Our weekly hack for those in the field doing the work & digging up critical intel.
The ability to uncover information on the internet is the primary skill of an online investigator. There are hundreds of thousands of surface, deep, and dark websites, but which are most pertinent to your unique case? Do you know how to utilize Google to its full potential? With new social media platforms coming online at a rapid pace, capturing leads and evidence in social media networks is more complex than ever. Do you know the latest tools of the trade?
Hg’s OSINT Tips of the week provides you with the latest intel how to be most effective in our tradecraft. We are always looking for new tools, so don’t hesitate to let us know if you have one you’d like reviewed in a future post!
Enjoy!
This week, we provide a list of useful healthcare resources.
HEALTHCARE: docfinder.docboard.org/docfinder.html
Keep DocFinder, a useful search tool, handy when investigating a physician or health care provider. The Administrators in Medicine’s DocFinder launched in 1996 as the first and only physician directory search engine. The website contains information on the licensing background and disciplinary actions of health care providers from those states that practice. In addition, Doc Finder includes physician profile information from states that have passed physician profile laws. When using this tool, you can search by a specific state by name, license number, or town, or do a combined name search for all states on the Doc Finder server. This easily accessible tool gives accurate legal or medical advice for investigations or the general public.
HEALTHCARE: docinfo.org
The Federation of State Medical Boards of the U.S. (FSMB) has a that allows you to look up a doctor’s name in a specific state and verify her/his credentials. A user can determine where a physician went to medical school, where a physician is licensed, and whether a physician has been disciplined by a licensing board. The FSMB represents 70 state medical regulatory boards. This is a trusted and valuable source for anyone conducting a background investigation on a physician or investigating a physician who may be fraudulent.
PHARMA: Cafepharma.com
Cafepharma.com is a site catered to pharmaceutical sales representatives. It maintains a job center, webinars, a news feed, and other industry-specific services. For investigators, the online pharmaceutical boards can be a hotbed of information: Sales representatives and drug manufacturers can trade secrets, rumors, and other intelligence anonymously. Boards include The Darkened Sample Closet, Ask a Whistleblower Attorney, Cafe Pharma Playground, among others.
Have an OSINT tip for us? Contact us, and we will consider reviewing it in future posts!
Hg OSINT TRAINING OPPORTUNITY: Open Source Intelligence—Start to Finish, an OSMOSIS Primer Webinar Series, 360 minutes, 6 CEUs
Designed as an online investigation’s primer, this series provides the basics of open source intelligence gathering to those entering the field. With three days of content, the field investigator will complete the 360 minutes of training with the tools needed to conduct open source intelligence investigations.
What to Expect:
Learn the types, differences, and jargon of open source investigations; learn how to in-take an online case, understand the parameters of the work, establish goals, and create investigative notes C.Y.A. (Cover Your Analysts!); learn best practices on how to use a computer and the resources available on the Internet and social media; understand when to use the Surface, Deep, or Dark Web to locate your information; understand documentation procedures for creating sharp and understandable reports; and learn the fundamentals of conducting online investigations ethically.
