Course

Open Source Investigation – Foundational

The Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley School of Law and the Institute of International Criminal Investigations in The Hague have partnered to offer two comprehensive open source investigation courses focused on the investigation of violations of international criminal, humanitarian, and human rights law. Course participants are trained on the methodology of the Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations, the first professional standards and guidelines for digital investigations, consistent with the practices of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.  Both courses highlight the importance of ethics, resiliency, security, and legal compliance.

The “Foundational Open Source Investigation Course” provides the essential hands-on skills necessary for any form of high quality open source investigation. It is suitable for those with a limited existing knowledge or those who want to refresh or check their skills.

In this course, you will learn:

  1. How to develop an online investigation plan
  2. How to assess the digital landscape
  3. How to assess digital risks and threats
  4. How to conduct due diligence and select tools
  5. How to effectively search the surface and deep web
  6. How to search social media platforms and audio-visual content
  7. How to capture and preserve online content
  8. How to verify online content
  9. How to conduct a reverse image search for collection and verification purposes
  10. How to geolocate and chronolocate images and videos
  11. How to set up a secure workstation for anonymous online activities
  12. How to create a virtual identity for safe social media monitoring
  13. How to set up an online monitoring dashboard
  14. How to investigate with a sensitivity to ethical and legal considerations
  15. 15. How to present the findings of an open source investigation

Prerequisites: there are no required skills or prerequisites for this course, however, prior experience as an investigator, analyst, journalist or lawyer is preferred.

We had a colleague on mission from Geneva a while back, and when they found out I had completed the IICI investigators course they mentioned that it was the ‘gold standard’ of training and that more human rights officers needed to do it. Could not agree more.

Participant of the Scenes of War Crimes Course
I too feel honoured to have been part of such a valuable training event and gained a wealth of knowledge from all of your expertise in a variety of areas

Student of the Analysis skills Course
The course was definitely an extraordinary experience.

Student of the course International Investigator