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 you 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 – they questions that need to be answwered might be more specific resulting in a Sanctions Due Diligence for example or more holstic coving all risk areas during a Reputational Risk Due Diligence. 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 but analyzing and interpreting the information it 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.

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 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 doesn’t appear in Company A’s public records, he is the Ultimate Beneficial Owner of Company A.