David Stauffacher
Chief Intelligence Analyst, DigitalStakeout
Dave brings over 25 years of experience spanning law enforcement, military service, intelligence operations, and security leadership. As Chief Intelligence Analyst at DigitalStakeout, he fulfills intelligence contracts across government and private sector clients, leads onboarding and training on the company's OSINT platform, and assists organizations with sensitive information-gathering efforts at every level. Before joining DigitalStakeout, Dave held leadership roles in private security and investigations, including Director of Entertainment Security at EKG Security and Area Investigations Manager at OSP Prevention Group. As a Detective with the Oconee County Sheriff's Office, he specialized in fraud, identity theft, and white-collar crime investigations, with deep expertise in digital forensics, evidence processing, and courtroom testimony. Dave began his career as a United States Marine, serving over six years in infantry and anti-armor roles based out of Camp Pendleton. He went on to serve nearly a decade as a Trooper with the Nevada Highway Patrol, where he honed his skills in patrol operations, criminal interdiction, and public safety. His unique combination of military discipline, law enforcement investigative experience, and intelligence tradecraft makes him a critical asset to DigitalStakeout's mission and our clients' security operations.
Areas of Expertise
Posts by David (30)
Geopolitical Risk Monitoring: How OSINT Keeps Multinationals Ahead of Global Disruption
Geopolitical events move faster than analyst reports. Here's how OSINT monitoring gives multinational organizations real-time awareness of risks affecting operations and personnel.
Brand Impersonation Detection: Finding Fake Profiles Before They Find Your Customers
Brand impersonation enables phishing, fraud, and reputation damage. Here's how to detect fake profiles, domains, and apps using your brand.
Domain Monitoring for Brand Protection: Catching Typosquats, Look-Alikes, and Phishing Infrastructure
Typosquat and look-alike domains enable phishing, credential harvesting, and brand fraud. Here's how domain monitoring detects them before damage occurs.
Social Media Crisis Monitoring: What Your Team Needs When Everything Goes Wrong
When a crisis hits, social media becomes both the information source and the attack surface. Here's what crisis-ready monitoring looks like.
People Search for OSINT Investigations: Beyond the Basic Name Lookup
Effective people search for investigations goes beyond name lookups. Here's how OSINT analysts build comprehensive subject profiles from public data.
Protecting Critical Infrastructure with Open Source Intelligence
Critical infrastructure operators face threats from nation-states to domestic extremists. OSINT monitoring provides the early warning layer that physical security alone can't.
OSINT Investigation Workflow: From First Query to Continuous Monitoring
A practical OSINT investigation workflow — from scoping through collection, analysis, and reporting to continuous monitoring for ongoing threats.
Narrative Monitoring: Detecting Disinformation Campaigns Before They Damage Your Brand
Coordinated disinformation campaigns target corporations with fabricated narratives. Narrative monitoring detects them by tracking how false claims emerge, spread, and amplify.
How AI Classification Reduces False Positives and Gives Analysts Their Time Back
DigitalStakeout's AI engine uses 225+ threat classifiers across 14 risk domains to reduce alert noise — so analysts investigate threats, not false positives.
Dark Web vs Deep Web vs Surface Web: What Security Teams Should Actually Monitor
The three layers of the web serve different purposes for security monitoring. Here's what each contains, what's worth monitoring, and where to spend your budget.
The 14 Risk Domains Every Corporate Security Team Should Monitor
Most threat intelligence covers 2-3 risk domains. Comprehensive corporate security requires 14. Here's what each one covers and why the gaps matter.
Credential Monitoring 101: What Happens When Employee Passwords Leak
Employee credentials appear in breach databases daily. Here's the attack chain, why speed matters, and how continuous monitoring closes the gap.
Boolean Search for OSINT Investigations: A Practitioner's Guide
Effective Boolean queries are the foundation of OSINT investigation. Here's how to build precise searches across social media, web, and dark web sources.
Threat Monitoring for Universities: Detecting Campus Safety Risks Before They Escalate
Universities face unique security challenges from open campuses to student mental health crises. Here's how OSINT monitoring supports campus safety programs.
Building a Geo-Fenced Monitoring Feed for Event Security
Step-by-step guide to setting up geo-fenced social media monitoring for events — from defining fence boundaries to integrating with security operations.
How Security Firms Scale Client Monitoring with Multi-Tenant OSINT
Multi-tenant OSINT platforms let security firms monitor dozens of clients from a single interface. Here's the architecture, the workflow, and the business model.
Social Media Threat Monitoring for Corporate Security
How corporate security teams use social media monitoring to detect physical threats, executive targeting, and brand attacks before they escalate.
How to Build a Dark Web Monitoring Program from Scratch
A practical guide to building a dark web monitoring program — from defining scope to selecting platforms and operationalizing alerts.
AI-Powered Threat Detection: Why Guessing Threat Terms Is Obsolete
Keyword-based threat monitoring forces analysts to predict how threats will be expressed. AI classification eliminates the guessing game entirely.
The External Threats Your Organization Is Probably Not Monitoring
Most organizations monitor for cyber threats but miss the broader external threat landscape. Here are the categories that fall through the cracks.
How to Get Harmful Content Taken Down from the Internet
A practical guide to content removal: platform reporting, DMCA, legal takedowns, and right to be forgotten. What works, what doesn't, and what to do after removal.
Continuous Data Breach Monitoring: Why Checking Once Isn't Enough
New credential breaches surface daily. Continuous monitoring detects compromised employee credentials before attackers use them.
Continuous Vetting: Using Social Media for Cleared Personnel Monitoring
How continuous vetting programs use social media monitoring for cleared personnel — the capabilities, the legal boundaries, and the operational considerations.
Deepfake Impersonation: The Escalating Threat to Executive Leadership
Deepfake technology enables executive impersonation at scale — from $25M fraud schemes to reputation destruction. Here's the threat and how to detect it.
A Practitioner's Guide to OSINT Investigation Using DigitalStakeout
A walkthrough of DigitalStakeout's OSINT investigation tools — what each does, when to use it, and how they work together in real investigations.
Social Media Threat Assessment: A Guide for Security Professionals
How security professionals assess threats from social media — from identifying indicators to evaluating credibility and determining response.
OSINT Alert: BlastPass Zero-Click Exploit Targeting Apple Devices
Critical advisory on the BlastPass zero-click exploit chain targeting iPhones and iPads. What security teams need to know and do immediately.
How to Detect Fake Organization LinkedIn Profiles Before They Become Weapons
Fake LinkedIn profiles impersonating your executives and brand are weapons for phishing, social engineering, and fraud. Here's how to find them.
Real-Time OSINT: Tracking the Wagner Insurrection as It Unfolded
When the Wagner Group marched on Moscow, OSINT monitoring provided real-time intelligence faster than any government briefing. Here's what we saw.
Threat Advisory: KillNet Targets Banking Transfer Systems — SEPA, SWIFT, and Wise
KillNet announced attacks on Western banking transfer systems including SEPA, SWIFT, and Wise. What financial institutions and security teams should know.