Collaborator Recruitment

A subject seeks to recruit a person outside the affected organization’s current or former authorized-access population to knowingly assist an infringement or its concealment. The requested assistance may involve identifying or acting as a buyer for organizational information, arranging unauthorized transactions, supplying technical capabilities, providing infrastructure, introducing further participants, or receiving and handling information, assets, or proceeds. The subject may approach an existing personal or professional contact, seek an introduction through an intermediary, or contact a previously unknown person.

The distinguishing feature is the recruitment of external participation in the unauthorized activity, rather than ordinary engagement with an external service provider or information recipient. Investigators should establish the role proposed, the improper purpose communicated, the person’s response, and any agreed terms or subsequent assistance. A person who unknowingly provides an otherwise legitimate service should not be classified as a recruited collaborator. Contact with an external party, an introduction, or an unexplained payment does not independently establish recruitment.

A subject seeks to recruit another person who currently has, or previously had, authorized access to the affected organization’s resources to knowingly assist an infringement or its concealment. The requested assistance may draw on that person’s access, organizational knowledge, decision-making authority, operational responsibilities, or trusted relationships. This may involve obtaining restricted information, providing credentials or physical entry, approving improper transactions, making unauthorized changes, suppressing scrutiny, or recruiting additional participants.

The person approached may be a colleague, manager, direct report, former member of the organization, or trusted third-party personnel. Investigators should establish the person’s relationship with the organization, the assistance sought, and whether the subject communicated its unauthorized purpose. Recruitment of a former member does not establish that they retain access, and recruitment of a privileged individual does not establish that their privileges were subsequently used. A managerial instruction or request for assistance should not be treated as knowing recruitment solely because it later contributes to an infringement.