OSINT: Searching the Russian Internet (Virtual Course)
This course is dedicated to helping researchers, academics and business professionals make better use of Russian-language internet and social media sources. The course begins with a general introduction to the Russian language and the Russian Internet. From there, we will demonstrate how to set up your desktop and mobile devices to support data collection, processing and translation. We will then walk you through the different strategies, tools and resources you can use to research or investigate Russian-language sources and content on popular social media platforms. We will also show you how to identify and validate Russian companies. Throughout, emphasis will be given to those aspects of the language and culture that you should be sensitive to as a researcher.
The course will be delivered live over five 3.5-hour sessions. There will be separate iterations of the course for Asian, European and American audiences. Please select the start time (SGT, CET or EST) that suits you best.
Course Outline
Getting Started
- The Russian Internet ecosystem
- The Russian language
- Setting up a Russian-language keyboard
- Typing in Russian
- Translation tools setup and use (web and mobile)
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Searching the Web in Russian
- The Russian media landscape: players, propaganda and control
- Russian bots
- Search strategies
- Searching Google in Russian
- Searching Yandex in Russian
- Alternative Russian search engines
- Reconciling information inconsistencies in English and Russian
- Satellite imagery, location-specific searches, Russian addresses
People Search and Social Media
- Working with Russian names
- Finding Russian email addresses
- Investigating Russian phone numbers
- Understanding Russian personal documents
- Working with Russian content on Western social media platforms
- Working with Russian social media platforms
- Working with Russian forums
- Additional resources and toolbox
Russian Corporate Research and the Landscape of Russian Online Sources
- Corporate research
- Introduction to Russian corporate research
- Mapping a company’s online footprint
- Finding a company’s registration number
- Verifying and researching ownership
- Russian business license information
- Verifying a company’s legitimacy and reputation
- Investigating web resources in Russian
- The landscape of Russian online sources
Training Exercises
- Applying lessons learned through real world examples and simulated case-study exercises
Course Details
WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?
This course is intended for anyone wishing to make better use of Russian language resources on the Internet. The course is recommended for business professionals, academic researchers, due diligence specialists and social media investigators.
HOW YOU BENEFIT
On completion of this course, you will have the ability to:
- Understand the main characteristics of the Russian language
- Navigate Russian sources with greater confidence
- Find specific content in Russian (news reports, documents, etc.)
- Find people through their web and social media footprints
- Apply a range of tools to tackle the problem of translation and transliteration
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
- A full set of course slides in PDF
- An index of recommended tools / resources
- A certificate of completion
COURSE FEE
EUR 1,100
COURSE PREREQUISITES
Trainees do not need prior knowledge of the Russian language; basic knowledge of the Internet suffices.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
Please observe the following technical requirements:
- You will need the following devices:
- A desktop or laptop PC (Windows or MacOS)
- A mobile device. Please ensure this device has a working camera
- You will need to install:
- Zoom on your PC
- Google Chrome on your PC
- Google Translate dictionary app on your mobile device
- You will need the following accounts (preferably, uniquely created for the course):
- Google Account
- Vkontakte (VK) Account
- Odnoklasniki (OK) Account
- Facebook Account
- Instagram Account
