Intelligence

Othrys brings together world class investigators and intelligence analysists drawn from renowned security ministries, intelligence agencies and police forces. We have an expert understanding of the use of technology and decades of intelligence and investigations knowhow and wisdom. As former senior leaders ourselves, we really understand the information needs of senior leaders, and we understand decision making and the management of risk. We also understand the need for complete discretion when required.

Ethics, values and legal compliance underpin everything we do.

We are engaged by an oil major who has dealings in the Middle East with a company that appears to be legitimate. Something doesn’t smell right. So, we are briefed to make sure that everything is squeaky clean. And thank goodness we are. The company has ongoing connections with a military group on the UN sanctions list, which would make the Oil Giant potentially complicit in contravening international sanctions. The deal is terminated immediately. The investigation takes just five days.

A Law firm asks us to do a routine check on senior partners. All straightforward, except for one particular case. We find one senior partner who has a series of bad property investments and as a result is in extreme debt, facing possible bankruptcy. Whether or not he or she will take a bribe to get themselves out of trouble is anyone’s guess. But armed with this knowledge, a potentially explosive situation is carefully managed and defused.

Onboarding a client in an accountancy firm is a little more complicated than simply looking at the parent company itself. In one case we find one of the subsidiary offices to be far less diligent about who they onboard – simply because they put turnover ahead of reputation. Cleaning this up by putting new disciplines in place protect both the Parent company’s integrity and keep all the subsidiaries in check.

An international consortium has been contracted to conduct a major oil clean-up programme in a remote and insecure region. Using OSINT, we provide detailed weekly threat and risk intelligence reports covering the region as a whole, routes in and out of the clean-up sites, and around the clean-up sites themselves, including immediate indicators and warnings as necessary. This allows the consortium security teams on the ground to manage risk more effectively and to enable the consortium to better understand the social environment they are operating within.

In particular, we are experts in analysing the entire spectrum of publicly accessible sources, including deep and dark webs and all forms of social media. This technique is called ‘Open Source Intelligence’ or OSINT as it is referred to.

The best OSINT, in our view, cannot be produced by technology alone, however smart the algorithms. Othrys has deep human OSINT expertise as our differentiator. This is coupled with an ability to find, assess and, when appropriate, add to our armoury, the best of emerging intelligence and information technologies.

Threat and risk analysis for companies and organisations operating in high risk areas

By searching, sifting and analysing all openly available information, in any language or format, we are producing detailed weekly and monthly intelligence reports, or individual spot reports, to help identify threats, to better manage risks, to provide alerts and warnings, and to seize opportunities – anywhere in the world.

Asset tracking and recovery reports

We work with law firms and insurance companies to help them identify and track down legally recoverable assets.

Due Diligence (DD) investigations

We offer a range of DD investigations to help companies, law firms, agencies, organisations and individuals de-risk important financial or legal decisions, or to make critical or sensitive leadership appointments.

Information reports for mergers and acquisitions

We have been surprised in the past by how little parties to a merger or acquisition know about each other. We produce discreet reports that help inform and de-risk strategic corporate decisions.

Online presence

Individuals and organisations often have little knowledge of how much information about them is freely available in open sources - or available for sale by criminals on the dark web. The email passwords of Chief Financial Officers are exchanged for hard cash on the dark web, as is compromising information about people of high worth. We help people understand, manage and secure their online profiles.

Capability and capacity building

We have found that many organisations that conduct their own research still rely on teams of junior or intern analysts, often with minimal training and using only basic search tools. Other organisations seek to acquire hugely expensive technology to supercede or replace their analysts. Othrys believes that true advantage sits between these two poles. For internal teams, we can train and equip analysts with the best open-source tools (tactical and strategic) and techniques, or we can offer you a managed service. We can also help you stay ahead of the technology curve, ensuring you are made aware of new and emerging capabilities as they become available.

What can we help you with?

We treat all enquiries with absolute discretion and without any implied commitment or obligation