Hartford Links

Alexa http://info.alexa.com/data/destination_site
Search tool and website directory offering statistics on web traffic patterns. Also identifies websites similar in content to the site being researched as well as other sites operated by the same owner.

Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts
Setup repeated search queries with new results delivered via email.

GAPS http://www.staggernation.com/cgi-bin/gaps.cgi
Google API Proximity Search. Conduct a Google search for two search terms within one, two, or three words of each other, optionally in a specific word order. Useful for conducting proper name searches to allow for use of middle names or initials.

Groowe Search Toolbar http://www.groowe.com/
Downloadable toolbar allowing simultaneous search of Google, Yahoo, Teoma, MSN, AllTheWeb, HotBot, Gigablast, Altavista, Vivisimo, Amazon, Lycos, Dogpile, Alexa, Ask Jeeves, Barnes & Noble Shopping, Tucows and Downolad.com.

TouchGraph Google Browser http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html
Generate a graphical representation of linkages between websites. Enter any website to utilize the tool and identify sites that link back.

WayBack Machine http://www.archive.org/
A constantly updated archive containing snapshots of websites over time.

Anonymous Browsing

Connection Analyzer http://network-tools.com/analyze
Identify what information your browser reveals when navigating the Internet.

CookiePal http://www.kburra.com/cpal.html
Downloadable cookie management system. Fully functional trial version of software available for 30 days.

CryptoHeaven http://www.cryptoheaven.com/
Secure browsing, email, file storage, instant messaging, and chat tools. Offers a free secure proxy for browsing.

JAP http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html
Browse anonymously by utilizing a proxy.

Tor http://tor.eff.org/
Browse anonymously by utilizing a proxy.

Business

EDGAR http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Electronic Data Gathering And Retrieval system allows searching of SEC filings and forms for public corporations.

Farm Subsidy Database http://www.ewg.org/farm/
Nationwide database of farm subsidy information published by the Environmental Working Group.

GrantSmart http://www.grantsmart.org/
Searchable database of tax return information for non-profit organizations.

GuideStar http://www.guidestar.org/
Searchable data on non-profit organizations from IRS Forms 990 and the IRS Business Master File, including comprehensive facts on employee compensation and grant activity. Additional documentation includes annual reports, audited financial statements and letters of determination.

Hoovers http://www.hoovers.com/free/
Basic information about public companies including contact information, sales, income, key people and industry materials.

NASD Broker Dealer Search http://pdpi.nasdr.com/PDPI/
Search for a broker-dealer individual or firm.

Regulatory Counsel Group http://www.regulatorycounsel.com/statebanking.htm
Matrix listing state mortgage broker regulators and links to corresponding state websites.

NASS http://www.nass.org/sos/sos.html
National Association of Secretaries of State. Provides links to all individual secretary of state sites. Many of these state sites have searchable databases of business filings.

Domain Registration

CentralOps http://centralops.net/co/
Free online network utilities including a domain dossier tool and an email address validator.

DNS Stuff http://www.dnsstuff.com/
Advanced Domain Name Service (DNS) Internet Protocol (IP) address and hostname tools.

ICANN http://www.icann.org/
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Detailed technical information on domains.

Internic Whois http://www.internic.net/whois.html
Search for domain registration information by domain, registrar, or nameserver.

Network Solutions Whois http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp
Identify domain registrants across multiple registrar databases.

SamSpade http://www.samspade.org/t/
Online network tools including reverse DNS, traceroute, and obfuscated URL translation. A more advanced version of the tool is available for download.

UWhois http://www.uwhois.com/cgi/domains.cgi
Universal whois service, includes queries of country code top-level domains.

International

Babel Fish Translator http://babelfish.altavista.com/
Translate text passages or entire web pages to or from 13 languages.

Chiefs of State http://198.81.129.100/cia/publications/chiefs/
Chiefs of state and cabinet members of foreign governments published by the CIA.

Infobel World http://www.infobel.com/World/
International telephone directories and dialing codes. Both business and personal listings are available for most countries.

International Whitepages http://search-service.com/
Direct links to international white pages.

Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/div/news/
Links to online newspapers around the world.

Legal

Attorney Search http://lawyers.findlaw.com/
Locate an attorney by specialty or location.

FindLaw http://www.findlaw.com
Legal information portal with resources for the general public as well as legal professionals. Research articles, case law, statutes and pending legislation.

Legal Information Institute http://www.law.cornell.edu/
A comprehensive online legal resource published by Cornell University law school.

Nolo.com http://www.nolo.com/dictionary/wordindex.cfm
Glossary providing a plain English definition of legal terms.

Mapping

Geographic Names Information System http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/
Search for locations based on geographic names.

Google Maps http://maps.google.com/
Maps, directions and satellite imagery including a hybrid map/satellite view which overlays map information on a satellite image.

MapQuest http://www.mapquest.com/
Maps and driving directions.

Yahoo! Maps http://maps.yahoo.com/
Maps and driving directions.

Medical

American Board of Medical Specialists http://www.abms.org/newsearch.asp
Verify physician board certification. Search requires free registration.

American Hospital Directory http://www.ahd.com/
Comprehensive directory of hospitals nationwide providing detailed information on financial, patient, procedure and insurance claim data.

AMA DoctorFinder http://webapps.ama-assn.org/doctorfinder/html/patient.html
Locate physician information by name or specialty. Some listings contain detailed physician information including an ID photo.

AMA State Medical Boards http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2645.html
American Medical Association listing of all state medical boards with links to the individual state websites.

Dr-411 http://www.dr-411.com/
Nationwide directory of doctors, dentists, lawyers and real estate agents.

DrDillin http://www.drdillin.com/education/animation.htm
Spinal anatomy, diagnoses and procedures explained in full color animation.

Drug Index http://www.rxlist.com/
Searchable index of medications.

IFA Range of Joint Motion http://www.ifafitness.com/stretch/stretch8.htm
Table listing the degrees of normal range of motion for joints.

MedicineNet http://www.medterms.com/script/main/hp.asp
Medical dictionary containing over 16,000 medical terms.

MedlinePlus http://www.medlineplus.com/
Medical encyclopedia including definitions, pictures and diagrams.

Metasearch Engines

Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com/
Metasearch engine searching Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.

Ixquick Metasearch http://www.ixquick.com/
Metasearch engine offering results refinement feature and an international telephone directory search.

WebCrawler http://www.webcrawler.com/
Metasearch engine searching Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, About and Looksmart.

Newspaper, Radio, Television & Magazines

Highbeam Library http://www.highbeam.com/library/index.asp
Search for keywords in over 35 million documents from over 3,000 sources including newspapers, magazines, transcripts, books, journals and encyclopedias.

NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/
Search 50,000 current news articles across many publications.

NewsDirectory http://www.newsdirectory.com/
Locate newspapers, television and radio stations, and trade magazines by locality. Includes some international directories.

NewsLink http://newslink.org/
Locate newspapers, television and radio stations by state.

Organizations

American Educational Institute (AEI) http://www.aeiclaimslaw.com/

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) http://www.ahip.org/

American Institute for CPCU (AICPCU) http://www.aicpcu.org/

American Insurance Association (AIA) http://www.aiadc.org/

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) http://www.cfenet.com/

Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (CAIF) http://www.insurancefraud.org/

Economic Crime Institute (ECI) http://www.ecii.edu/

International Association of Insurance Fraud Agencies (IAIFA) http://www.iaifa.org/

International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts (IALEIA) http://www.ialeia.org/

International Association of Special Investigation Units (IASIU) http://www.iasiu.org/

Insurance Information Institute http://www.iii.org/

Insurance Research Council (IRC) http://www.ircweb.org/

Life Office Management Association (LOMA) http://www.loma.org/

National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) http://www.naic.org/

National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA) http://www.nhcaa.org/

National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) http://www.nicb.org/

National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) http://www.nw3c.org/

New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud (NYAAIF) http://www.preventfraud.org/

SIU Resource http://www.siuresource.com/

Properties & Addresses

A9 BlockView http://maps.a9.com/
Street level images of properties for major metropolitan areas.

National Address Server http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/adserv.html
Convert any address to the postal standard version of the address and print envelopes, labels and mailing bar codes.

Eagle Geocoder http://www.geocode.com/eagle.html-ssi
Identify latitude, longitude, property information and postal carrier code for a given address.

NYC Property http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/DocSearch.dll/PName?Submit2=New+Name+Search
Search for New York city properties by owner.

Skyscrapers.com http://www.emporis.info/en/
Search for information on skyscrapers in major cities. Includes photos.

Zillow http://www.zillow.com/
Home valuations, mapping and information.

ZipInfo http://www.zipinfo.com/search/
Get city, state, time zone, county, area code, latitude and longitude based on any zip code.

Public Records

Black Book Online http://www.crimetime.com/online.htm
Offers a variety of free web searches for investigators.

Baby Names http://www.babycenter.com/babyname/
Identify the ethnic origin of first names.

Federal Inmate Locator http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp
Search by name for inmates in federal prison.

Florida Worker’s Comp Database http://www.fldfs.com/WCAPPS/Claims/logon.asp
Database of worker’s compensation claims in Florida. First name, last name, and social security number required to search.

Mail Drops http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/maildropsearch.phtml
Search database of over 40,000 mailing, shipping and packaging stores, post offices and other mail drop locations.

National Sex Offender Public Registry http://www.nsopr.gov/
Search for sex offenders across the United States.

National Student Clearinghouse http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/
College degree verification (fee for service).

Pretrieve http://www.pretrieve.com/
Public record search engine offering a categorized menu of information sources referencing deep web sites.

SearchSystems http://www.searchsystems.net/
Public records directory referencing over 35,000 sources.

SSDI Search http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
Search the Social Security Death Index for paid death benefits.

Tax Court http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/UstcDockInq/
Search US tax court records by name, docket number or corporation.

US Vital Records Info http://vitalrec.com/
Research vital records online and locate addresses for offline sources by location. Useful for identifying recordkeeping entities when information is not available online.

ZabaSearch http://www.zabasearch.com/
Public information and people search. ZabaAlert feature allows user to be notified when someone else searches for a particular name.

Reference

ACFE Fraud Resource Center http://www.acfe.com/fraud/fraud.asp
Articles, tools, links, and publications from ACFE.

Dictionary http://www.m-w.com/
Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus.

Insurance Fraud Research Register http://www.derrig.com/ifrr/index.htm
Collection of insurance fraud research articles and references. Most entries contain abstracts to scholarly reports and some include links to full text articles.

Internet Acronym Server http://silmaril.ie/cgi-bin/uncgi/acronyms
Lookup the various meanings of an acronym.

Matisse's Glossary of Internet Terms http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html
Decipher Internet jargon.

NAIC OFRS https://external-apps.naic.org/ofrs/
The National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s Online Fraud Reporting System.

Refdesk http://www.refdesk.com/
Links to various types of reference material, tools, calculators, search engines, dictionaries, etc. Thousands of resources presented in a well organized structure.

Search Engine Showdown http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/
Comparison and evaluation of search engines. Offers a search features chart which is a handy reference guide to the features and operations of the major search engines.

Snopes http://www.snopes.com
Research urban legends and myths. Excellent resource to determine if those forwarded email stories are really true.

State & Local Government on the Net http://www.statelocalgov.net/
Directory of official state, county and city government websites.

Webopedia http://www.webopedia.com/
Computer and Internet technology definitions.

Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/
Collaborative encyclopedia continuously updated by volunteer editors.

Satellite & Aerial Imagery

Geospatial Data Gateway http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/NextPage.asp
Nationwide orthophotos provided by the US Department of Agriculture.

Google Maps http://maps.google.com/
Mapping service provided by Google. Includes maps, satellite imagery and a hybrid view that features satellite imagery with an overlay of map data like street names and directions.

NDOP http://www.ndop.gov/
National Digital Orthophoto Program. A consortium of Federal agencies with the purpose of developing and maintaining national orthoimagery coverage in the public domain.

OnEarth http://wmt.jpl.nasa.gov/
World satellite imagery provided by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

TerraServer http://terraserver.microsoft.com/
Maps and aerial photographs of the US.

USGS EarthExplorer http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/
Maps and images directly from the US Geological Survey, a common data source for other satellite imagery websites.

Connecticut http://137.99.85.71/sampleiws/2004doq/2004doq.htm

Delaware http://www.udel.edu/FREC/spatlab/doqs/_doq97.html

District of Columbia http://ortho.mit.edu/washdc/overview.cgi

Iowa http://cairo.gis.iastate.edu/map.html

Indiana http://www.indiana.edu/~gisdata/05orthos.html

Kansas http://maps.kansasgis.org/dasc/ims/dasc.cfm

Kentucky http://kymartian.ky.gov/doqq/

Maine http://megisims.state.me.us/website/orthomap/viewer.htm

Massachusetts http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/MassGISColorOrthos/viewer.htm

Minnesota http://www.lmic.state.mn.us/chouse/metalong.html#imagery

Montana http://nris.state.mt.us/nsdi/orthophotos/naip_2005.asp

Nebraska http://www.microimages.com/tntserver/nebrstatewide.htm

New Mexico http://rgis.unm.edu/loader_div.cfm?theme=2005_Digital%20Orthophotos

New Jersey https://njgin.state.nj.us/NJ_NJGINExplorer/index.jsp

New York http://www1.nysgis.state.ny.us/MainMap.cfm

Pennsylvania http://www.pasda.psu.edu/explore/index.shtml

Rhode Island http://ortho.edc.uri.edu/

Washington http://www.dnr.wa.gov/dataandmaps/maps/index.html

Wisconsin http://www.sco.wisc.edu/aerial_sat/index.php

Search Engines

A9 http://a9.com/
Offers personalized results based on historical search patterns.

Google http://www.google.com/
Search engine with advanced tools.

Infomine http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Search scholarly journal articles.

Surfwax http://www.surfwax.com/
Conduct queries and use the Focus feature to identify additional search terms.

Technorati http://www.technorati.com/
Search web logs (blogs).

Vivisimo http://www.vivisimo.com/
Automatically clusters search results into categories.

Yahoo! Search http://www.yahoo.com/
Search engine and subject directory.

Software Tools

Best Ever Freeware Utilities http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
The best freeware utilities on the Internet. Some excellent free programs available for download.

BotSpot http://www.botspot.com/
Research information on web bots which automate online activities.

CopernicAgent http://www.copernic.com/en/products/agent/index.html
Comprehensive downloadable web search tool. Offers many advanced features to customize result sets, save search history, purge dead links, highlight keywords and preview sites listed in search results. Free version is excellent. Paid upgrades are available and offer even more functionality.

Google Earth http://earth.google.com/
Downloadable nationwide satellite imagery navigator. Similar to Google Maps but provides greater navigation and control.

Google Toolbar http://toolbar.google.com
Downloadable toolbar that provides advanced features including easy URL truncation, language translation and highlighting and searching of keywords on result pages. Also an excellent pop up blocker.

HTTrack http://www.httrack.com/
Website copying utility. Allows automated downloading and saving of entire websites or selected portions of sites. Excellent for saving websites to allow for offline browsing or preservation of evidence.

MS Office Template Gallery http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/templategallery/default.asp
Downloadable templates for Microsoft office products. Great starting point for papers, presentations and spreadsheets.

PrimoPDF http://www.primopdf.com/
A free portable document format (PDF) creation utility. Create PDFs that can be read by Adobe Acrobat reader. Excellent for saving permanent versions of electronic documents or web sites. Provides document level password protection.

PrintScreen http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/?prnscr
Downloadable utility for capturing and saving screenshots. Dramatically expands the capabilities of the Print Scrn button on your keyboard.

Telephone & Whitepages

Directory Assistance Plus http://www.daplus.us/
Phone listings provided by infoUSA.

Fone Finder http://www.fonefinder.net/
Enter the area code and prefix of a phone number to identify the corresponding geographic location. Also identifies mobile telephone numbers.

Payphone Project http://www.payphone-project.com/numbers/
Search database of approximately 500,000 payphones by location or phone number.

SearchBug Peoplefinder http://www.searchbug.com/peoplefinder/
Search for individuals by name and state. Also offers reverse searching.

Telephone Prefix Location List http://www.thedirectory.org/pref/
Listing of all telephone area codes and prefixes.

Cellphone Directory http://www.cellphonedirectory.com/
A cellular telephone directory populated by volunteer listings.

Tutorials

Evaluating Info on the Internet http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating/index.html
A resource from the Sheridan Libraries from The Johns Hopkins University. This guide explains various methods for validating web resources.

Finding Information on the Internet http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
Outstanding tutorial provided by UC Berkeley about how to conduct research using search engines and other Internet resources.

How Stuff Works http://www.howstuffworks.com/
Plain English explanation of how everything works. Provides photos, animations and links to useful external sites for additional information.

Mr. Excel http://www.mrexcel.com/articles.shtml
Articles and how-to guides on basic and advanced functions utilizing Microsoft Excel. An excellent resource for designing advanced spreadsheets.

Online Investigator’s Handbook http://www.oihweb.com/
Guide to Internet research and investigation focused on disability insurance claim fraud investigations but applicable for any kind of Internet-based investigations.

Phone Taping http://www.rcfp.org/taping/
Guide to recorded phone conversations. Provides a matrix of state regulations as well as extracts from applicable state statutes.

Reading Email Headers http://www.stopspam.org/email/headers.html
In-depth article describing how to decipher the content of email headers. Use this information to determine the true origin of an email.

Search Engine Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
Articles and information on web searching.