery methods, shared carrier and cloud plans, location sharing, trackers, vehicle telematics, and connected home systems. Examination begins at $5,000 and hardening begins at $7,500, scoped to the number of devices and accounts involved.
Order matters more than speed here. Hardening destroys evidence, and cutting off an abuser's access can be detected and can escalate risk to the client. Nothing is changed until the evidence position is understood and the client, their counsel, and where appropriate their advocate have decided on timing. That decision belongs to the client, not to the examiner. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available around the clock at 800-799-7233, and the Safety Net project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence publishes technology safety planning guidance for survivors and advocates.
Four audiences make up most of the calendar. If you recognize yourself below, the free consultation is the right first step.
Trial lawyers, family law attorneys, and litigators who need an independent forensic expert with real courtroom experience. Typical matters: authenticating or challenging digital evidence, tracing cryptocurrency, quantifying a breach, locating hidden digital assets, and providing standard-of-care opinions a jury can actually follow. Craig has written on legal-sector cybersecurity for NC Triangle Attorney at Law Magazine for more than five years and has lectured at NCCU School of Law, so he speaks the language of the courtroom, not just the server room.
Companies in the Department of Defense supply chain facing CMMC 2.0 who need senior strategy before committing budget: enclave versus enterprise-wide scoping, NIST 800-171 gap prioritization, SPRS posture, and vendor selection. A two-hour session frequently saves months of misdirected remediation spend.
CEOs, CFOs, and boards who want a direct, senior answer on AI adoption risk, security architecture, merger and acquisition due diligence, or a second opinion on a major technology decision, without a sales agenda attached. Sessions are confidential and can operate under NDA.
Victims of SIM swap attacks, cryptocurrency theft, account takeover, and online harassment who need forensic evidence preserved correctly the first time, and an expert who has handled some of the largest cases of this kind in the country when the matter proceeds to litigation or law enforcement.
Every engagement produces concrete work product, not just conversation.
From a private virtual session: a recorded working session (on request), a prioritized action plan, and direct answers to the questions you brought. Half-day and full-day formats add written deliverables: compliance roadmaps, architecture reviews, and AI adoption plans. Build work is scoped and quoted separately. Craig prepares before every session using the intake materials you provide after payment, so the clock starts on substance, not background.
From an expert witness retention: forensically sound evidence preservation with documented chain of custody, a technical assessment of the digital evidence, a verbal findings briefing so counsel can make strategy decisions before anything is committed to paper, and then written summaries, filed expert reports, rebuttals, deposition testimony, or arbitration and trial testimony as the matter requires. Each deliverable tier is priced in the engagement letter so there are no surprises mid-case.
From the free consultation: a straight answer. Whether your matter needs an expert at all, roughly what it will cost, what evidence must be preserved immediately before it is lost, and which engagement format fits. Fifteen minutes with the right expert at the start of a matter routinely prevents the two most expensive mistakes in digital disputes: spoliation of evidence and paying for the wrong scope.
A public track record you can verify before you ever get on a call.
Craig has appeared in more than eighteen television segments as the featured cybersecurity expert for CBS 17 in Raleigh, covering ransomware, SIM swap scams, data privacy settlements, and consumer fraud, with additional appearances on ABC 11, NBC, FOX, WRAL, and Time Warner Cable News. He has written eighteen or more published columns for NC Triangle Attorney at Law Magazine on topics including locating hidden cryptocurrency in divorce and bankruptcy, expert witness forensic evaluations after cybercrimes, and CMMC obligations for firms doing business with the Department of Defense.
His books include The Ultimate Guide to CMMC 2.0, three editions of How HIPAA Can Crush Your Medical Practice, How Hackers Can Crush Your Law Firm, and Beautifully Inefficient, a 2025 book on human judgment in the AI age. He hosts the Encrypted Ambition podcast, with 95 or more episodes across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and every major platform. As a keynote speaker he delivers 30 to 60 minute presentations, half-day workshops, and executive board briefings on AI security, ransomware kill chain analysis, and compliance as a competitive advantage. Speaking engagements book 2 to 3 months ahead for conferences and 3 to 4 weeks for smaller events; see the full CV for the complete list.
The track record behind the rate. Full detail in the curriculum vitae.
Six of 15+ published titles, including three Amazon #1 best-seller categories. Covers link to Amazon; the complete catalog is on the author page.
What attorneys, executives, and contractors ask before booking.
Scope your matter, check conflicts, and get a straight answer on the right engagement. Booking takes under a minute and every session is with Craig personally.
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