Data2know: Online & Internet Intelligence

Finding New Information from Old Websites 

by Cynthia_Hetherington at Aon.com

Years ago we wrote about Deconstructing Websites for Company Intelligence. It's hard to believe that was seven years ago. The same tactics and investigative fundamentals still exist. You should always look at all parts of a website, all pages and all links in and out for real intelligence. Who owns it, who pays the bills and the information they are sharing on these pages. Do not forget to look at the legal disclaimers, copyright information as well as the About Us page. Any one of these could reveal a source you didn’t expect.

However if the website you want is no longer active, you should consider looking for older cached (saved) versions of it through the following sources.

The Wayback Machine on archive.org is the best *if* you know the URL of the website. They were running a search engine within Archive.org years ago named Recall, but was shut down when the researcher moved.

That said, here are some other sources.

Google.com (cache server) Run a search on the target's name, location, phone numbers (without the common markings, run them as numbers divided by spaces within quotes) i.e. "xxx xxx xxxx" This may result in a match on the cached links, click on cached, which will lead you to an imaged version.

Zoominfo.com - known as a human resource (aka Ego Surf) engine, search on the owners/principals of the former company. Or search on company name itself. The links within the found information are cached so you often times find removed information from this service.

Ownership information, albeit old, is resold to a few information aggregators like Accurint and Dialog. Accurint (aka Irbsearch.com) is cheapest and easiest allowing you to search by name, street, domain name, phone number, or possible contact. Dialog's database divides their services from Whois, to Whowas and has a more limited search capability.

The Insider brings you new websites for research, examination and review. It also offers a fresh view into well utilized search tools for new context and content.

Courthouse Direct

http://www.courthousedirect.com

This website is a competitively priced nationawide public records database. The database has 415 counties in different states that are covered. The member had the ability to download document images, conduct grantor or grantee searches, order property reports and has a variety of links that could be useful in obtaining information during one's research. The wesite is user friendly and has a "cart" in which you can view the items you want as well as a "purchased" documents queue, which are both clearly visible and easy to use. the database offers monthly users two different plans to choose from, one for those who are interested in having no monthly minimum charge and the other without a monthly minimum charge, where the rates are slightly higher. The website is maintained by a private company who's the successor to Courthouse Specialists which was founded in 1982 and is based in Houston, TX with three other offices in different cities in Texas.
Submitted by: Marisol_Declet at aon.com

Vital Records

http://www.vitalrec.com

This website contains the most comprehensive resource for locating vital records on the internet. Searches include international records, states & territories, a Social Security index, and birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Once on the website, it is crucial for individuals to the the time to read the important guidelines that are clearly spelled out on the user friendly and time efficient website.
Submitted by: Marisol_Declet at aon.com

New York City

http://www.nyc.gov

When looking for the appropriate information is the country's busiest city, this is the place to go. The "Big Apple's" website is geared to providing the public with quick and easy access to information regarding agencies, programs, and services. This may seem like a "no brainier", but sometimes we forget to look in the most obvious places. When looking for information regarding company activity, I ran across this site which then pointed me in the direction of Lobbyist information. Although, this may not be the fastest way to get the answers you need, it does not hurt to thumb through when doing your due diligence.
Submitted by: Sara_Higgins at aon.com

Turboscout

http://www.turboscout.com

According to the search engines bio, TurboScout is a search tool that will save you time and make your Web searches easy. You enter keywords only once. Your outcome? 90 search engines across 7 categories and no more retyping keywords into the different search engines.

All your major search engines on one page with no need to remember or type additional Web site addresses of the different search engines. It gives you quick access to the original results directly from each search engines instead of compiled results.

Giving this a shot, I found the only down fall to this site is laziness. Once you start using this site you could easily get lax on your inquisitive nature and not look deeper on the obscure hits. That being said, its wonderful and time saving.
Submitted by: Sara_Higgins at aon.com

The Vault

http://www.vault.com

The Vault was created to prepare the potential employee for the ever so painful job search. Professionals and job seekers alike have discovered that the Vault is the place to go for insider company information, advice and career management services. What does that mean to the investigator? If job seekers and professionals use this site to get the insider company information, advice, and career management services, to the investigator, this site is priceless.

The profiles section reveals information about major corporations and law firms. Current work environment or company activities can give you just enough information to open new doors and connections between employee and employer. The selections are broken down to Companies, Industries, Education, Guides, and Salaries with sub categories in each. There is even a message board to scan and see which employee is in a negative mood and dishing out company secrets. In the Companies Section, for example, you have the "Snapshot" subcategories which give you the company in questions profile, stats, guides, salaries, stock symbols, president and CEO names, number of locations and current yearly revenue.

For its non-Gold members, there is enough free information to get an over all picture of the company your looking for and confirm information already known, thus quickly helping you place focus on the areas needing to be addresses.
Submitted by: Sara_Higgins at aon.com