Ntrepid Webcast: Managed Attribution for Online Investigations
Webcast: Managed Attribution for Online Investigations
Hosted by: Ntrepid & Carahsoft
Event Date: March 31, 2020
In this webcast, Mitch Freddura, Program Manager of our Ntrepid Academy, walked through the fundamentals and best practices of managing your online attribution, defined the landscape of the clear and deep web, and covered useful online research techniques. The session wrapped up with a case study that demonstrates how these techniques can come together to create an online profile and operate across the clear and the deep web.
Abstract:
Law enforcement agencies face numerous challenges when conducting online investigations. While investigating criminals such as drug dealers, money launderers, or sex traffickers, they need unrestricted access to social media platforms, the dark web, and password-protected pages. But it is vital that these agencies have the proper protection to keep from exposure of undercover identities and sensitive information.
Ntrepid’s desktop solution, Nfusion, enables law enforcement officials to perform investigations without risking exposure. Nfusion provides a virtual and isolated platform for investigators to navigate the clear, deep, and dark web to collect valuable information about illicit activities. After the investigation, the evidence will be compiled and presented in a visual, interactive timeline.
Participants:
- Participated in discussions and examined real-world case studies
- Learned how to properly manage their online attribution to minimize risks and enhance investigative web opportunities
- Reviewed the fundamentals of open source (OSINT) research across social media platforms, the clear web, deep web, and dark web
A few highlights from the webcast:
Mitch covered the basic framework of managed attribution and outlined what factors make up your online attribution.
Your Online Attribution: The technical and behavioral indicators that you are communicating about yourself online.
- Digital Fingerprint – Who you are; technical indicators associated with your device
- Your IP address, operating system, browser, etc.
- Behavioral Footprint – What you do; behavioral indicators associated with your online activity
- The websites you visit, communications you make, content you created or engaged with, etc.
He later discussed that operating on social media platforms and other areas of the deep web provides many opportunities but also a substantial amount of risks.
Deep Web & Social Media
- Opportunities: social media is an information-rich environment that provides opportunities to passively collect information, create content, and engage with other users.
- Risks: Social media platforms continuously collect a lot of information about their users’ digital fingerprint and behavioral footprint to make decisions about whether or not the user’s account is authentic and if they are allowed to continue operating on the platform.
Mitch also reviewed the risks posed by cookies and online trackers and reviewed a few basic Boolean search operators that can help improve your online research.
Interested in learning these techniques? Watch the full webcast for more!
More from Ntrepid Academy:
Virtual Training for Telework Cyber Operations
We’re offering free weekly virtual training sessions from our experienced cyber analysts at the Ntrepid Academy. The Academy’s professional and discreet sessions concentrate on managed attribution fundamentals as well as workflows and capabilities using Nfusion, our secure, misattributed desktop, and Timestream, our collaborative investigation timeline platform. By the end of each course, your users will have the essential knowledge to operate effectively and securely in a remote setting.
