Security and private investigation glossary.

A private investigator is a professional who gathers, verifies, documents, and reports information for clients, attorneys, businesses, insurers, or individuals within applicable legal and ethical boundaries.

A due diligence investigation is a fact-gathering review used to assess a person, company, transaction, vendor, executive, partner, or risk-sensitive relationship before a decision is made.

A background check is a review of available records, credentials, history, or other information used to evaluate identity, qualifications, risk factors, or relevant prior conduct.

A workplace investigation is a structured review of allegations, incidents, complaints, policy concerns, misconduct, safety issues, or internal risk matters within an employment or business setting.

A security provider is a company or organization that delivers protective services, personnel, consulting, systems support, patrol coverage, access-control support, or other security operations for a client.

A security guard is a person assigned to observe, deter, report, control access, conduct patrols, respond to site conditions, or support client safety and property-protection objectives.

Executive protection is a security service focused on reducing risk to executives, high-profile individuals, visiting leaders, witnesses, or other protected persons through planning, movement support, situational awareness, and protective procedures.

A security risk assessment is a structured review of threats, vulnerabilities, controls, operations, documentation, and exposure areas that may affect people, property, information, or business continuity.

Vendor due diligence is the review of a prospective or existing vendor to understand service capability, legal standing, risk controls, reputation, documentation quality, and fit for a business need.

An incident report is a written record of an event, observation, response, or condition that a security team documents for client awareness, review, escalation, or future risk control.

Chain of custody is the documented history of who collected, handled, stored, transferred, reviewed, or preserved an item of evidence or information.

Evidence handling refers to the procedures used to collect, label, protect, store, transmit, and describe information or material that may support an investigation, incident review, claim, or business decision.

Open source intelligence, often called OSINT, is information collected and analyzed from publicly available or lawfully accessible sources for an intelligence, investigation, risk, or verification purpose.

Access control is the process of managing who may enter, use, or move through a location, system, area, asset, or controlled environment.

Security patrol is the planned movement of security personnel through a site, route, property, or service area to observe conditions, deter problems, identify risks, and document findings.

Confidentiality controls are policies, procedures, access limits, training practices, and documentation rules used to protect sensitive client, employee, case, security, or business information.