When most people think about transnational criminal organizations, they picture secretive networks operating entirely in the shadows.

The reality is often not that. 

TCO’s actually rely on the same digital tools that legitimate businesses use every day. 

For example, fentanyl distributors have been observed advertising products online, while human smuggling networks use social media to promote services and connect with potential customers. Investigators have also uncovered online communities where participants share violent ideologies, discuss transportation routes, and in some cases coordinate attacks.

That means investigators can often learn a great deal about how these organizations operate by paying attention to the digital footprint they leave behind.

Looking For Patterns

A major challenge in TCO investigations is that investigators are often trying to understand the broader criminal network behind a series of activities rather than solving a single crime.

A seizure, an arrest, or a suspicious transaction is just one piece of a much larger operation. What they really need to understand are the patterns of people, relationships, and infrastructure that make that operation possible.

That can be difficult when information is spread across a massive amount of disparate data.

A phone number found during a search warrant may not seem important until it appears somewhere else. An online account that looks unrelated today may become relevant months later when new information comes to light. Investigators are constantly working to determine whether separate pieces of information are actually connected.

Understanding Relationships

One of the most useful aspects of OSINT is its ability to provide visibility into relationships.

In cartel investigations, for example, social media activity has helped expose connections between associates, facilitators, and individuals who might not otherwise appear connected. Sometimes those relationships are obvious. Other times they emerge only after investigators begin comparing information from multiple sources.

The value isn't necessarily found in a single post, photograph, or account.

It's found in the pattern.

Over time, those patterns can help investigators better understand how a network is organized, who appears to play a central role, and where additional investigative effort should be focused.

How to Quickly Find Threats on the Open-Source Internet

Finding relevant information online is more difficult than it sounds. Criminal organizations don't operate from a single website or social media account. They use different names, different platforms, and different people to carry out different parts of an operation. Even when information is publicly available, it can be incredibly difficult to find if you don't know where to look.

Fivecast is an AI-powered OSINT platform that we’ve seen help investigators quickly discover accounts, pages, channels, and online activity associated with a person or organization of interest. Finding this information manually can take a considerable amount of time. Even the most advanced AI tools often struggle because criminal organizations intentionally make themselves difficult to find.

Once that information is collected, the next challenge is figuring out what actually matters.

Data collected through Fivecast can be imported into TimePilot and analyzed alongside the rest of your case. Instead of spending hours manually reviewing online activity, investigators can ask questions about the data and quickly understand who is connected to whom, what relationships may be relevant, and where they should focus next.

Fivecast helps investigators find the information. TimePilot helps them make sense of it.

Learn More: Fivecast + TimePilot Upcoming Webinar 

To explore these challenges in greater detail, Tranquility AI, Fivecast, and Carahsoft are hosting a webinar focused on today's national security landscape and how investigators can use AI-powered OSINT to disrupt evolving threats.

Join Tranquility AI Founder and CEO Jim Penrose (former NSA Technical Director for Counterterrorism), alongside Joshua Skule, former FBI Executive Assistant Director for Intelligence and Fivecast's Brittany Mason for a complimentary webinar exploring today's threat environment. 

The session will conclude with a live demonstration showcasing how Fivecast and TimePilot work together to help investigators collect, analyze, and understand large volumes of OSINT data faster.

Register on Carahsoft's website here.

Author Biography 

Jim Penrose, Founder & CEO at Tranquility AI

Jim Penrose is one of the nation’s leading experts on counterterrorism, criminal investigations, and OSINT. He is the Founder & CEO of Tranquility AI, a technology company dedicated to enhancing criminal justice investigations through innovative solutions that increase speed, accuracy, and actionability.

Jim’s previous experience includes 17 years of service at the NSA, with 6 years at the rank of Defense Intelligence Senior Level. While at the NSA, he rose through the ranks to become Technical Director for Counterterrorism during the time that Osama Bin Laden was tracked down. For his contributions, he was awarded the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal by the Director of National Intelligence.

After leaving the NSA, Jim held executive roles at leading cybersecurity companies, including BlueVoyant and Darktrace. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Drexel University and earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from George Washington University.