Use the software that real online private investigators do

By Kim Komando

December 2, 2017

Ever wondered what tools real-life private investigators use in their profession? No, I’m not referring to big magnifying glasses, nor the Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hats and Calabash smoking pipes (do they even use these at all?) I’m talking about the modern tools of sleuthing and tracking – computers, software and the internet. With all the personal information floating around there, all it takes for a private investigator to do a decent job is persistence and a reliable internet connection. There are tons of free investigative software tools out there you can download and install. This download I’m going to talk about next, however, compiles all the useful ones and throws them into a virtual machine you can take anywhere.

Buscador Investigative Operating System

Buscador is a virtual Linux machine pre-loaded and configured with software that online private investigators use. It was developed by privacy consultants David Westcott and Micahel Bazzell and they say that it is enough for most online investigations. Since it’s a virtual machine, it is a separate system from your main operating system and you can uninstall and delete it at any time. And since every private investigator worth his salt knows that a portable tool is essential for effective sleuthing, you can even create a portable version of Buscador on a USB stick you can take with you wherever you go. The current size of the image file is 3.5 GB and it includes these free tools:

• Custom Firefox Install and Add-Ons
• Custom Chrome Install and Extensions
• Tor Browser
• Custom Video Manipulation Utilities
• Custom Video Download Utility
• Recon-NG
• Maltego
• Creepy
• Metagoofil
• MediaInfo
• ExifTool
• Spiderfoot
• Google Earth Pro
• EmailHarvester
• theHarvester
• Wayback Exporter
• HTTrack Cloner
• Web Snapper
• Knock Pages
• SubBrute
• Twitter Exporter
• Tinfoleak
• InstaLooter
• BleachBit
• VeraCrypt
• KeePass

How to Download

To download the necessary software to run the Buscador virtual machine, proceed to its official download page or click the blue download button below. You will have to install a virtual machine application like VirtualBox or VMWare to set up and launch the Buscador Investigative Operating System. Once installed, it will be essentially another machine within your main machine, a computer within a computer, if you will. Now that’s one thing modern-day cyber-Sherlock Holmes and Watsons could definitely use.

Tags: Google, internet, operating systems, X (Twitter)