During this first module, students will be introduced to the
concept of Open Source Intelligence and why it is an increasingly powerful
methodology for financial investigators. Students will learn how to use search engines efficiently,
how to build search algorithms that deliver relevant information rapidly, and
how to use ‘enforced term operators’ to further refine search results.
Using real-life cases, students will also learn the methodology of structured
search, and will also be introduced to the Deep Web.

During this second module, students will be introduced to the
concept the intelligence cycle and the importance of the OSINT process
in
structured searching. The creation of a research plan and having a
clear,
concise manner in which to manage the content captured are key
foundations to
an effective investigation, and will be highlighted throughout this module. 
Students will
also be introduced to techniques of source and identity verification, and a case
study will be used to demonstrate planning and content management techniques. As
financial investigators increasingly need to search for information from
foreign
jurisdictions in languages they do not understand, translation tools
will be introduced in this module. Various internet protocols will be
investigated and students will be shown how to conduct
reverse IP address and whois lookups. Finally, the “robot exclusion protocol” will be
explained
and students will be shown how to use the Internet Archive within the
structure of
the module’s case study.

During this third module, the recent changes in North
American and European legislation regarding financial crime will be set out, and
the implications for corporates and senior executives will be explained. The
module then focusses on three specific types of investigations that corporates
and financial service companies will need to carry out. Students will be shown
how to investigate corporate ownership structures to uncover the ultimate
beneficial owners; they will learn how to investigate the family and associate
structures of Politically Exposed Persons (PEP’s); and finally, how to conduct an
enhanced due diligence investigation that meets with current corporate needs. As financial institutions are now required to monitor PEPs and higher risk clients on an ongoing
basis, and can no-longer rely solely on third-party systems, we will introduce students to a couple of key commercial real-time monitoring platforms and will explain how to
put together a real-time monitoring system. Finally, for financial institutions and asset managers, a key issue that often needs to be resolved is
tracking an individual’s “sources of wealth”; we will guide students through this
process.

This final module will introduce the student to the concept of “amber flags,” explaining how to capture early warning signals of a potential
risk, before that risk explodes and becomes a full “red flag.” A key source of
early warning tends to be the world’s investigative journalists. We will introduce
students to the key sites that these journalists use and also show how to set
up a real-time monitoring system, as well as to how to locate and verify
expert sources. In this module, students will also be taught various advanced skills
around investigation and security, including: email tracing, the use and management of RSS
feeds, browser security, web server log files, proxy servers, and anonymous web
searching. Further, we will set out a framework and checklist for
financial investigators to use; provide lists of specialized databases and
relevant online resources; introduce the more useful specialist groups that
exist on LinkedIn; and finally, provide a guide to the more useful foreign language
sites that investigators tend to need.