Digital trail analysis service helps charities screen staff & partners
Melanie May | 25 October 2018 | News
A new intelligence service is offering to help charities better protect their reputation, prevent fraud and reduce the risk of insider threats by screening their new staff or partners through an analysis of their digital trail.
The Neotas service goes beyond standard background checks to give deeper insights into an individual’s character, behaviour and networks, and is carried out by analysts with the individual’s consent.
The intelligence platform interrogates only publicly available information, of which only 5% is available via search engines according to Neotas. Sources include social media, press coverage, government, legal and subscription records from around the world, and illegal or encrypted sites on the ‘dark web’. Risk factors are presented in dashboards and reports, split into red, amber and green findings.
According to Neotas, the results show that in almost a third of all cases (32%) traditional checks fail to raise ‘flags’ – including significant risk factors such as evidence of drug abuse, football-related violence, abusive behaviour, extremist views or links to criminal networks or terrorist organisations. In some cases, it has found individuals have been reported to Crimestoppers, the Serious Fraud Office and Prevent.
Ian Howard, co-founder of Neotas, said:
“Organisations are only as secure as their people. Traditional screening and background checks can only ever skim the surface. In the digital era, there is a wealth of information openly available that can help to protect organisations from threats posed by employees or partners. At Neotas, we do just this, building an extra layer of security on top of existing due diligence processes.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.