Overview
The 2-Day Open Source Intelligence Training™ class followed by the 2-Day Undercover Operations & HUMINT class, delivered consecutively at the same venue.
Course outline
- Protecting your identity, online activity and sensitive data while conducting OSINT investigations.
- Foundational and advanced search strategies for accurate, efficient and defensible research.
- Practical use of mapping tools and geolocation methods to validate locations, movements and spatial data.
- Techniques for locating individuals across global data sources beyond standard search engines.
- Accessing and analyzing foreign public records, registries and government data sources.
- Searching social networks, blogs, forums and alternative platforms for investigative intelligence.
- Leveraging social media for attribution, behavioral analysis, network mapping and verification.
- Utilizing global business search engines, corporate registries and commercial data resources.
- Identifying and exploiting specialized databases and industry-specific information sources.
- Core tools, browser extensions and resources to enhance investigative efficiency and capability.
- A cover identity is more than a fake name — it is the foundation of survival. The rigorous methodology behind legend development: backstops, documentation and narrative consistency, and finding the vulnerabilities in your own cover before someone else does.
- Success in HUMINT relies on the ability to connect. The approach — mastering the difference between cold and hot target engagement; the hook — leveraging emotions and psychological triggers to build instant rapport; and elicitation — the subtle art of gathering information without raising suspicion.
- Fieldwork requires a heightened state of awareness. Self-preservation and digital hygiene: managing digital footprints and counter-surveillance, de-escalation tactics for managing conflict and maintaining cover under duress, and real-world case studies on the fine line between operational success and failure.
- Theory is tested through action. The course culminates in live, scenario-based field exercises: participants step out of the classroom to execute their legends in real-world environments — gathering intelligence, maintaining security and reporting findings under strict time constraints.
What you will learn
- An investigative mindset that transforms how information is identified, analyzed and connected
- Identity protection techniques for conducting discreet and covert research
- Targeted search strategies that produce faster, more accurate due-diligence results
- Discovery of hidden data, including financial and non-obvious information sources
- Use of social networks and online platforms as investigative tools
- Advanced business intelligence research for deeper corporate and entity analysis
- KYC and KYCC methodologies using open-source intelligence
- Open-source vulnerability assessments to identify risk and exposure
- Network and device security best practices to safeguard sensitive information
- Legend development: backstops, documentation and narrative consistency
- Cold and hot approaches to target engagement
- Building instant rapport through emotional and psychological hooks
- Elicitation — gathering information without raising suspicion
- Managing digital footprints and counter-surveillance
- De-escalation tactics for maintaining cover under duress
After this class you can
- Direct searches to get results fast
- Find information you would expect to be confidential
- Use social networks and media as an investigative tool
- Dive deep for business information
- Protect your identity while searching; maneuver covertly
- Conduct vulnerability assessments using open sources
- Prepare for executive protection operations
- Move from understanding the intelligence cycle in theory to executing it in a live environment
- Construct and maintain a cover identity under real operational pressure
- Complete a final performance assessment during the closing debrief
Who should attend
- Licensed private investigators
- Active & retired law enforcement
- Attorneys & paralegals
- Intelligence analysts & information specialists
- CPAs & financial intelligence units (FIUs)
- Background screening agencies
- Security specialists & teams
- Forensics examiners
- Financial industry professionals
- Sales & marketing
- HR directors
- Office managers
Scheduled dates
- Ft. Lauderdale, FLNovember 5–8, 2026
- Washington, DCDates to be announced
Instructor
Sandra Stibbards — Owner & President, Camelot Investigations · Lead OSINT Instructor
Owner and President of Camelot Investigations, founded 2 January 1996, and a California licensed private investigator (#PI18099). Her specialties are financial fraud, competitive intelligence, counterintelligence, corporate espionage, physical penetration tests, online vulnerability assessments, brand protection and anti-counterfeiting, due diligence, internet investigations, and social engineering and elicitation. She has worked cases on five continents for Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, airlines, pharmaceutical companies, law firms and multiple three-letter agencies.
Zvonimir Cvetko Damnjanović — CEO, Next Sight · Undercover Operations & HUMINT Instructor
Zvonimir Cvetko Damnjanović is the CEO of Next Sight in Europe and the United States, Director of the IVSR — Institute for Security and Strategic Research, and Head of the International and Intelligence Unit in Detective and Security Agency. His professional work focuses on innovation in security solutions, strategic project management, corporate security, OSINT, big data, data analytics and the integration of AI into investigations. He has over 15 years of experience as a criminal investigator, where he navigated high-stakes environments and orchestrated complex investigations, including covert investigative measures, online undercover operations, cybercrime, secure communication methods and penetration testing. Since 2014 he has worked on cybercrime, cyber fraud, sexual exploitation of children, clear web and dark web investigations, and international cybercrime cases in cooperation with law enforcement agencies around the world.