Defuse is a global consultancy that provides intelligence, investigations, prevention, education, and crisis management services to prominent individuals, private clients, and organisations.
With a team of internationally acclaimed experts, we offer unrivalled expertise in identifying and countering unwanted attention and toxic and threatening behaviours that risk physical, reputational, and psychological harm.
We have successfully supported global brands in tackling work-related issues and investigated concerns directed at politicians and other prominent figures.
Our protective intelligence, forensic psychology, and behavioural threat management techniques help prevent escalation and protect our clients from harm.

Investigations and Intelligence.

Our services include investigations, specialist consultancy and security services. From low-level concerns to serious threats from internal and external parties.  We have significant expertise in preventing, investigating and countering the issues that cause unwanted attention to be concerning.

Defuse specialises in keeping family offices and HNW individuals feel safer, because we know how they are targeted and what works and equally importantly, what doesn't!

The investigative and analytical processes we practice are used to proactively identify, assess, and mitigate threats.

How much do you know about the key individuals who you engage with, be they employees, customers, or competitors?

All too often due diligence has been seen as checking what you already know. Our background checks, due diligence, and intelligence investigations tell what you don't already know, such as:

  • Who is the person behind the profile?
  • Who are they connected to?
  • Is there something findable in their history that may compromise you?
  • What are their capability gaps and points of friction?
  • How vulnerable are they to unwanted influence?
  • Prior knowledge of possible dangers or problems can deliver a key advantage and prevent time-consuming and costly mistakes.

Our digital investigations are conducted by multiple analysts (or linguists if required) and will include OSINT, dark web, and database searches. The aimed output is a comprehensive, referenced report with assessment and analysis. 

Integrity is non-negotiable. All our investigations are conducted lawfully under UK legislation. We do not practice any methodology that might cause any reputational harm to our clients or partners. Our reports are audited and referenced, fully disclosable and can be shared with lawyers and used in legal proceedings.

Countering Unwanted Behaviour

Defuse boasts unrivalled expertise having investigated such issues directed at politicians and other prominent figures successfully identifying terrorist and other fixated threats. This expertise is led by Dr Sheridan, one of the world's recognised experts, having written the first PhD on stalking in Europe. 
 
Both harassment and stalking are commonplace, and the consequences can be serious, even for the most resilient. Recipients of unwanted attention often live in fear, becoming unable to make simple everyday decisions, and may even retreat from public life. 

Being targeted can cause feelings of paranoia and hypervigilance in the recipient.

Harassment:
Harassment includes repeated attempts to impose unwanted communications and contact upon someone, which is likely to cause distress or fear. 

Stalking:
Stalking is a pattern of fixated and obsessive behaviour that is persistent and intrusive and can cause distress and fear of violence.

There are 5 recognised types of stalkers, with each typology posing a different threat to different people. It is crucial to understand and identify the typology of the stalker to ensure any interventions are appropriate. Mismanagement of this can cause an escalation of behaviours and an increase in the risks posed. 

Security and Vulnerability Assessments

The foundation of any recommendations should always be intelligence led. This means that any professional assessment is conducted with the very best in protective intelligence and protective security. 

HNW and prominent people are subject to different threats. A bespoke assessment conducted by professionals with knowledge and expertise in how criminals, the fixated and other adversaries target is required.

We encourage all of our clients to have a digital vulnerability assessment to assess and understand the level of private information that is publicly available, the risks that it carries, including sentiment analysis where required. 

This is a vital service to set a baseline for a client’s vulnerability to threats including criminal, physical, and reputational. It will identify when a client is vulnerable to identity theft and fake profiles being created in their name.

Research is conducted replicating a range of potential threat actors (public, criminal, journalists/media, through state actors). 
 
Areas reviewed include key information, watchlist searches, contact details, dark web searches, associated businesses and organisations, social media, private forums, media / adverse media, and deep web/database presence. 

Our reports provide an initial assessment and recommended mitigation areas with elements of physical, online/digital security and a reputational risk focus. 

24/7 Alerts and Monitoring

Whilst the vulnerability assessment captures a moment in time and is a necessary baseline, this service provides ongoing reassurance that any emerging threats are identified and managed.

This passive and proactive monitoring allows us to track mentions and activity, highlighting both breach data and red flags. We combine multi-source automated alerts and bespoke scrapers with analyst active engagement, enabling access to closed sources of relevance as needed. 

This service provided 24/7 coverage with alerts for any hostile activity, an indication of identity theft and the use of fake profiles, preventing physical, reputation and psychological threats.

It delivers peace of mind and the reassurance that Defuse are proactively managing these issues on your behalf, enabling you to focus on your business free from concern.

This is a 12-month retained contract with monthly reporting.

Behavioural Analysis & Profiling

Dr Lorraine Sheridan PhD is our resident Chartered Forensic Psychologist. Lorraine is a police-accredited and FBI-trained offender profiler and compiles psychological reports related to offenders, highlighting the risks posed by known or unknown suspects.

There exist many scenarios where threats can emerge against prominent people, but not all pose a real and present danger. Some threats are communicated only for impact, without the perpetrator intending to carry them through; others, however, could escalate rapidly if left unchecked.

While even the least viable threats can instil a sense of fear in the target - the effects of which should never be underestimated - it’s crucial to distinguish these from threats that could result in harm being inflicted on the target.

At Defuse, our behavioural analysis and profiling techniques enable us to identify the most serious threats and obtain vital information about those responsible.

This service dovetails well with any senior leadership or key personnel recruitment process and has also been productive in assessing those engaged in any negations. 
 
Our profiling enables us to assess:

•    The risks an individual poses.
•    Why a person behaves in a certain way.
•    Identify the behavioural and linguistic Red Flags indicating a threat is escalating.
•    How best to engage and manage any interaction with that individual.
•    The stalking typology of concern.
•    How to reduce any harm posed by or to the individual. 

next steps

If you have any concerns about your safety or the safety of your family – online or offline – take action today by calling Defuse.
With a range of effective threat management, cybersecurity and reputational management strategies available, together with the skills and experience to resolve any problem you may have.