Newsletter Archive

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A Possible Pandemic and a Certain Infodemic

As the world comes to terms with the public health and economic threat posed by SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, governments, organizations, and the general public are aggressively searching for knowledge in order to assess the risk and make decisions on the best course of action.  In an effort to get the necessary information, the vast majority are turning to any number of online sources.

Internet sources of news are immediate and they are abundant; they are also biased to varying degrees and depending on the source, possible carriers of misinformation and disinformation.  As information consumers, we are also biased in numerous and different ways, and this shows itself in how we research, the information sources we choose, and how we process what we find.

In the quest for timely and trustworthy information about the emerging health crisis, an additional challenge, the “Infodemic”, or as it is defined by the New Oxford English Dictionary, “a surfeit of information about a problem that is viewed as being a detriment to its solution”, is also emerging.

At TII, we believe that now more than ever, effective OSINT and Critical Thinking skills are absolutely essential, not just for identifying threats and assessing risks such as the ones we are now facing, but also for making the best possible decisions under often difficult circumstances.

To this end, we have been developing essential Critical Thinking curricula for all of our training programs over this past three years.  We are focusing not just on how to effectively find information online, but also how to properly think about what we are doing, how we are doing it, and what we are seeing as a result.

With regard to the emerging global health crisis, we have been providing relevant OSINT-powered “information triage” services to select clients so as to empower them to mitigate risk and make better decisions in uncertain times.

We have also been taking proactive measures to ensure the safe delivery of our training programs both remotely and in person, with Standard Operating Procedures now in place to ensure the safety of class attendees and our staff.

Further, and supported by our existing computer based training platforms and programs, we have been increasing the live delivery of our training curricula through various teleconferencing mechanisms to significant success.

In this newsletter, we continue with our series of Critical Thinking articles and delve into the issues around some of the factors that can psychologically limit us when processing information, drawing conclusions, and making decisions.

As always, we appreciate your feedback and invite you to contact us anytime at contact@toddington.com.

In This Issue

Welcome to our first newsletter of this new decade!

We are off to a busy start this year with our teams focused on curriculum development and the launch of a number of new online and classroom-based training courses in the coming months.

On January 30-31, we will be delivering our highly-acclaimed Social Media Intelligence & Online Investigations course in Vancouver, facilitated by TII’s resident Social Media Expert and Lead Intelligence Analyst, Julie Tillotson.  Registration will soon be closing and seats are limited, so be sure to sign up or reserve your seat as soon as possible if you wish to attend.

Over the past two years, we have been paying significant attention to the importance of essential Critical Thinking skills for investigators and analysts; in this edition of the newsletter, David Toddington and Julie Tillotson share their article, “Critical Thinking: What Can We Learn From House Hippos and a Tree Octopus.”

Often overlooked, yet essential for front-line practitioners and managers alike, you can learn about, and develop your critical thinking skills in our brand new Critical Thinking for Investigators course in Vancouver on March 23rd & 24th, or in Toronto on March 30th & 31st.  Click here to find out more and reserve your space.

In This Issue

Welcome to the October 2019 edition of TII’s Online Intelligence Newsletter.

With the autumn training season now in full swing, the TII team is working hard developing new curriculum with a view to launch new online and in-person courses in 2020.  We are pleased to advise that our much-anticipated online “Social Media Intelligence & Investigation” course will be available early in the new year.  Stay tuned for the next edition of the newsletter for a formal launch date.  In the meantime, sign up for the course waitlist here.

If you haven’t already done so, please check out our new Free Resources Knowledge Base here (formerly a premium service), with thousands of resources for online OSINT and research professionals, including industry-related Cheat Sheets.

Finally, in this edition of the newsletter, TII’s Kathy Macdonald shares an overview of her recently published cybercrime handbook for investigators, “Cybercrime: Awareness, Prevention, and Response.”

In This Issue

Welcome to the September 2019 edition of TII’s Online Intelligence Newsletter.  As we wistfully approach the end of summer, we are gearing up for a busy fall season ahead, with our team facilitating OSINT training courses in the UK, Australia, Singapore, and the US.  In addition to our international training, we will be in the Northwest Territories and  in Manitoba delivering specialized courses, in Cambridge presenting at the Ontario Association of College & University Security Administrators (OACUSA) fall meeting, and finally, in Vancouver and Toronto delivering our biannual “Advanced Internet Intelligence & Online Investigations” training.

We now have dates scheduled for the first public instalment of our anticipated “Critical Thinking for Investigators” training series.  A curriculum like no other, this sought-after course will provide the essential skills required to deconstruct problems, ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, and examine different viewpoints with greater clarity, with the aim of making better decisions more efficiently.

Some of you may have already noticed that our marketing team worked hard over the summer on a redesign of our website.  We are excited to unveil our brand new look at www.toddington.com.  We are even more excited to announce that our former Premium Resources Knowledge Base is now freely available here, with thousands of resources for online OSINT and research professionals.  Our popular Cheat Sheets have also been updated (including Facebook Search), along with some new additions.

Finally, we are pleased to advise that we are running a fall special on all of our e-learning courses.  A limited-time special price of $399 (CAD) is in effect September 18 – October 18, 2019.  To view our discounted e-learning courses, please visit https://www.toddington.com/osint-training/online-training.