Navid Sobbi — Founder & Chief Executive Officer, NSI Global

Navid Sobbi is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of NSI Global. He is an expert across digital forensics, technical surveillance countermeasures (TSCM) and geopolitical risk intelligence, has worked in the field since 2002, and founded the firm — originally National Surveillance and Intelligence — in 2004. He holds degrees in law, intelligence and international security, and is a court-recognised expert witness whose digital forensic evidence has been considered by Australian state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the NSW Court of Appeal, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, the Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

• Bachelor of Laws (LLB) – Charles Darwin University
• Master of International Security and Counterterrorism (majoring in Digital Forensics) – Macquarie University
• Master of Intelligence – Macquarie University
• Diploma of Security Risk Management, Government Fraud Control and Investigative Services – Australian Security Academy

Navid prepares expert forensic reports and gives expert evidence in Australian proceedings. His reports set out the evidence examined, the methodology applied, the limitations encountered, the findings reached and the basis for any opinions expressed — so that his work can be independently scrutinised and, where required, tested under cross-examination.

Peek v Wheatley [2025] NSWSC 554 and Wheatley v Peek [2025] NSWCA 265 (Supreme Court of NSW; NSW Court of Appeal). Navid acted as the joint court-appointed digital forensic expert, conducting a forensic examination of the deceased’s iPhone in a disputed informal will stored in the Notes application. He prepared an initial and a supplementary expert report and was cross-examined. His evidence concerning the note’s creation, metadata and integrity was undisputed and established that the note had not been altered — and on that basis the Court of Appeal ultimately admitted the digital note to probate as the deceased’s valid will. The judgment records his qualifications.

His broader forensic evidence has been considered across Australian courts, including:

Tan v Commissioner of the NSW Police [2012] NSWSC 1580 (Supreme Court of NSW). Navid forensically extracted mobile-phone data using Cellebrite UFED technology; his affidavit evidence and explanation of the extraction, decoding and reporting process informed the Court’s analysis of the distinction between raw digital evidence and customised forensic reports for the purposes of legal professional privilege. The matter also documents that NSI was conducting Cellebrite-based mobile forensic examinations as early as 2012.

Zou v Superway Pty Ltd [2021] FedCFamC2G 144 (Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia). Navid provided digital forensic affidavit evidence concerning the forensic authentication of photographs, videos and electronic messages.

Raine v Islam [2026] FCA 203 (Federal Court of Australia). Navid provided expert digital forensic evidence on the transmission and delivery path of emails relevant to substituted service of a creditor’s petition; the Court relied on his evidence in finding the email had been transmitted to the server hosting the recipient’s address, while recognising his appropriately stated limitation that the available information did not establish whether it entered the individual mailbox or was read.

His forensic evidence has also been considered by the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal — including in matters concerning the extraction of mobile-phone messaging data and the forensic accessibility of a secured device — where his work was accepted without adverse finding. (Habambo v The King [2023] NSWCCA 328; Mehajer v The King [2024] NSWCCA 226.)

Together these matters reflect a forensic evidentiary record spanning from 2012 to 2026, across the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Court of Criminal Appeal, Federal Court and Federal Circuit and Family Court — in civil, criminal and family jurisdictions.

Navid is a regular media commentator on intelligence, counterespionage, surveillance and digital forensics. Selected appearances:

• Asia Pacific Security Magazine — “Bug Sweeping with Navid Sobbi of National Surveillance and Intelligence” (26 September 2011).
• The Sydney Morning Herald — “The machine that can crack almost any phone” (18 December 2014).
• 9News / Nine — “Police reveal how they found missing Canberra teen” (16 September 2015).
• The Canberra Times — “Kathleen Bautista’s phone: how police were able to find the missing teenager.” (17 June 2019)
• Nine — “Australian phones could be at risk if Apple is forced to comply with a US court ruling” (February 2016).
• 7NEWS Sydney — “NSW Government begins counter-surveillance sweeps of ministerial offices” (video). (April 2020)
• Xinhua — “Petwrap ransomware virus has no “kill switch” or “weaknesses”: Australian Expert” (June 2017).
• Broadcast and commentary have also included 60 Minutes, Today Tonight, A Current Affair, ABC Radio and Sky Business News.

Consumer and lifestyle press:

• Domain — “Is your child’s teddy bear spying on you?” (16 October 2017).
• The Daily Telegraph — “Eastern and north shore suburb parents spend thousands to track their kids.” (9 October 2018)
• Daily Mail — “Rich parents in Sydney paying private investigators thousands to track teenage kids.” (9 October 2018)

Industry / product:

• BlackBerry SecuSUITE — secure communications partner network expansion in Asia-Pacific (2022), with NSI Global as a regional partner; reported across Channel Life, Cyber Daily, Investing News and CIO SEA (Economic Times). (16 November 2022)

We publish the sources so our claims can be independently checked:

• Published judgments referring to Navid’s forensic work (AustLII / NSW Caselaw):
  • Peek v Wheatley [2025] NSWSC 554
  • Wheatley v Peek [2025] NSWCA 265
  • Tan v Commissioner of the NSW Police [2012] NSWSC 1580
  • Zou v Superway Pty Ltd [2021] FedCFamC2G 144
  • Raine v Islam [2026] FCA 203
  • Habambo v The King [2023] NSWCCA 328
  • Mehajer v The King [2024] NSWCCA 226
• Co-authored chapter on Cyber Crime Applications in: Applications in Intelligence-Led Policing (ISBN 9781720476542)
• NSI Global Counter Intelligence Operations Pty Limited: ABN 87 643 802 742
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/navidsobbi