2nd Edition

Cybervetting Internet Searches for Vetting, Investigations, and Open-Source Intelligence, Second Edition

By Edward J. Appel Copyright 2015
    322 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

     

    Researching an individual’s, firm’s or brand’s online presence has become standard practice for many employers, investigators, and intelligence officers, including law enforcement. Countless companies and organizations are implementing their own policies, procedures, and practices for Internet investigations, cybervetting, and intelligence. Cybervetting: Internet Searches for Vetting, Investigations, and Open-Source Intelligence, Second Edition examines our society’s growing dependence on networked systems, exploring how individuals, businesses, and governments have embraced the Internet, including social networking for communications and transactions. It presents two previously unpublished studies of the effectiveness of cybervetting, and provides best practices for ethical cybervetting, advocating strengthened online security.

    Relevant to investigators, researchers, legal and policy professionals, educators, law enforcement, intelligence, and other practitioners, this book establishes the core skills, applicable techniques, and suitable guidelines to greatly enhance their practices. The book includes the outcomes of recent legal cases relating to discoverable information on social media that have established guidelines for using the Internet in vetting, investigations, and open-source intelligence. It outlines new tools and tactics, and indicates what is and isn’t admissible under current laws. It also highlights current cybervetting methods, provides legal frameworks for Internet searching as part of investigations, and describes how to effectively integrate cybervetting into an existing screening procedure.

    What’s New in the Second Edition:

    • Presents and analyzes results of two recent studies of the effectiveness of cybervetting
    • Updates key litigation trends, investigative advances, HR practices, policy considerations, social networking, and Web 2.0 searching
    • Includes the latest tactics and guidelines for cybervetting
    • Covers policy, legal issues, professional methodology, and the operational techniques of cybervetting
    • Provides a strengthened rationale, legal foundation, and procedures for successful cybervetting
    • Contains compelling evidence that trends in legal, policy, and procedural developments argue for early adoption of cybervetting
    • Presents new strategies and methodologies

    Cybervetting: Internet Searches for Vetting, Investigations, and Open-Source Intelligence, Second Edition is a relevant and timely resource well suited to businesses, government, non-profits, and academia looking to formulate effective Internet search strategies, methodologies, policies, and procedures for their practices or organizations.

    Section I Behavior and Technology

    The Internet’s Potential for Investigators and Intelligence Officers

    Introduction

    Growth of Internet Use

    A Practitioner’s Perspective

    The Search

    Internet Posts and the People They Profile

    Finding the Needles

    The Need for Speed

    Sufficiency of Searches

    Notes

    Behavior Online

    Internet Use Growth

    Evolution of Internet Uses

    Physical World, Virtual Activities

    Connections and Disconnecting

    Notes

    Use and Abuse: Crime and Misbehavior Online

    Introduction

    By the Numbers?

    Online Venues

    Digital Delinquency

    "Free" Intellectual Property

    The Insider

    Misbehavior Online

    Notes

    Internet Search Studies

    Introduction

    Academic Study

    Study Summary

    iNameCheck Cybervetting Case Study

    Notes

    Implications for the Enterprise

    Introduction

    The New User: Someone You Would Trust?

    Employer Liability

    Vetting, Monitoring, and Accountability

    The Evolving Personnel Security Model

    Notes

    Section II Legal and Policy Context

    Liability, Privacy, and Management Issues

    Liability for Service Providers

    Liability for Employers

    Accountability for Employees

    Notes

    Laws

    Introduction

    Constitutional Rights

    Statutes

    Federal Statutes

    State Statutes

    Federal Rules of Evidence and Computer Records

    International Treaties and Standards

    US Legislative Proposals

    Notes

    Litigation

    Introduction

    Internet Search Litigation

    Anonymity

    Expectation of Privacy

    Due Process

    Libel/Defamation

    Invasion of Privacy Torts

    Sanctions for Public Postings

    Internet Privacy for the Twenty-First Century

    Admissibility of Electronically Generated and Stored Evidence

    Trends and Legal Challenges to Investigative Searching

    Notes

    International and Domestic Principles

    US and International Privacy Principles

    Government Standards

    Parallel Guidance: Internet Research Ethics

    Notes

    Professional Standards and the Internet

    Introduction

    ASIS Standards

    National Association of Professional Background Screeners

    Association of Internet Researchers

    Librarians

    Inside and Outside the Workplace

    Reputational Risk, Public Affairs

    Bottom Line

    Notes

    The Insider Threat

    Introduction

    Benevolent Big Brother

    Notes

    Section III Framework for Internet Searching

    Internet Vetting and Open-Source

    Intelligence Policy

    Introduction

    Legal and Ethical Limitations

    Policy

    Information Assets Protection

    Notes

    Tools, Techniques, and Training

    Introduction

    Training Analysts

    Open-Source Intelligence Process

    Quality Control

    Notes

    Proper Procedures for Internet Searching

    Introduction

    Criteria

    Security

    Standard Methodology

    Notes

    Section IV Internet Search Methodology

    Preparation and Planning

    Introduction

    The Library

    Scope Notes

    Notes

    Search Techniques

    Introduction

    Internet Content

    The Browser

    The Search Engine

    Metasearch Engines

    Finding Search Engines

    Search Terms

    Social and Commercial Searching

    Social Networking Sites

    E-Commerce

    Sites

    Directories

    Blogs

    Chat

    Notes

    Finding Sources

    Introduction

    US Government

    State, County, and Local Governments

    Other Government-Related

    Sources

    Business-Related

    Sources

    News

    Web 2.0

    Looking Up Subscribers

    E-Mail

    Commercial Database Providers

    Notes

    Automation of Searching

    Introduction

    Why Automate Searching?

    Enterprise Search Middleware

    Best-in-Class Desktop Tool

    Investigative Search Tool Requirements

    A Homegrown Solution

    Reducing Analytical Time Using Automation

    Caching and Data Mining

    The Human Interface in Internet Investigations

    Notes

    Internet Intelligence Reporting

    Introduction

    Records

    Content

    Analyst’s Comments

    Organization and Formatting

    Source Citations

    Attribution

    Verification

    Notes

    Illicit Websites and Illegal Behavior Online

    Introduction

    Cybercrime

    Child Pornography and Internet Porn

    Unauthorized Use of Computer Systems

    Contraband Digital Assets

    Information (Cyber) Warfare

    Notes

    Model Cybervetting Investigative Guidelines

    Introduction

    Enterprise Strategy

    Model Internet Search Guidelines

    Authorized Internet Search (Cybervetting) Personnel

    Definitions to Consider

    Notes

    A Model Internet Investigation Policy

    Introduction

    Key Considerations

    Higher-Risk Candidates

    Application Procedures and Forms

    Legal Issues

    Confidentiality

    Ethics in Investigations

    Disciplinary Action

    Model Forms for Candidates

    Notes

    A Model Internet Posting Policy

    Note

    Internet Intelligence Issues

    Introduction

    Privacy

    Smoking Guns

    Completeness of Internet Searching

    Adjudication

    Conclusion

    Notes

    Index

    Biography

    Edward J. (Ed) Appel, Sr., is owner-principal of iNameCheck, a boutique private investigative, consulting, and training firm. He is a retired FBI special agent and executive, specializing in counterintelligence and terrorism, and served as the director of counterintelligence and security programs at the National Security Council and the White House. Appel has written numerous government-sponsored classified and unclassified counterintelligence and counterterrorism studies, lectures, and papers. Ed is a graduate of Georgetown University, the Defense Language Institute, and the National Cryptologic School, and taught at the FBI Academy and as visiting lecturer at such institutions as Carnegie-Mellon, MIT Lincoln Labs, Georgetown University, and Johns Hopkins University.

    "[Cybervetting: Internet Searches for Vetting, Investigations, and Open-Source Intelligence] offers solid resources, original research, and recent case law, so even seasoned investigators will gain useful nuggets of knowledge. Heavy annotation and comprehensive indexing make this book highly searchable, providing not just a good initial read but also a go-to reference." - Drew Neckar, ASIS Healthcare Security Council