FAQ

1) What is Integrity Due Diligence?

Integrity Due Diligence is an approach used to gather independent information to help clients understand and assess the integrity risks associated with individuals and entities they are doing business with. Some organisations also call this background checks.

2) Are there different types of due diligence ?

In essence the tool box is always the same – the questions that need to be answered might be more specific, resulting in a sanctions due diligence for example, or more holistic requiring a reputational risk due diligence covering all risk areas. ESG due diligence focuses on environmental, social and governance risks.

3) What are the areas covered during an integrity due diligence investigation?

An investigation can include either publicly available information via Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and/or human source enquiries using Human Source Intelligence (HUMINT).

4) You can differentiate between OSINT and HUMINT – What is OSINT? What is HUMINT?

Open Source: Refers to information that is publicly accessible, such as websites, social media, news articles, public government records, forums, blogs and databases. Intelligence involves analysing and interpreting the information to gain insights or make decisions.

HUMINT is the collection of information through interpersonal contact, typically involving direct interaction with people who have access to valuable knowledge.

The reliability of sources can vary, therefore cross-referencing and assessing the likelihood of biases is important.

5) What tools do you use during a due diligence investigation

Common OSINT tools and techniques:
• Search engines (Google, Bing with advanced operators)
• Social media analysis tools (e.g., Maltego, Sherlock, Social-Searcher)
• WHOIS/IP lookup (e.g., Whois, Shodan, Censys)
• Metadata extraction (e.g., ExifTool)
• Public data sources (e.g., government databases, leaks, archives)

6) What does ultimate beneficial ownership mean?

The ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) is the real person who ultimately benefits from or controls a company, even if not listed on official documents. Although this varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, a person is considered a UBO if they:
Own 25% or more of a company’s shares or voting rights
Have the right to appoint/remove a majority of directors
Otherwise exercise significant control over the entity
Example:
Company A is owned by Company B.
Company B is owned by Company C.
Company C is 100% owned by John Doe.
Even though John Doe’s name does not appear in Company A’s public records, he is the ultimate beneficial owner of Company A.