Bugs and Viruses Galore

This month has brought us the mad scramble to deal with the Heartbleed bug. Many fingers were pointed at Governments and agencies about poor security, and largely the finger pointing was accurately placed.

But what about the risk of open source? It is still problematic to try and use open source tools like SSL, but it is not overly more risky than big name closed ecosystems, MS and Adobe, for example. The problem though can be markedly more difficult however in terms of detection and implementation of a fix. The open source concept is great at rapid development and a true uniqueness which can only be developed in a free form environment, but it is also this environment which can keep developers from focussing on the end product, testing and retesting to find problems and satisfy a client. Not so bad for Mom's flower shop, but a very bad thing for the Canadian Revenue Agency and other similar organizations as we've seen.

Protection of these types of systems remains of vital national importance and open source cannot be risked in these cases. A closed, secure and easy to update and patch system is the best bet for secure sites, or if open source is the only option, then a dedicated in house programmer corps must be set in place to test and develop a unique flavour for a given organization to ensure protections are in place, and not just cyber-crime monitors, which are useless in situations such as this where internal alarms are not able to respond to these problems.

That being said, there was a fairly good reaction to Heartbleed once detected with a fairly rapid deployment of fixes. There will undoubtedly be blowback over the next few months as internal security agencies and companies start to reveal the extent of damage from Heartbleed. Anyone suspecting they were impacted should take the time to report their information to the standard credit agencies, banks and police. For the general populace, a change up of sensitive passwords should be looked at, particularly tax agency, banking and medical sites with prime identification information.

Starting next month, we will be looking at some of the more practical sides of investigations, and will expand on the actual experiences of private investigations, mixed in with some tips for private individuals and companies to look at. We hope you'll join us!

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Fraud Month

Well, we're about half way through Fraud Awareness Month and there has been an overall excellent effort to raise awareness around the world, both for and against frauds!

Law enforcement and media here in Canada have been diligently promoting common fraud types which has definitely been great to raise awareness for those most at risk, particularly seniors, who are often targeted due to isolation, resources and sometimes impairment.

Fraudsters on the other hand seem to have also stepped up some activity, with major increases this month in online phishing and scam campaigns, toppling a major BitCoin trader and the spring onslaught of door to door scams kicking off.

Despite this, and the ever present efforts of fraudsters to part victims from their money, there exists more resources than ever to help raise the awareness level of individuals, business and government to the threats posed by fraudsters, not just financially but for non-financial frauds as well.

The best message coming out this month so far, and as always, is to help those at risk understand the threats out there. This can be as simple as telling the next person you meet about the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center or point them to the RCMP Scams and Fraud page. It also pays to remember that it is not just the elderly who are targeted, as many professionals and business have come under increased attack from more sophisticated scams than the classic Nigerian variety, meaning that general staff needs to be aware of the ever present landscape of the world of frauds, as the weakest link is going to be an eventual target.

As the months comes closer to the end, it is also a great idea to remember to keep up the efforts of awareness throughout the year as the fraudsters do not pack things up once the month ends.

If you find yourself a victim of a scam, or suspect something is wrong, contact your local police to file a complaint. Often, a third party investigation must be completed before the police can take action, which requires the assistance of an accountant or private investigator, sometimes both depending on the nature of the scam. If in doubt, contact a local PI to see what can be done in your situation.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Industry Standards

Something near and dear to us here at Elemental Solutions are industry standards for PI's, not only here in balmy Ottawa, Canada (of course I jest in the midst of one of the worst winters in recent memory), but around the world.

There has been a large push to bring PIs in line with other professional industries, particularly considering the ever increasing sensitivity to privacy issues and can be seen in most countries really beginning to take hold.

Canada, like may nations, benefits from a national requirement for privacy issues, allowing for fairly uniform standards between the provinces, which hold ultimate jurisdiction. Other countries, such as the US, operate on a state by state basis, which requires an understanding of each state's views on privacy and the industry to known how the laws and standards may apply to the industry.

The pushes all around the world are still largely in their infancies, focussing on bringing licensing out to the profession and basic levels of training and liability. These changes are also having the benefit seen in most industries when licensing and common practices are instituted, that of a reduction in unskilled and unethical businesses operating in the environment.

There are some in the industry who continue to resist the changes coming to the industry, and for those agencies, I would say that their time is rapidly coming to a close. Increasing liability issues in the face of breaches of privacy are on the move, a reduction in tolerance for obtaining black market information for cases is becoming more evident and the existence of an ever increasing well informed client base will lead to these agencies adapting or dying.

These changes are ultimately a boon to clients who need to know that their PI agency of choice has met some basic standards. It also benefits the investigations industry when sub-contracting out work across jurisdictions by ensuring that a potential contractor can be counted on to conduct themselves in a certain manner. It also ensures that our industry is kept in the highest esteem of the communities in which we serve, allowing our client bases to thrive.

If you want to learn more about the private investigator regulations in your jurisdiction, do a search fro your state, provincial or national level private investigator associations. They will be able to discuss the standards to which your local PIs are held, as well as how to ensure you are dealing with a licensed PI.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Credit Scores

Lately, I've been seeing a large number of credit score ads on TV where they try and convince people that they need regular and up to date info on their credit scores. This bugs me.

The credit score system, for good or bad, is set up with a variety of things geared for the most part to determine an individual's or organization's credit trustworthiness when determining whether or not to grant credit, and at what rates. They also have a few bonus features that not all people are aware of. First is that it holds a collection of your credit histories, including where you have made purchases, what your holdings are in a given country and your spending habits. They also have all of your primary identification listings, which can be used to copy an identity perfectly.

Now the big credit companies, Transunion and Equifax in Canada, and again fro good or bad, have a fair amount of scrutiny on the security of the data they hold, which is about as complete a picture as you can paint on most people. Which brings us to where I am heading.

The free credit score companies are actually data aggregators, otherwise known as data mining companies. What they do is obtain whatever info they can possibly assemble on individuals and sell the data off to advertisers, insurers and anyone else who is looking for a certain level of data...of which there are many. By requesting a score from these companies, people are granting access to these companies for their complete credit profiles. What's worse, is that these companies have significantly less oversight than the actual credit companies, and a data breach would result in significant risk of identity theft for anyone who has data stored with them. It gets even more problematic, as these data miners sell of your data to even other organizations, leading to a greater loss of control over the security of your personal information.

The worst part is that free credit scores can be requested, usually for free once per year by the major credit agencies in most countries.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Threat Risk Assessments-Factors for Consideration

Threat Risk Assessments (TRAs) come in a wide variety of flavours. They can be general or specific, focussing on a limited location or range of activities.

Considering the variation, one would expect a wide range of factors which should be considered in a discussion of TRAs, and you are largely right. There is however, a fairly stable list of prime factors which should be considered for most general TRAs.

Many of the primary factors which should be considered in a general TRA should include the following:

• Information Management - Files, garbage management, access controls and authorizations
• IT Networks - All electronic communications and data storage capabilities. These are often a separate TRA within the overall TRA due to the size of this file
• Moral Considerations - Perceptions, codes of conduct public relations and employee interactions all play a role here
• Personnel - This is affected by things like labour issues, training, turn-over and criminality
• Market/Industry Factors - This includes the general methods of the industry, and the vulnerability your organization can face from your colleagues and competitors in a modern environment
• Physical Threats (Mobile) - These include fleets and mobile structures, as well as leased or rented movable infrastructure 
• Physical Threats (Fixed) - This includes all fixed and semi-permanent structures and fixtures

This is not an exhaustive list, but it does serve to illustrate a few of the more important considerations you should be looking for in your completed TRA. Contact a local security provider to find out more.

Blogging by Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, a private investigations agency serving Ottawa, Canada and the surrounding area. 

Employee Screening

Employee screening is often misunderstood. People think that running a quick search of credentials through the normal hiring process is sufficient for all hires, despite the fact that most research finds that the majority of resumes and CVs contain falsities from minor to major.

The normal process of checking references on some of your potential hires is the thing that is relied on by potential hires who are fabricating their past. Even HR staff normally will go only so far as to ask a couple of questions to a "former employer" who may have nothing to do with actually ever having been the boss of someone.

While the lighter end of screening is not always a major concern, such as a Mc-Job hire, conducting the same level of scrutiny for professional organizations (which is what is occurring) can expose a company to many potential issues when hiring if the person is not legit. Poor performance, lack of training, mental health issues, criminality and opening up your organization to litigation are among the many risks associated to a bad choice in a hire.

A private investigator can help out with screening programs for sensitive personnel, particularly management and sensitive positions requiring specific knowledge. This includes things like executive hiring, scientific and technical trades, financial services and special access personnel, including things like night shift cleaners who often have free access to a building's interior while unsupervised.

Having a PI augment your internal HR services can be a relatively low cost option to running an internal program as it can be focussed on specific hires deemed at risk to fraudulent hires and allows you to not spend money on a full time in house investigator. Give a local PI a call to see how their screening services can help you.

Postings provided by Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton

New Year Outlook

Well, its good to be back from the Christmas and New Year's holidays. We're a little late getting to our New Year's outlook on the coming year, but to be honest, entime off was well deserved. With that in mind, we want to highlight a few things we see as being large or continued stories in 2014 in the world of privacy, investigations and security. Let's see what will shape the landscape on those topics in the coming year:

• Snowden will continue to make waves as the government tries to reign him in. He is holding on to enough juicy tidbits to keep this ball rolling throughout the year. Importantly, the big internet companies will see more action in court as they try and distance themselves from the appearance of being in cahoots with the NSA, and may out out some new encryption standards which have been developed without the special sauce provided by the NSA. 
• Also related to Snowden, look to more operators offering "secure" online interactions. While interesting at the start, they will also lead to a greater level of attacks and sophistication in exploiting perceived protections. Think of Snapchat and Lavabit for those who know.
• On the security front as a whole, we will continue to see the sad march to automation and new standards designed to save mid-level managers the discomfort of taking 4 seconds to secure information. Federal Govenment et al, will see more major blunders as a result.
• On the economy, a stronger economic footing will allow us to enjoy reduced employee based crime as wages and stability help calm the masses. That being said, on the fraud front, managers will be granted relaxed fiscal controls, which will inevitably lead to something about hands and cookie jars. Also on this front, better economic conditions usually also lead to lessened rates of family violence and drug abuse. 
• The investigations industry on the whole in Canada will strengthen we think. This will be due to economic factors which will allow business to tackle problems requiring outside help and the easing of purse strings will help outside of Canada. The push in jurisdicitons such as the UK and the US will also continue towards more regulation of the industry in terms of licencing and basic standards, which should be good news for local investigators and those of us trying to  contract investigators in those countries for assistance with cases elsewhere.

That about does it for our outlook. We definitely are looking forward to 2014 and the new and exciting challenges it will bring. We wish all a happy and prosperous new year!

Blogging provided by Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, a Canadian Private investigations and security consulting agency.

Info Management

There has been a shift in the info management (IM) of business and organizations in the last few years to become a function of (either superior to or subordinate to) the IT side of things. Indeed, the creation of IM Managers and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) is the new sexy in hiring.

Unfortunately, this has taken a significant bite out of security managers and executives power, and in fact has left them holding the less sexy physical security bag, which has become woefully neglected.

The biggest problem with creating a second and third avenue of security responsibility in an organization is that it creates a fragmented approach where each department (2-3 of them) each try and secure their respective castles, with often only a thread of connectivity in the form of a corporate security policy which was likely not created to effectively coordinate separate departments.

The next biggest problem is that major resources tend to go to the sexy side (IT/IM), and the scraps are left to physical. This means that on top of the IT and IM folks likely enjoying the attention of the executive suite more than the physical guy, they also get the bulk of funds and resources and ignore the significant role physical lapses can result in which make IT and IM irrelevant.

Case in point. Super strong network security and a perfectly synchronized access plan (which never occurs by the way) will be easily outmanoeuvred by someone picking through the garbage, talking to staff after work or digging up some dirt and doing an old fashioned intelligence recruitment.

There has to be more to the IM and IT planning than just having strong capabilities in network security and managed information flows. The old fashioned approach of physical security should be the driving force still in the current security model, as things haven't actually changed, even though the pedlars of these systems may claim otherwise.

The most effective security model then is one which is drawn up by one sole security source (usually being the physical security guy), which then incorporates how information will be managed from physical to electronic and back to physical mediums. This will ensure unity of effort, reduced costs in terms of security staff, better understanding of the overall security picture by personnel and a more effective plan overall.

Blog courtesy of Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, which is a security and investigations agency in Ottawa, Canada. They are located on the web at www.elementalpi.ca 

Security Surveys

Security Surveys are a handy tool to assess the effectiveness of a security plan/system.

Contrary to some perceptions, security needs to be continuously reviewed and adapted to the changing environment, or else it risks becoming out of date and irrelevant.

The security survey should always be performed by a neutral third party, which ensures that corporate group think and egos stay out of the way of properly assessing the effectiveness of your security. The survey will look at things like current practices, how they are understood and are being followed by staff, technology changes, attitudes to the organization, threats to the industry and any other factor which could conceivably impact the security of your organization or operation.

This will allow managers and executives to look at the various weak points in a security plan and determine whether or not they will mitigate the issue or deal with it head on. It will also help assign resources to more effective areas, which can ease resource demands and even save some cash.

The security survey should be performed yearly for security sensitive organizations, and every 3-5 years for other organizations to keep them effective. These should be paired to the Threat Risk Assessments for your organization as well to give the most effective and comprehensive security picture of your organization to keep your staff and assets as secure as possible.

Blog content provided by Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, which is a security and investigations agency operating out of Edmonton Canada.

Threat Risk Assessments

Threat Risk Assessments (TRAs) are a well known function in the security world, but often confused in the real world. Largely, I see TRAs associated to IT functions and information management (IM), and not a part of the whole security ecosystem of a business or organization.

This is unfortunate and is largely representative of the sad state of security planning as the TRA should overarch the IT/IM segment of a business and force it to conform to the security plan of the larger organization, rather than be treated as a separate issue.

The TRA is an analysis of the threats faced by an organization or business. This looks at all threats and threat vectors, including online, physical, financial, legal, etc. It then makes a determination of the likelihood of occurring given the current state of the world and the current security capabilities of the client organization. Lastly, it makes an assessment of the degree of harm to the organization should an attack occur.

Essentially, a TRA will allow you to understand what you should be most concerned about which will allow you to use security resources to their best potential, which has the added benefit of saving you money. How? Well, when you go direct to a security company, they will inevitably want to sell you the cadillac of security services. Nothing wrong with that and it is expected, but without actually knowing about your security threats and your own footing, you may buy the Cadillac when you only need the Hyundai and a little knowledge of how to mitigate your threats.

Many individuals offer TRA services, and you should always look to obtain the TRA from someone who is not aligned with the security systems provider. This will ensure you are getting the best information on what you need to protect before you look at the shiny gadgets to buy at a premium.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Insurance Fraud

Insurance fraud hurts us all is the sad refrain of insurance companies and while most people tend to view these companies as organizations which are largely unworthy of sympathy, it really does hit everyone in the pocket book, and not just the big insurance companies in the form of higher premiums and stricter guidelines.

Insurance fraud really exists everywhere insurance itself exists, after all, one usually needs to prove only harm or loss and they can get a cheque cut to them. The fraud types are varied across these spectrums, from the slip scam in the grocery store, to the rear end scam where someone is goaded into running into the rear of another car, to the workers insurance scam where a false claim of workplace injury is presented.

These examples are but a tiny tip of the iceberg, but they show the prevalence of them as we all know exactly how these scams work, yet they still persist and remain effective ways of scamming the system.

Largely it is the insurance company which will launch an investigation as it balances the need to find out what happened with the costs of litigation or settling. This is happening a bit more now days as the previous policies of settling rather than fighting claims in court has largely failed as the claims were not only paid out, but encouraged scammers to put in more claims as they knew they would not be challenged. Private individuals and companies have also begun doing their own investigations as well though, as organizations such as workers compensation, which are often government run or managed tend to be overloaded with cases and cannot respond effectively to all claims needing investigation.

When this occurs, Private Investigators (PIs) have always been the go to folks to look into these scams and present evidence as to the actual state of the individual making claims. Surveillance, history and interviews all come into the investigative process to give the interested parties the information needed to assess whether or not a false claim has been made, then pursue it in court.

Call a local PI today to find out what kind of services they can provide you!

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Identity Theft

With increased collection of online data, coupled with ever increasing interactions by individuals online, the potential for identity theft has also increased. These new interactions and data storage make it easier to obtain someone else's personal information, and more importantly, allow for rapid deployment of damaging methods across a wide spectrum with the added benefit of making it much more difficult to prosecute an issue.

In the old days, identity theft still occurred, however basic logical issues such as location, physical presence and direct human monitoring made it more difficult for someone to get away with something for long, and simple data manipulation was not sufficient alone to fool safeguards. For example, if you were a senior citizen and went into a bank to get a mortgage, the banker would expect to see a senior citizen in the correct town or city, asking for things generally in line with expectations. If something seemed off, added scrutiny would kick in.

Nowadays, the theft of personal information and the automation of many things makes the theft and quick exploitation of that data child's play by comparison. The most common form of identity theft is based on financial theft, where the data is used to either exploit existing financing such as credit cards, lines of credit and bank accounts, or to establish new forms of credit , relying on general good credit to obtain what can be created. These schemes are set up to run across international boundaries, making the tracing of material to make arrests that much more difficult. They are also set up to scoop up large amounts of info, use them for their intended purpose of extracting whatever real money possible, then dumping the identity for the next, maximizing profit while minimizing risk.

The other popular form of identity theft (albeit a distant second in terms of usage), is the targeted form of identity theft. This form can be significantly more damaging to an individual as malice is the motivating factor as opposed to financial gain. This type of identity theft can also focus not just on financial (and often ignores financial completely), but will focus on social and online interactions to discredit an individual's reputation and relationships.

Tracing identity theft can be a complex and expensive affair. Law enforcement may be able to conduct an investigation, but due to limited resources, they will normally only be able to look into severe or referred cases without investigation ahead of time. This is where a private investigator can come in and provide consulting assistance, and conduct the investigation to usually stop, and in some cases bring down those responsible. Give a local PI a call to see how they can help out!

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Elderly Welfare

Taking care of our parents when they age and require assistance is a great responsibility, which comes with all sorts of difficulties. Sharing the workload with other family, paying a commercial facility or using Government resources to help care for parents are a few of the main issues. Add to this degrading cognitive abilities and you begin to appreciate how hard it can be to take care of your parents in their twilight years.

Sometimes, adding to these normal difficulties, comes the added burden of abuse, physically and mentally, as well as a high instance of fraud and theft.

These problems are normally associated to family members as the most common perpetrators of abuse and theft of the elderly, as it is with children as well. Sadly, many families do not realize the abuse until it is too late, either due to the perpetrator having trusted access to the parent, or by refusing to see the signs of abuse. The parent conversely cannot speak up, either due to mental or physical disability or due to fear instilled by the caretaker committing these crimes.

Additionally, we see increased victimization at care facilities, where caseworkers see opportunity and use it to steal goods, or use abusive measures in perverted means to discipline the patients. New in the news but not reality, is the increasing focus on patient on patient violence which can occur in situations with dementia patients which can cause great harm to loved ones who are supposed to be safe in the confines of the care facility.

These cases can be difficult to initiate, particularly as the investigation will undoubtedly focus on the family at some point, but the process itself is usually solvable in a relatively short period once the investigation has commenced, providing you with the evidence needed to pursue litigation or criminal actions.

Call a local private investigator to see how they can help, or just to bounce some ideas off of them on your best course of action.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Surveillance Investigations

Surveillance investigations are one of the most effective means of establishing fact. Most other methods can be subject to error, but when something is seen and documented by an investigator, it becomes hard to refute evidence when conducted properly.

While surveillance and private investigators tends to conjure up images of a PI in a car waiting for a couple to leave a hotel on their way back to their respective spouses, the reality is that surveillance is useful in a wide variety of case types. Some of these include competitive intelligence, counter-intelligence, harassment, vandalism, fraud and employee misconduct issues.

Hiring a surveillance investigator should be fairly simple as surveillance is ultimately a basic investigator skill, however you should always look out for false claims as surveillance is very much an art and not a science, meaning that there are many variables which impact the success of a surveillance, and chief among those variables is that you are waiting for a subject to act in a specific manner, which Murphy's Law dictates won't happen right away once the subject is observed.

Despite the unpredictable nature of surveillance, it remains one of the most powerful tools in a PI's toolbox. Contact a local PI to ask how they can help you!

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Social Media Privacy

As times goes by, the big (and small) social media sites tend to upgrade this or that and inevitably change the privacy settings you forgot how to set.

Usually they will give out some press release, but for the noon-0nerds out there who don't get the tech blog info, they tend to miss it.

It should be a general monthly chore to go and check your privacy settings, but people are busy and let's face it, we like to think once we have set something, we can forget about it.

That being said, if you're reading this, then it's a good time to remind you about some of the more recent changes:

• Google has decided to implement a new system in which your +1's and Google+ endorsements can now be publicly used to help advertise certain products. While not really new in the free to use business model, it can be a shock to people who were not aware their info would be used in this way. If it is a shock and you want to adjust these settings, take a look at this blog to find out how you can limit this -  http://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-google-shared-ads,news-17690.html 
• Facebook has also made some new changes, namely the unhiding of people from it's new graph search function. This is great news for a private investigator (as I am), but not so great for everyone else. The thing here is that there is no way to adjust this setting. Add to this, Facebook indicates now that they are unblocking the ability for youth to share with others, meaning that their indiscretions may yet haunt them down the road. The best thing here is to educate yourself and kids about what is appropriate and not on Facebook. If you can't beat 'em, at least limit what they can get.
• Final point here is for those living in Canada, Bell has decided it will now use your browsing data to sell targeted ads to you. This is a pretty gross violation that hopefully hits the courts soon or gets shut down by privacy heads. As opposed to others who do this, like Google, you can't escape the grip of your internet service provider (ISP), who can see everything you do (for Google and others, you can simply use a service that does not take your data and sell it). An ISP getting into this is pretty major and should be fought at all levels, so feel free to contact your local MP and let your voice be heard.

Thats it for this week. As always, take precautions on all you do online and limit what you and those you know post about you to keep things as private as you can.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Parental Abduction

Parental abduction cases are traumatic events for obvious reasons. This occurs when one parent takes a child away from the other, sometimes in the midst or after a divorce and child custody decision, sometimes at other times. Although in some cases the abduction is in the abducting parent's mind altruistic, it is nevertheless illegal and needs to be settled ultimately through law enforcement and legal remedy.

While abductions within the parent/child home country is usually sorted out easily once the parent/child have been located, traditionally in the past, once the abducting parent has crossed a border (or more), the recovery process becomes very difficult.

This have gotten better though, as the UN and signatory countries have enabled the recovery process to be eased significantly on most locations, enabling local law enforcement and courts to hasten transfer back to the home country quickly for legal proceedings there.

The trick still remains location. While law enforcement should be the first stop in an abduction case, the more complex the movement, the more difficult it is for local law enforcement to keep up the hunt in a quick and manoeuvrable fashion. Private investigators can help out significantly in cases like this as they are significantly less bogged down by jurisdiction issues and can deploy rapidly to a host country or city and begin the leg work, sometimes with local support when the laws require, and can keep immediate pressure on the abducting parent. Once found, they can advise local and home country law enforcement and maintain surveillance until contact by law enforcement is made.

If you are involved in a situation like this, contact a local PI after you have notified police to see how they can help out and what advice they can provide.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Recent Corporate Spying

Here in Canada, and specifically Ottawa, two events serve well to warn off the public sector about the effects of corporate espionage, and to hammer home the concept that corporate espionage does in fact occur on the large scale, and the work can often be split between public and private bodies to execute.

The first report came from the Department of National Defence report leaking out indicating that there were concerns over the potential presence of eavesdropping devices on the former Nortel campus. While it is amazing that a defence security/intelligence organization failed to consider this before dropping a cool billion on a real estate transaction, the real bit goes to show that while Ottawa is only an average sized city globally, it is a hub of hi-tech business, and as such has a heavy amount of corporate espionage. That the Nortel campus had been bugged is not so new, but knowing the extent of the penetration is really an interesting story on the capabilities and the devastating effects of corporate espionage, as this was one of the main factors contributing to the downfall of the former tech giant.

The other story is the Communications Security Establishment of Canada getting its hand caught in the Brazilian mining cookie jar after further Snowden leaks revealed the Canadian spy agency was prying into mining and energy sector information from Brazil. Again, this should not (I hope) be news, as many advanced countries take part in healthy spying campaigns, even on their allies. This means that France spies on the US, we spy on the Brazilians and the Americans spy on the Germans. It is normal business. However there exists a belief, particularly in newer companies, that the first world and allied countries are super duper friendly and would never seek to advance their own corporate capabilities and R&D. This is naïve and all corporations should make sure they incorporate at least some thought towards how they manage their info and counter-measures to mitigate the damage which can occur in the face of international corporate espionage.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Physical Due Diligence

Anytime an organization, business or individual needs to make an acquisition, merger or partnership, the main thing that needs to be conducted is a due diligence check. In plain speak, this is doing what you can to ensure that what you are being told or led to believe is actually what you are getting.

While this is required by law for major corporate moves, it is largely only so in terms of financial due diligence, which involves accountants going over the books to ensure that the financial health of an organization has been accurately disclosed to the interested party.

What is not as well known or enforced, is the physical , or real world side of due diligence which can have major implications when not conducted.

A physical due diligence investigation involves real world checking of facts and holdings, which can exist on paper but not in fact. The on paper disclosures must be checked against reality as financial papers can be simply created, and when done well, can evade the financial due diligence process.

What a Private Investigator can provide in the conduct of a physical due diligence investigation includes the following:

• Check labour practices and obligations
• Confirm environmental standards
• Verify the existence and effectiveness of businesses and alliances
• Assess business reputation
• Identify the involvement of criminal elements
• Identify and confirm stockpiles of product and resources, including those moving
• Conduct background checks on important personnel and assess conflicts of interest

A PI can help identify these and many other aspects of interest to a prospective move and should be brought in to work in concert with the financial aspect of the due diligence process. Give a local PI a call to see how they can help!

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Scam Seasons Are A Changin'

With the end of summer coming up and fall and winter rearing their heads, there is the inevitable change in tactics of the door to door and local scammer. The cooling of the season, the return of kids to school (particularly those going away to college) and big family holidays coming up present a different opportunity from those present in the warmer months. Let's look at a few of the anticipated scams we will see getting an uptick in the coming months:

• The Grandparent scam - While always present, the return of kids to school away from home adds credibility to this scam where the fraudster will call an elderly person and pretend to be a grandchild who got into trouble while away at college and is too embarrassed to call home. Seeking a fat payout, these scammers will usually look to get a few thousand out of a particular victim before moving on to the next.
• Charity Scams - As seen whenever there is a natural disaster, these cretins seek to take advantage of the giving spirit normally associated to the coming Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. These usually come disguised as real charities and can be door to door or online/telephone enabled. Either way, they target a large number of relatively small hits, but will gladly take a larger donation where available.
• The furnace upgrade scam - While the insufferable hot water heater/water filtration scams start to wane, they return in another form, seeking to gain entry to your home while presenting themselves (or at least heavily alluding to the fact) that they come from a utility or city department out of concern for your home. at one end, the scammer is looking to assess your home for a future break in while at the other end they are trying to peddle some overpriced equipment you don't need and lock you into a punishing contract.
• Lastly are increases in parking lot muggings and assistance scams. While the muggings are straightforward and common during the heavy shopping seasons, there is also a large upswing in "benevolent helpers" who will identify things you dropped to get close to you to swipe your keys or take a more valuable package while you are distracted. This is actually a new style of pickpocketing which requires you to view the individual in a positive light while they distract you to obtain your goods.

As with all scams, it pays to be attentive while moving with goods from the store to your car and ask plenty of questions when being solicited, even from family members if there is any doubt as to their identity. Also, ensure to help family members at risk (such as the elderly) are aware of scams which target them specifically to help all enjoy the coming season a bit more.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca

Information Leak Testing

Information leaks have long been the bane of companies, particularly for hi-tech and consumer products. Indeed, one only has to look at some high profile product releases to see how profitable the business of leaking information can be, as people scramble to obtain any kind of leaked info to blog about.

In addition to the geek tech bloggers though, are the competitors who are keenly listening to hints about a competitors upcoming product releases and strategic outlooks so as to take mitigating measures or find a way to fast track development of their own products.

These leaks occur in a number of ways, and unfortunately, exist largely outside of the context of your normal security plan for your business. Enthusiastic product fans, paid informants and accidental reveals of information which can be assembled to discover the intent of a company, bypassing all active measures to cloak activity through security programs.

The most effective way to deal with information leaks is to set up a strong information management program. this will enable a company to track sources of leaks if they do occur, but also allow for the careful release of information to only those who need it.

When leaks do occur, particularly in large companies with massive manufacturing and distribution channels, a penetration test can be performed to assess where leaks are coming from and indicate where future measures should be focussed to minimize the leak in the future. This can help indicate if it is a bad employee, evidence of infiltration by a corporate spy or poor resource management or press release activity which is allowing competitors from accessing your secrets.

While penetration tests are well understood for IT departments, they tend to be overlooked in the physical world, where leaks are far more common, damaging and more difficult to locate.

A skilled private investigator can help determine where the leaks are coming from and help develop a strategy for dealing with these leaks, allowing for future mitigation and cessation of leaks from a given area.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca