In the world of online dating and social media, romance scams have become alarmingly common. These skilled scammers are professionals at emotional exploitation. They manipulate their victims into sharing personal information, sending money or even committing crimes. They often use dating apps or social media platforms to identify victims and build trust over time before striking, and the financial and emotional damage they cause can be devastating. Knowing how to recognize their overtures is key to avoiding them.

We investigators and security professionals are often tasked with finding the who, what, when, where and why when it comes to persons of interest. Whether it’s a subject under surveillance, subject of an asset search or non-compete investigation, potential threat actor, or someone we have one chance at interviewing, the where is often one of the hardest to ascertain.

Since 1987, Rick Moranis’ Dark Helmet, the lesser evil Darth Vader character in the Star Wars parody Spaceballs, has reminded viewers of the importance of choosing a good password (or luggage lock combination). World Password Day seems like a good day to revisit his bemused indignation in this cult classic. As investigators that frequently deal with delicate information from clients, personal identifiable information (PII) of subjects, financial data and other sensitive information it’s important that we safeguard that information to the best of our abilities.

Artificial intelligence - particularly OpenAI’s ChatGPT software - has been the subject of much discussion lately and for good reason. Advancements in AI over the past 20 years have led to technology that was once the province of science fiction now being available to the masses.

In the investigations world what are the implications and risks associated with ChatGPT and other AI implementations?

Am I nosy or am I just an investigator? When I notice an interesting piece of information or catch a glimpse of something out of the ordinary my brain can’t help but go into overdrive and want to figure out the whole story. 

As Cybersecurity Awareness Month comes to a close, I can’t help but feel like this situation was presented to me by some cyber deity to provide a real world case study on what not to do to protect your privacy and security, and to serve as a reminder to practice good cybersecurity hygiene both in and out of the office.