Internet investigators play a unique role in today's cyber marketplace: they track down people who are attacking both corporate and personal clients that are being victimized in a variety of ways on the internet.
Probably the best way to understand what these investigators do is to provide an example of a cyber detective case and discuss at the top level what gets done and why. Obviously, we won't divulge all the trade secrets of internet investigators but rather provide a general overview of the services they provide to the internet community.
One very common case seen is when a business is getting attacked by a person, or another business. All too often, this attack is actually perpetrated by a competitor posing as an unhappy client. The attacker, working behind the protection of anonymous user names and passwords, starts posting fake reviews in multiple blogs, forums, ripoff sites, etc. with one purpose in mind: casting doubt into the mind of future customers of their victim. If they can cast doubt in that customer's mind, then they can potentially get their business instead.
While you might not think this is harmful, in fact it can be quite devastating. In our experience, most of the calls from victim companies are almost panicked in nature because a VERY HIGH percentage of clients will check out their reputation online before doing business with them. In the course of just a few minutes, a competitor can destroy the reputation of a company build carefully over 20 years.
When the victim business calls the internet investigator in this circumstance, it is usually to accomplish three things:
– Positively, and legally identify the attacker;
– Stop the attacks from continuing; and then
– Help clean up the aftermath of the attacks
But the standard technique for most attackers is to hide their actual identity. This is done by using emails providers like Gmail, posting anonymously on blogs and forums, and using proxies to mask their true IP address. At this point, most IT professionals and legal counsel throw up their hands and give up.
However, this is the point where the professional internet investigator begins their work. Using a series of highly specialized techniques, their job is to uncover the true IP address of the individual, their true identity, and quite often their physical location. Depending upon the exact nature of the case, then this information is compiled and either turned over to the client or their legal counsel.
