Samarqand, Uzbekistan, 2014
It all started back in 2014, when I was an optimistic young journalist working a story in Uzbekistan, and dreaming of making my name with a Pulitzer prize-winning story. I’d picked up a whiff of something nasty to do with the Lanro Corporation – you’ll remember the name, from the big court case – so I’d taken a temporary job as a network technician in the IT department at the Lanro head office. IT roles make for a good cover – no one takes any notice of some technical johnny lurking in the corner of the room, so you can listen in to all kinds of fascinating conversations.
During the day I kept my eyes and ears open around the place to see what I could find, while from my apartment I ran background checks using a link via satellite phone and the advanced technology the boys back at base had provided. I set up the software agent to scan blogs and news items that referred to Lanro or any of its senior executives.
It’s a pretty neat tool, this agent. It’s more intelligent than your normal keyword search because over time it refines and develops the search criteria based on the feedback you give it to provide the most relevant results. Once it’s set up it will keep running until you tell it to stop, giving you regular updates, and all you need to do is check the results from time to time to make sure it’s on the right track and, if necessary, issue updated instructions. It’s like having a research assistant – except this one doesn’t need to take vacations and sleep at night. Mostly, I would just review financial history or recent marketing activities - but then, by chance, I stumbled across what I knew was going to be the biggest story since Samson got stitched up by Delilah.
Please note: the characters, businesses, corporations and events portrayed in this article are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or dead, or existing legal entity, is merely coincidental
Click here for a downloadable PDF version of this article ( 
3.7 Mb – Adobe Acrobat Reader required – click here to download a free copy)
