Venue: Advantage House, Stowe Court, Stowe Street Lichfield WS13 6AQ

Digital devices and online communications are now commonly used as instruments for criminal activities. Due to exponential increase in use of social media, consenting to share our personal data and growth of mobile data, there is a wealth of intelligence available from online sources. This may be useful for internal or external investigations, screening, recovering stolen goods or other intelligence reconnaissance

Course details: A four day intensive open source practical course aimed at developing delegates’ skills in understanding the Internet, open sources & social media and how to effectively search them for information and intelligence for investigation & security purposes

Topics covered will include:

• Overview of today’s digital world, including what digital devices are capable of, such as geo-location, metadata, digital images etc and how they can leave a digital footprint

• Methods for recording & capturing data within an investigation

• Use of browsers and their purpose & use in open source investigations, including use of add-ons, plug-ins, bookmarks etc

• Exploration of basic & advanced techniques in the use of search engines

• Software tools for open source social media investigations

• Methods for investigating the main social media sites and social media apps

• Drilling down into Facebook and Twitter

• Safety & security - how to protect our identities whilst investigating online sources

• Ethics, safety, privacy and operational issues which may arise when undertaking online investigations

• Security and open source information

• Digital photographs within an investigation

• Use of usernames, email addresses and phone numbers within investigations

• Digital profiling, workflows and connecting intelligence artefacts within investigations

• Government-shared open source data and consented data

• Breached databases within investigations

• Websites & domains

• Linking individuals to home addresses

Class size: Class sizes are restricted to a maximum of 15 delegates per 4 day course.

Requirements: To partake in the course, all delegates must already be able to use a PC and web browser. A basic understanding of social media and smart phones would also be advantageous, but not essential.

Objective: To gain practical skills and knowledge to effectively carry out online investigations in a safe and structured manner.

Pre-course preparation: All delegates will be required to create an email account and some social media passive accounts prior to the event. Details for this will be provided before the course begins.

Facilities: Each delegate will be given the use of an Internet-connected PC for the duration of the course and they will be issued with electronic PDF copies of course materials. Lunch is provided, along with drinks at break times (please notify us beforehand of any special dietary needs). T

Cost: Cost per delegate is £1000 + VAT for 4 days

Contact: In event of query then contact +44 1283 762559 or email "mail [@] blackstage-forensics.co.uk "