The verification platform that will reshape how we look at professional contacts
The so-called Panama Papers, the biggest leak in the history of journalism, with almost 12 million documents, 2.6 terabytes of information, and almost 400 journalists diving into their contents, revealed illicit activities of individuals and companies whose honesty no one would have doubted.
That month of May, 2016, would augur a new era that underlined the danger of professional relationships. From one day to the next, trusted contacts became suspicious, jeopardizing the reputation of individuals and institutions that simply had a cyber-relationship with one of the thousands of names on the endless list of shame.
In many cases, these were not real relationships, since they were generated by simply accepting a contact on a social media site without thinking about it. This is a widespread problem: many of us routinely accept invitations from strangers on the dozens of professional networks that exist, without realizing that they may be subject to investigation or worse.
Nowadays, the search for talent or for business opportunities can seem very simple at first glance. We have access to huge pools of professional expertise in a wide range of subjects. We can easily categorize searches, check if we have any acquaintances in common, scour social media posts, and prepare a shortlist of candidates to speed up a recruitment process that is going to be vital for our business. The internet and the rise of social media have opened up a world of possibilities far beyond the reach of traditional analog methods.
But in this Pandora's box, not all that glitters is gold. In the age of fake news and indispensable verification systems, most of these networks rely on user-generated content that is difficult to verify or trace. You could claim on LinkedIn to be the CEO of Microsoft, and not a red flag will be raised. In fact, reputational and third-party risk have come to be considered a major issue in business. According to Absolute Markets Insights, the global reputational risk management advisory market (valued at more than US$ 9 billion) will grow at a CAGR of more than 10 percent by 2027, with an increasing prominence of corporate reputation as a key performance driver.
It is true that we can find skills validation from third parties, rankings of job ratings, social media posts, level of education and so on. But most sites contain biased and sometimes not entirely reliable information. Amid this maelstrom of information and misinformation, Ferret was born—a revolutionary platform providing relationship intelligence to identify the risks around connections before you meet in person. Ferret uses artificial intelligence and data analysis across multiple sources of information to help you decide whom you can really trust.
Ferret’s AI ignores user-generated content to zero in on official databases, trusted news sources, and government records, giving you the objective facts required to choose who to trust. This software incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics technology to conduct a global sweep of tens of thousands of sources worldwide in multiple languages including exclusive information from risk-relevant databases you'll never find on Google.
Ferret then taps into your various contact lists and social media invitations to constantly monitor your network for risk and opportunity, alerting the user immediately when there's a piece of news or data relevant to your network. UsingMachine Learning, Ferret constantly learns from users as well to uncover new news and weed out false positives. It's about combining Social Proximity and Material Impact. This is called Relationship Intelligence, and it gives companies and individuals the information they need to decide whom to trust.
The application does not make any judgements -- it simply provides users with a 360° verification tool. Ferret includes in its programming a unique database previously available exclusively to over 8,000 financial institutions for anti-money laundering, risk management, and know-your-customer services. Ferret makes this data available to all its users.
In addition, Ferret’s search includes historical and real-time news, corporate ownership history, aliases, papers and leaks, court records, illegal activity,. And unlike other networks, it has machine-generated user content validation. And each validation further trains the AI.
The app, already being tested in a closed beta release, is designed as the first line of defence against the threats that lurk in your contacts. By providing you with the information you need -- shining a light on the dark corners bad actors don’t want you to see -- Ferret can help you identify risks and stop problems before they start.
Before you do business with someone, Check Ferret First.
ferreter [noun](plural ferreters):
A person who hunts with ferrets.
One who uncovers or brings to light; one who ferrets out.
Ferret is not a consumer reporting agency. We do not provide consumer reports. Ferret is not to be used for decisions about consumer credit, employment, tenancy, or any other purposes that would require FCRA compliance.
