STEPHEN J. SILVER, PH.D.
Director of Investigations
Direct Tel: +1 332 296 8312
Email: ssilver@brithem.com
Stephen Silver provides Brithem’s clients with a built-in, trusted investigative partner who will operate at the high standards set by the firm.
He joined Brithem from Brown Rudnick, where he worked for years in close collaboration with Mike Bowe, Lauren Tabaksblat, James Holohan, and other members of the Brithem team.
Stephen’s experience includes projects involving public record and social media research, large-scale link analysis, digital forensic metadata analysis, deep/dark web investigations, breached personal information databases, cryptocurrency blockchain transactions, asset searches, and due diligence research into prospective clients, board members, and executives. He has produced intelligence and evidence deployed in active litigation for clients, which have included prominent law firms, publicly traded companies, celebrities, and politicians.
He previously worked at Quilligence LLC, where he led a team of OSINT (open-source intelligence) investigators and subcontractors.
Stephen holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Davis, where he completed his dissertation on the Second World War in North Africa. His academic area of expertise is modern European history.
Credentials
University of California, Davis, Ph.D., history
Brandeis University, M.A., comparative history
Oberlin College, B.A.
OSC Certified, OSMOSIS Association (2024–present)
Impact Matters
Exposed anonymous online harassment
Unmasked individuals operating anonymous social media accounts used to harass or disparage clients, including litigants and high-profile individuals, through deleted social media accounts, public records, business filings, historical Internet domain registrations, unique HTML advertiser identification codes, archival resources, and forensic digital metadata recovery.
Tracked hidden property assets
Located tens of millions of dollars in property during asset searches, including fraudulent real estate transfers to spouses and international business entities, and resources moved abroad.
Revealed market manipulation schemes
Uncovered evidence of fraud and coordination among short-sellers and hedge funds suspected of manipulating public stocks in social media and public records by charting and analyzing clandestine networks.
Overall Experience
Stephen has:
- While leading a team in due diligence research, authored actionable dossiers that include criminal and civil litigation filings, regulatory records, and derogatory media reports regarding potential clients, business partners, and executive leadership.
- Developed and deployed customized web scraping, social media parsing, deleted social media recovery, and data analysis tools written in Python, JavaScript, and Ruby, to investigate the behavior of anonymous internet handles, litigants, and organizations.
- Discovered evidence of deception hidden in unindexed website directories, the “dark web” of Tor-obscured Internet servers, and obsolete Usenet newsgroups and hidden message boards.
Recent Speaking Engagements
- “Thinking Like a Historian: Leveraging Academic Research Methods for OSINT,” OSMOSIS Conference: Bits & Bytes (October 21, 2024)
- “From the Public Archive to the Wayback Machine: Thinking Like a Historian for OSINT Practitioners,” SANS OSINT Summit (March 1, 2024)
Professional & Community Affiliations
- Associate International Investigator, Council of International Investigators
- Member, Intellenet
- Member, OSMOSIS Association