Article: August 2024
In this article, Dave Sampson (consultant at Altia), highlights the role technology can play in building confidence and trust with the public when it comes to sharing information with authorities. Drawing on his thirty years of work within Law Enforcement, Dave looks at how the gap can be bridged between digital data and privacy in investigations.
The world has changed. In the past, people used to place ads and lonely hearts in the back of newspapers. You could buy the paper, pay cash and leave no trail or identification. However, today’s world is digitally connected, with identifiers required to access platforms and exchange information.
Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources, by payment or otherwise. An interesting concept of harnessing the data others post in any format and from any location but capturing this open information in a manner and methodology that keeps the end users’ identity and location private.
What is the most effective way to access, collect, and compile this data? Is it better to harvest data in bulk through third-party applications that gather vast quantities of data to filter for relevant subjects, or to have the end users follow specific leads and collect relevant data as they progress? Both methods have their place and merits, but it is important to consider how the data is accessed and where it is being stored and managed.
The ability to remain anonymous, secure and compliant is key and should be considered a basic starting point. However, the identity of an alias account used to access relevant data needs to be equally recorded and known, not just to the end user but in any potential proceedings that follow. We all have the right to a private life; privacy is a right to keep personal matters free from public scrutiny or surveillance, while secrecy involves intentionally withholding information. So, the methodology to capture data needs also to be private but not secret.
Altia OSINT Investigator is such a platform. It will allow you to search and take a snapshot of data, that is both relevant and admissible. This action is performed in a user-driven method that facilitates being anonymous to the subject. Supported by the knowledge that Altia will map the architecture of how the data is captured, stored and accessed when it is needed.
In any investigation, there is a risk of exposing your identity or inadvertently informing an individual that they are under investigation by leaving a digital footprint. Expand this to an ongoing investigation of scale and the potential exposure is amplified. An investigator should consider how information captured is stored and accessed to have total confidence in the data integrity and collection process. Asking the right questions of software suppliers will instil confidence in the process and data life cycle.
Dave Sampson
Dave is a Consultant to Altia and an Associate Lecturer at Northumbria University as well as a specialist in delivering a due diligence service to several international companies through the analysis, capture and evaluation of open-source information to allow them to make informed threat intelligence assessments of relevant third parties.
This follows a 30-year service in Law Enforcement where he acted as a single point of contact for all matters Digital, Open source and Financial. He has developed analytical products to create a modular intelligence suite to address all law enforcement requirements for a complete end-to-end digital investigation both privately and publicly.
