Mark Fenton
As a 28 year veteran of the Vancouver Police Department, and 12 years spent in the Technological Crimes Unit, Mark recovered approximately $600 million in compromised financial data. He has provided crucial intelligence in relation to a number of high profile data breaches across North America which resulted in the successful arrests of a number of global suspects. Mark has also been recognized at the B.C. Provincial Court level as an expert on social media.
As well as assisting municipal law enforcement agencies across Canada and the United States Mark also worked closely with the: RCMP, FBI, United States Secret Service, United States Postal Inspectors and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Nigeria). Mark has also assisted the top 7 financial institutions in Canada, a number of large U.S banks and the 4 main North American credit card companies in recovering millions of dollars worth of compromised data.
Since 2005 Mark has been a guest instructor at the BC Police Academy lecturing the police cadets on computer crime. He has also guest lectured / presented at: PRTC (Pacific Regional Training Centre-Canadian Police College, Chilliwack), IOC2 (Intl Organized Crime Intelligence and Ops Center-Potomac, MD), BC Association of Police Boards (Police / Cyber issues), BCIT (Cyber Legal Issues / Search Techniques), the Vancouver School Board (Cyber Safety) and various lower mainland schools, POLCYB (Society for the Policing of Cyberspace), BCCPA (BC Crime Prevention Association), Lower Mainland Crown Prosecutors Symposium, Northwest Fraud Investigators Association, FIRMA (San Antonio, Texas), Government agencies (Post Office, Vancouver Parole / Behavioural staff), numerous business and non-profit associations.
Mark was considered the departmental in-house expert regarding the Internet and was the only departmental trainer for Internet Investigations. He was responsible for the implementation and training of all investigative sections in how to use the Internet as both a research and investigative tool. This included both overt, and covert, investigations. Mark is also a sessional instructor at the Justice Institute of BC where he teaches Internet Investigative courses.
In 2016 Mark received a Chief Constable’s Citation “…for developing innovative policing techniques that have been recognized worldwide…In 2012, Detective Constable Mark Fenton developed a script that has been used not just across Canada, but also globally, to locate suicidal people, terrorists, pedophiles, and other hard-to-locate suspects.” In 2014 Mark received a Deputy Chief Constable’s Unit Citation for his open source investigative work during the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot. This was the first time that the Internet had played a crucial role in a major departmental investigation. In 2010 Mark was presented with the US Secret Service’s highest external award for investigative excellence in relation to a number of high profile Internet Joint Forces Operations. In 2006 he was awarded the Canadian Bankers Law Enforcement Award for outstanding cyber-fraud investigations. In 2005 he was also nominated for the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Public Safety and in 2004 received a Chief Constables Unit Citation (Criminal Intelligence Section).
Due to the numerous high profile files Mark has dealt with, and that cyber crime is still relatively novel, he has been interviewed by local, national and international print media (newspapers and magazines). He has also appeared on national television news magazines such as W-Five and Market Place.
Mark retired from law enforcement in 2016 but continues to train law enforcement officers and organizations in Open Source Investigations.