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Online Courses › Certified OSINT Investigator, Court-Ready Practitioner
50 Hours, Online Self-Paced

Certified OSINT Investigator, Court-Ready Practitioner (COI-CRP)

Open-source intelligence training built around one test: can you explain, under oath, how you found what you found. Every technique ties back to admissibility, source citation, and cross-examination.

10 modules · 80 lessons · 100-question final exam · 8 templates · 12 months access · 50 CPE
🌐 Developed by Eric L. Waldrep, U.S. State Dept. ATA Cyber Mentor, MCFE, 19+ years active casework
$2,497
per seat · agency licensing available
Duration~50 hours
FormatOnline Self-Paced
Modules10 modules + final
Lessons80 lessons
Templates8 PDFs
Final examIncluded
Access12 months
CertificateYes, 50 CPE
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COI-CRP alone is $2,497. All-Access is $2,997 and adds all three forensics courses, $1,991 purchased separately: 86 CPE hours and four verifiable certificates in total. All-Access students also get Digital Evidence for Legal Professionals added at no charge when it launches. View All-Access →
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What You'll Learn

Build an investigation file from the first click using a structure a defense expert cannot pick apart at deposition
Plan and document lawful authority for each collection action: warrant, subpoena, consent, statutory mandate, written engagement, or internal policy
Run hardened operational security: hardware separation, virtual machines, VPN and Tor strategy, sock-puppet personas, and burner communications
Search defensibly across public engines, specialty engines, the Wayback Machine, paid aggregators, and reusable Boolean templates
Resolve identity from username, email, phone, breach-data context, and public records into a single subject profile report
Capture social-media evidence from X, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Telegram, Discord, Reddit, and similar platforms in a court-defensible format
Extract EXIF metadata, run reverse-image searches, chronolocate, geolocate from visual cues, and authenticate visual evidence against deepfake risk
Access the dark web safely, discover marketplaces and forums, and trace cryptocurrency through exchanges and mixers with court-defensible reporting
Use generative AI for summarization, translation, transcription, and image triage with a documented hallucination-control workflow that survives cross-examination
Hash, timestamp, and chain custody for every OSINT artifact the same way you would for a forensic image of a seized device
Write reports tailored to prosecutors, civil attorneys, and corporate counsel, and prepare declarations and affidavits in the form courts accept
Prepare for Daubert and Frye challenges and survive cross-examination on every technique taught in the course

Built for Practitioners Who Testify or Brief Counsel

Not an academic overview, and not a list of websites. This course is built for professionals whose OSINT findings will appear in a report, a declaration, a closing argument, a regulatory filing, or a courtroom transcript.

🚔
Law Enforcement
⚖️
Prosecutors
📜
Defense & Civil Counsel
🔍
Private Investigators
🏢
Corporate Threat Intel
🛡️
Trust & Safety
💵
Fraud & AML
🪖
Military Intel & Cyber
📋
Regulators
🧪
Forensic Examiners
📰
Investigative Journalists
🔐
Sanctions Analysts

10 Modules  ·  80 Lessons  ·  Comprehensive Final Exam

01Foundations of OSINT and Investigation Discipline
  • What OSINT Is and Is Not
  • The Intelligence Lifecycle for OSINT
  • Source Reliability and Information Validation
  • The Investigator Mindset
  • Building the Investigation File Structure
  • Documentation Discipline From the First Click
  • Ethical Boundaries Before the Law Steps In
  • Building the Written Investigation Plan
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
02Operational Security and Investigator Identity Protection
  • Protecting Your Real Identity From Your Subject
  • Hardware Separation and Build Standards
  • Virtual Machines, Containers, and Snapshots
  • VPNs, Tor, and Proxy Strategy
  • Building and Aging Sock-Puppet Personas
  • Managed Attribution Services and Vendor Categories
  • Burner Communications: Phones, Email, and Numbers
  • OPSEC Failure Case Studies From Public Reporting
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
03Legal Authority, Privacy, and Cross-Border Collection
  • Fourth Amendment Frame for OSINT
  • Terms of Service, the CFAA, and the Public-Interface Rule
  • GDPR and International Privacy Frameworks
  • Cross-Border Collection and MLAT
  • Using Breach Data Lawfully
  • Working With Prosecutors on OSINT-Driven Affidavits
  • Documenting Legal Authority Inside the Investigation File
  • Suppressed-Collection Case Study and What It Teaches
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
04Search Engines, Boolean Logic, and Specialty Discovery
  • General Search Engines Compared and Where Each Sees Differently
  • Boolean Logic and Operator Mastery
  • Google Dorks for Investigators
  • Specialty and Vertical Search Engines
  • The Wayback Machine, archive.today, and Cached Pages
  • Paid Aggregators: Categories, Use, and Limits
  • Reusable Search Templates by Case Type
  • Documenting the Search Path So It Survives Cross-Examination
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
05People Investigations and Identity Resolution
  • The Identity Resolution Process
  • Public Records: What Is Available, What Is Not, and What It Costs
  • Username Pivoting Across Platforms
  • Email and Phone Intelligence
  • Breach Data Methodology and Defensibility
  • Genealogy and Family Tree Sources for Investigators
  • Licensing, Credentialing, and Professional Records
  • Building the Subject Profile Report
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
06Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT)
  • X (Twitter) Investigations
  • Meta Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Threads
  • LinkedIn Investigations
  • TikTok Investigations
  • Telegram Investigations
  • Discord Investigations
  • Reddit and Niche Forums
  • Capturing Social Media Evidence in a Court-Defensible Format
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
07Image, Video, and Geolocation Analysis
  • EXIF and File Metadata Extraction
  • Reverse Image Search Across Engines
  • Chronolocation From Shadows, Vegetation, and Weather
  • Geolocation From Visual Cues
  • Frame Extraction From Video
  • Deepfake and Synthetic Media Detection
  • Authenticating Visual Evidence for the Record
  • Geolocation Case Study From Public Reporting
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
08Dark Web and Cryptocurrency Investigations
  • Dark Web Fundamentals for Investigators
  • Safe Access OPSEC
  • Marketplace and Forum Discovery
  • Cryptocurrency Fundamentals for Investigators
  • Blockchain Analysis Categories and Capabilities
  • Tracing Through Exchanges and the SCA Process
  • Court-Defensible Cryptocurrency Reporting
  • Dark Web to Identity Case Study From Public Reporting
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
09AI-Assisted OSINT and Hallucination Control
  • Where AI Helps and Where AI Fails an Investigation
  • Hallucination Control as a Discipline
  • LLM Summarization of Long Public Documents
  • Translation and Transcription With Verification
  • AI Image and Video Analysis
  • Investigator Prompt Chains and Templates
  • AI Audit Trails the Court Will Accept
  • Defending AI-Derived Conclusions on Cross-Examination
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions). All AI references educational and conceptual.
10Evidence Handling, Reports, and Testimony
  • Chain of Custody for OSINT Artifacts
  • Hashing and Timestamping Every Capture
  • The Investigative Report for the Prosecutor
  • The Investigative Report for the Attorney (Civil and Corporate)
  • Declarations and Affidavits in Court-Acceptable Form
  • Daubert, Frye, and FRE 702 for OSINT Methods
  • Surviving Cross-Examination on Every Technique in This Course
  • Mock Cross-Examination Walkthrough
✓ Module Quiz (20 questions)
FEFinal Exam and Certificate
  • Final Exam Instructions and Honor Statement
★ Comprehensive Final Exam, unlimited free retakes  ·  Certificate of Completion with public verification URL
Includes 8 downloadable templates: Subject Profile Report · Social Media Evidence Report · Cryptocurrency Tracing Report · Expert Declaration · Chain of Custody Log · Investigation Plan · Search Path Documentation · AI Audit Trail. Plus an Investigator AI Prompt Library (50+ tested prompts), six tool-reference one-pagers, and a 100+ term glossary calibrated to courtroom language.

What Your Seat Includes

1
The COI-CRP Curriculum. 10 modules, 80 lessons, roughly 50 hours of court-focused OSINT instruction. Every technique connects back to admissibility and cross-examination.
2
The Court-Ready Template Library. 8 downloadable templates for real casework: subject profile reports, capture and chain-of-custody logs, and the other formats I use on real matters.
3
The Investigator AI Prompt Library. Prompts written to keep AI-assisted analysis inside defensible boundaries, with the documentation habits to match.
4
The Tool Reference Set. Six one-page references for the tool categories the course covers.
5
The Courtroom Glossary. The terms of this discipline, defined the way you will need to define them under oath.
6
Ten module quizzes and the 100-question final exam. Unlimited retakes with a 24-hour cooldown. Pass mark 75.
7
The COI-CRP Certificate of Completion. 50 CPE hours and a public verification URL your agency or counsel can check in seconds.
8
12 months of access. All curriculum updates during your window included.
The live classroom courses covering this material (Online Investigations, Online Investigations: Social Media, and Online Investigations: Dark Web) run $1,795 to $2,095 per seat each on our published training calendar. Your seat, all of it, self-paced: $2,497. Agencies license 10 or more seats separately; purchase orders and net-30 accepted.

Developed by the Practitioner Who Built It

Eric L. Waldrep
Eric L. Waldrep
Director of Training, The Waldrep Company  |  U.S. State Dept. ATA Cyber Mentor  |  MCFE Certified

Eric Waldrep has 27 years in law enforcement and 19+ years in active digital forensics. He has testified as an expert in federal and state courts. He was selected by the U.S. State Department's Antiterrorism Assistance program as a Cyber Mentor, training allied nation law enforcement in digital forensics and OSINT. Every module in COI-CRP connects the technique to the way a defense attorney attacks it on cross. No real-case content from The Waldrep Company appears in any lesson; every worked example is composite or drawn from publicly reported sources.

MCFE Certified
State Dept. ATA Cyber Mentor
19 years forensics
27 years law enforcement

Certificate of Completion

🎓
COI-CRP Certificate of Completion, The Waldrep Company (50 CPE Hours)

Students who complete every lesson, pass all 10 module quizzes, and pass the comprehensive final exam receive a COI-CRP Certificate of Completion. The certificate carries a unique certificate number, the issue date, the course version, and a verification URL anyone can use to confirm the credential is real and active.

This is a certificate of professional education issued by The Waldrep Company. It is not a license, an accreditation, a government certification, or a guarantee that any specific court will qualify the holder as an expert witness under Daubert, Kumho, Frye, or any state analogue. Whether a witness is qualified in a specific matter is a determination reserved to the trial court in that matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I get after I enroll?
Immediate access to all 10 modules, 80 lessons, the eight downloadable templates, the AI prompt library, the six tool-reference one-pagers, the glossary, the ten module quizzes, and the final exam. Access window is 12 months from your enrollment date.
Is the course self-paced or a live cohort?
100% self-paced online. No scheduled live sessions, no instructor-led Q&A, no cohort. You enroll, get instant access, and progress at your own pace. Recommended completion window is 60 to 90 days. Access window is 12 months.
Is this vendor certification for any OSINT tool?
No. Tool references in the course are conceptual and drawn exclusively from publicly available vendor documentation, vendor blogs, public release notes, peer-reviewed research, and publicly reported court opinions. Operational use of any commercial tool requires that vendor's own training and certification.
How does the final exam work?
A comprehensive final exam covering all ten modules, with a mix of multiple choice, scenario-based, and ordered-pairing evidence-handling items. Online, with an honor statement signed before the exam begins. Retakes are free and unlimited with a 24-hour cooldown between attempts.
Will I be qualified as an expert witness after I finish?
No course, in any field, can promise an expert qualification ruling. Qualification under Daubert, Kumho, Frye, or any state standard is a determination the trial court makes on a specific witness in a specific matter. The COI-CRP certificate documents that you completed a structured, court-credible program. Whether you are qualified in a given case turns on the totality of your training, experience, methodology, and the court's gatekeeping role.
Can my agency buy seats with a purchase order?
Yes. Government purchase orders and net-30 invoicing are accepted. Agency pricing is 25% off at 5 or more seats, structured for procurement and grant cycles. Contact us at (251) 216-1164 or submit an inquiry to arrange PO-based enrollment.
Does the course cover legal authority outside the United States?
Module 3 covers GDPR and cross-border collection at a working level for investigators based in the United States who touch non-US data, and for investigators outside the United States who need to understand the US framework. It is not a substitute for advice from counsel admitted in your jurisdiction.
POST or CPE credit?
~50 CPE hours. The course is structured to satisfy POST continuing education requirements in many US jurisdictions. POST submission packages are provided on request for the top 10 states by purchase volume.
Is there a refund?
Two guarantees, in plain language. The 30-Day Look: enroll, open every module, download the templates, and if within 30 days you decide the course is not right for your work, email info@thewaldrepcompany.com for a full refund. One condition, for the integrity of the credential: a refund revokes any certificate issued for this course and removes it from the public verification registry. The Pass Commitment: complete every lesson and module quiz inside your 12-month window and attempt the final exam, and if you cannot pass, we extend your access at no charge and point you to exactly what to restudy until you do. What we do not guarantee: that any court will qualify you as an expert witness, that any specific agency will accept this training for a particular purpose, or any case outcome. Nobody can honestly guarantee those things, and you should be careful with anyone who does. See the full refund policy.

This course is part of the Certified OSINT Investigator, Court-Ready Practitioner (COI-CRP) program produced by The Waldrep Company for professional education. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client or expert engagement. Tool references are conceptual, drawn from publicly available vendor documentation, vendor blogs, public release notes, peer-reviewed research, and publicly reported court opinions. They are not endorsements and they are not vendor certification.

The student is responsible for confirming lawful authority before applying any technique to a specific subject. The student is also responsible for verifying that any platform behavior, statute, or precedent remains current. No real-case content from The Waldrep Company appears in this course; all worked examples are composite or drawn from publicly reported sources, cited to allow independent verification.

The COI-CRP credential is a certificate of professional education and does not establish qualification as an expert witness in any specific matter. All third-party names, marks, and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used here for identification and educational purposes only. Full notice at thewaldrepcompany.com/courses/coi-crp/legal/.

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Free syllabus