What Investigators Need to Know about Hiding on the Internet: Proxies and VPNs

Criminal investigators and analysts need to understand how it is possible for people to conceal and obfuscate their identity and location on the Internet.  Two primary methods are through the use of proxies and virtual private networks (VPNs).  This ability to hide one’s identity and location on the Internet can be both a challenge and an opportunity.  Various methods of concealing identity and location, while engaged in activates on the Internet, provides an opportunity for investigators to engage in covert online research while also providing a means for criminals to engage in surreptitious communication in furtherance of nefarious activities.  As technologies, such as digital device fingerprinting, emerge as ways to attribute identity this becomes a topic about which every investigator and analyst must become familiar.

This Webinar will include an overview of how the Web was designed and functions.  A basic overview of IP fingerprinting, browser/software fingerprinting, and device fingerprinting will set the stage for a deeper dive into proxies and VPNs—two of the most common methods used both by criminals and criminal investigators to conceal their identities and locations while engaging in online social networking and online communication.

Presented by: Chuck Cohen, NW3C