Online investigations methodology are spelled out in detail within the company's policy and guidelines. In general, most investigation work performed within the company is dependent on the existence of private and public boundaries. All public boundaries, including government databases, court records, telephone directories, Internet directories, deep web resources, online communities and social networking sites, can be searched as part of an investigative process, resulting in a written report that is suitable for use as evidence in a court of law.
An online investigation can be conducted by itself or in coordination with other types of investigations, usually in a support role. There is information out there that can only be found by online searches, examples including imagery of persons or events, comments, opinions, and records of activities of persons of interest. As a process, online investigations are most commonly used to identify people and locations that are the subject of traditional investigations, allowing remote collection of information that can often save the cost of travel and support expenses that would be normally associated with sending a person to an actual location.
