What is a Deep Report?
The Deep Report is an overview of the internet activities of a person or company. We recommend ordering the Deep Report when you are looking to find and confirm a subject’s social media and public presence online. The report delivers an organized sampling of relevant data specific to your case needs or interests.
Our team of human analysts use proprietary technology to research and confirm relevant public data across nearly 600 social media and open-source platforms with at least three instances of personal identifiers, including the subject’s public records, social media, and web results. Each applicable result is embedded with source code, and can be used to support evidentiary procedures and brought into your preferred e-discovery database. The research begins with the Subject and is expanded to secondary and tertiary searches to include relatives, friends, coworkers, and other associates, and is downloadable as a PDF, CSV, or JSON.
What is included in a Deep Report?
Our standard Deep Report includes landing pages to confirmed social media profiles and a sampling of scope-related results. You provide the scope of the search when you place the order. When a scope asks for “general social media” or “all social media” our team will provide only the landing pages of social media and open-source results for both confirmed and unconfirmed profiles. When a scope asks for specific findings such as images of drugs or alcohol, our analysts will capture a sampling of these posts for inclusion in the report. When scope-related content is found several times on a platform, a sampling of as many as 5 pieces of content will be included in the report.
If a more exhaustive set of results or a more inclusive sampling is needed, please contact our customer service team to discuss your specific research needs to develop a customized project at support@smiaware.com or call 888-299-9921.
What is NOT included in a Deep Report?
Our standard Deep Report provides landing pages to confirmed social media profiles and a sampling of scope-related results. Deep Reports, however, do not include:
- An Export of a single URL or profile page (see What is an Export?)
- Video downloads
- More than 5 repeated scope-related findings
When should I request a Custom Report?
Custom reports are useful in specific use cases when the standard Deep Report is not inclusive enough for your research needs. Examples include:
- Results that tag a person or company across specific social media channels
- Results that mention a specific topic or event across specific social media channels
- Results that include more than the standard sampling of scope-related findings and/or more than 5 findings of repeated scope-related findings.
- Results that include expanded comments, metadata charts, or other specific reporting not included in our standard Deep Report
- Downloaded videos from a profile
We recommend requesting a Custom Report when you are looking to gather specific information that goes beyond a sampling of confirmed social media and a public presence online.
What is an Export?
The Export is a visual capture of content from a single social media profile or target URL and delivered in a PDF format. We recommend ordering an Export to preserve an individual profile or target URL that has already been found and contains relevant information to discovery. The Export contains source code in HTML format for defensibility, and is hashed accordingly to maintain a digital chain of custody. The source code serves as a replica of the page or post as it appeared at the time of capture. When viewed as a PDF, the Export provides an organized, dynamic report that can easily be reviewed or searched by your team.
What is a Research Bundle?
The Research Bundle combines the Deep Report and up to three Exports. The top three social media platform results will be automatically exported by our analyst team according to your scope. Additional Exports can be added to your order for a fee. Although rare, if the results of our search do not yield results for Exports, we will refund this portion of your purchase.
Why should I get the Research Bundle?
Requesting a Research Bundle when you place the order allows the analyst to preserve key findings or material of interest at the time of discovery. This reduces the risk that the subject will change privacy settings or delete content or accounts as your case progresses, which limits your ability to use this data later on.
What if I choose a Research Bundle, and there are not any Exports to collect? Do I still get charged?
If the analyst does not locate key findings appropriate for Export (i.e. unconfirmed results, profiles, or private profiles), then we will refund that portion of your purchase.
How do I download my Deep Report?
Navigate to https://app.smiaware.com and login using your email and password. Using the hamburger menu at the top left of the screen, select “Deep Reports.” A list of your most recent orders will appear on the screen. Using the “Search Table” tool on the right, enter the Order ID or name of the subject and click Enter. Click on the Order ID in blue on the screen. Select “View Report” in the blue box in the top right corner of the screen. Select the file type you wish to download: PDF, CSV, or JSON. Your report will appear in a new tab. Select the arrow at the top right to download the report to your computer or data storage platform of your choosing.
How do I download my Export?
Navigate to https://app.smiaware.com and login using your email and password. Using the hamburger menu at the top left of the screen, select “Exports.” A list of your most recent Export orders will appear on the screen. Using the “Search Table” tool on the right, enter the Order ID and click ‘Enter’. Click on the Order ID in blue on the screen. Select “View Report” in the top right corner in the blue box. Your report will appear in a new tab as a PDF. Select the arrow at the top right to download the report to your computer or data storage platform of your choosing.
Why is the scope I provide important?
The Scope defines the length and the depth of the investigation and helps our analysts target relevant results for your specific research needs. The more information provided up front, the more detailed and tailored our search can be.
When a scope states “general social media search” or “all social media” our analysts will include only the landing pages of social media and open-source results for both confirmed and unconfirmed pages.
What type of information should I provide in a scope?
We recommend sharing any information about the subject or case in your scope. This includes but is not limited to the type of case, names of products, companies, and keywords of interest. Our analysts use this information to tailor their research and limit generalized results.
You will have an opportunity to add additional information like relevant dates or timelines, relatives or friends associated with the case, employment history, alias names, and more, after providing an initial scope.
What type of information should I provide in the “Is there anything else we should know?” field?
After submitting the required fields for report generation: your subject’s name, a scope for our search, and a claim or matter number, you will have an opportunity to provide additional details to our team to help us define and narrow our search. While not required, these fields provide an opportunity to communicate with our team about your specific request and would be best suited to hold any further insight or information you may have on the specific subject or case at hand.
Additional information that can be provided includes relevant dates of timelines, relatives or friends associated with the case, employment history, and alias names.
Here is an example of a well-defined scope statement:
The subject was a passenger in a car crash on November 28, 2023. As a result, she was in the hospital for over one month. Please evaluate the subject’s current physical condition, collect information about lifestyle or environmental factors impacting recovery, drug or alcohol use, medical history, and personal sentiments about the case or injury.
Our customer support team is here to help you develop a scope that helps find the information of value to you and your particular use case. To speak with our team contact us at support@smiaware.com or call 888-299-9921.
Here is an example of a well-defined scope statement:
The subject was a passenger in a car crash on November 28, 2023. As a result, she was in the hospital for over one month. Please evaluate the subject’s current physical condition, collect information about lifestyle or environmental factors impacting recovery, drug or alcohol use, medical history, and personal sentiments about the case or injury.
Our customer support team is here to help you develop a scope that helps find the information of value to you and your particular use case. To speak with our team contact us at support@smiaware.com or call 888-299-9921.
If a profile is private, can you export it?
Our analysts will capture the landing page of a private profile within the context of a Deep Report. This verifies that the profile exists, which can be used in a more formal discovery process that mandates the content be made available in court.
If a profile uses privacy settings that prevent our analysts from viewing a subject’s content, then we cannot access or export the data on that profile. Our analysts will not interact with or “hack” into private areas of the web for information collection.
Alternatively, SMI Aware also offers monitoring services for an additional fee. Oftentimes, privacy settings on social media accounts change over time. By using our monitoring service, our analysts will check the target URL for changes at an interval approved by you and capture the content if it becomes publicly available. To learn more about our monitoring services or being a monitoring project, please contact our customer support team at support@smiaware.com or by calling 888-299-9921.
What is source code and is it part of every result?
Source code is the HTML coded hash that corresponds with a specific webpage. The hash indicates information about how the page is designed and contains information about the content on the page at the time it is captured. Unlike screenshots, this hash is used to protect the integrity of the information at the time of capture and preserves the digital chain of custody.
Most results contain source code, however, a few do not. Results that do NOT contain source code are results like uploaded documents/records, client-provided documents, previewed documents within the browser like previewed PDFs, and historical news articles that are archived.
If a profile is deleted can you retrieve it and export it?
All social media platforms allow for static content to be deleted at any time. Some content, like reels, is designed to disappear automatically after a period of time.
Deleted content cannot be captured or retrieved. Deletion is a permanent action and cannot be reversed. Capturing content before it’s deleted is crucial, which is why we recommend involving SMI Aware early in the discovery process.
Should I provide the social security number?
No, SMI Aware does not use Social Security Numbers as part of any investigation.
What files should I attach?
Recommended files to attach to a request are as follows:
- Any other reports or content that provides the analyst with context or details about the investigation
- Any report or other 3rd party data
- Claim or case details
- Known images of the subject
How do I share my order with other members of my firm?
Sharing reports with your team is easy using our Collaborators Feature. You can utilize this feature when submitting your report or after the report has been released. At the end of the order information page along the right side of the screen, you can add collaborators by entering an email address. Once added, collaborators will receive an email notification with a link to view the report. There are no limits to the number of collaborators you can add to your report.
What is an alias account, and how do you find them?
An alias account is a social media account that uses a name or handle that is not related to or associated with the subject’s legal name or other social media handles or names. Alias accounts can be used to conceal a person’s identity and makes it challenging to associate and confirm the profile with the subject of a search.
Our team looks for and successfully finds alias accounts using several search methods:
- Searching for cross tagging to other known social media platforms or profiles (i.e. connecting a known Instagram account to an alias TikTok account).
- Searching through associates (relatives, coworkers, or friends) who may allude to the real identity of an alias account.
- Looking for overlapping personally identifying information on known profiles that can be matched to alias profiles. Information could include phone numbers, emails, date of birth, or physical appearance.
Despite these efforts, alias profiles are still a challenge to find, verify, and collect. In every open-source search, there is the possibility that an alias account exists and is not found.
What is Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT)?
Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the practice of legally collecting and analyzing information from public online sources such as news, social media, public databases, and websites, to answer specific questions, make decisions, or gain insights.
SMI Aware specializes in researching, gathering, and preserving data from open-sources, especially social media. The information we collect from public online sources provides valuable insights to a myriad of use cases especially legal, compliance, background screening, and investigations.
Are there any limitations that come with social media and open-source research and data collection?
Open-source data is publicly available data. Public data is volatile and the places where it can be found are in a constant state of improvement and change. Our team can only find and collect publicly available information from social media and the web.
Private and deleted content is not discoverable using open-source discovery methods. We can often locate the landing page of a private profile, but not the private content on that page. Examples of this include the landing page of a private Instagram account or the landing page of a Venmo account. In both of these cases, we cannot see or collect posts or transactional history as the content is considered to be closed-source or private. Our analysts do not connect or interact with the subject of a search to gain access to private content.
Information hidden behind paywalls or blocked from view based on privacy policies are also not included in open-source research. Examples of this include accessing an article from a newspaper online blocked by a paywall or searching for and downloading judicial records in certain states or locations depending on laws and availability. For more information about what we can and cannot access for your specific research needs, please get in touch with our customer service team at support@smiaware.com or call 888-299-9921 to speak with our team.
When it comes to capturing the landing page of a private profile, it’s a good way to indicate that a profile does, in fact, exist. With this landing page, legal teams can include this profile as part of their formal discovery requests.
Our technology is regularly evaluated and updated to meet the growing and changing landscape of open-source intelligence. Our team of analysts armed with our technology and a repeatable process, are provided with innovative techniques and tools to mitigate these limitations as best as possible, too.