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EXPERT GUIDE

Best Practices

Complete guide for secure, ethical investigations compliant with professional standards

OPSECEthicsDocumentationTLP
Start readingOPSEC Checklist
The 4 Pillars

Fundamental Principles

Master the four essential pillars for professional, secure investigations compliant with international standards.

Data Protection

  • Encryption of sensitive data
  • Secure access management
  • Regular encrypted backups
  • Protection against leaks
  • Isolation of investigation environments
1

Operational Security

  • VPN and encrypted connections
  • Isolated virtual machines
  • Hardened browsers (Tor)
  • IP address rotation
  • Metadata cleansing
2

Documentation

  • Complete traceability of actions
  • Documented methodology
  • Verified and timestamped sources
  • Structured reports
  • Chain of custody maintained
3

Professional Ethics

  • Proportionality of methods
  • Data minimization
  • Respect for privacy
  • Transparency of practices
  • Responsibility assumed
4
Operational Security

Interactive OPSEC Checklist

Complete operational security protocol for your investigations. Check each step to ensure security.

🔧
1

Preparation

5 control points

Progress0/5
🔍
2

Execution

5 control points

Progress0/5
📋
3

Finalization

5 control points

Progress0/5

Important Note

This checklist must be adapted according to your investigation context. Always consult your security officer before starting a sensitive investigation.

Information Classification

TLP Protocols

Traffic Light Protocol - International standard for classification and secure sharing of sensitive information.

W
1

TLP:WHITE

Level 1/4

Public information, free distribution authorized

Public
G
2

TLP:GREEN

Level 2/4

Sharing with community, no public distribution

Community
A
3

TLP:AMBER

Level 3/4

Sharing limited to need-to-know within organization

Internal Only
R
4

TLP:RED

Level 4/4

Information limited to specific participants only

Highly Restricted

TLP Usage Guide

Best practices :

  • Always mark your documents with the appropriate TLP level
  • Respect the sharing restrictions of each level
  • Train your team on TLP protocols

To avoid :

  • Mixing information of different TLP levels
  • Sharing without verifying recipient's permissions
  • Forgetting to classify your own productions

Protection of Human Sources

Protection Measures

  • Anonymization

    Systematic of informants and witnesses

  • Encryption

    Sensitive communications end-to-end

  • Isolation

    Compartmentalized investigation systems

Source Validation

  • Verification

    Cross-checking with multiple sources

  • Documentation

    Chain of custody maintained

  • Timestamping

    Integrity and temporal traceability

Continuous Training

📚

Training

Certifications, online courses, specialized workshops

🔄

Monitoring

News, blogs, research publications

👥

Community

Exchanges, conferences, expert groups

Recommended Training Plan

Tools updatesMonthly
Legal monitoringQuarterly
New techniquesHalf-yearly
Professional certificationAnnual
Call to Action

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Professional Standards
International Compliance
Enhanced Ethics