Frequently Asked Questions
What does Countervail do?
Countervail is a veteran-owned American agency providing adversary-informed cybersecurity consulting, incident readiness, organizational training, and licensed cybercrime investigations.
We help organizations prepare for cyber threats through incident response planning, OSINT-driven tabletop exercises, decision-focused training, and practical security recommendations. We also support individuals facing cybercrime, fraud, account compromise, impersonation, harassment, stalking, doxing, extortion, or other real-world digital harm.
Is Countervail a licensed private investigation agency?
Yes. Countervail LLC is a Washington State licensed, bonded, and insured private investigation agency.
Agency Principal: Joanna Wiggum
PI License #26010541
UBI 606107463
Who works with Countervail?
Countervail works with organizations and individuals facing financially, politically, or criminally motivated cyber threats.
Organizational clients may include small and mid-sized businesses, nonprofits, public agencies, utilities, professional services firms, associations, and leadership teams. Individual clients may include cybercrime victims, public-facing professionals, business owners, executives, nonprofit leaders, and people facing targeted online harm.
What services do you provide for organizations?
Countervail provides cybersecurity preparedness and response support for organizations, including:
Incident response plan review
OSINT-driven tabletop exercises
Cybersecurity workshops and training
Ransomware and fraud readiness
Business email compromise readiness
Payment diversion and impersonation prevention
Decision-focused training for high-pressure cyber events
Adversary-informed security recommendations
Vetted partner solution guidance when appropriate
Do you provide cybercrime investigations for individuals?
Yes. Countervail provides licensed cybercrime investigative support for individuals facing fraud, financial loss, account compromise, impersonation, harassment, stalking, doxing, extortion, ransomware, or other cyber-enabled harm.
Investigative work may include OSINT, evidence preservation, timeline reconstruction, exposure review, threat actor analysis where evidence supports it, and law-enforcement-ready findings.
What types of cybercrime matters do you handle?
Countervail supports matters involving:
Online fraud or financial loss
Account compromise
Business email compromise
Payment diversion
Impersonation
Identity misuse
Doxing
Cyberstalking
Harassment
Extortion or coercive threats
Ransomware-related concerns
Suspicious messages or domains
Digital evidence preservation
Cyber-enabled exploitation
Do you work with law enforcement, attorneys, banks, or insurance providers?
Yes, when appropriate and with client consent.
Countervail prepares organized findings, timelines, and evidence summaries that may support law enforcement reports, legal referrals, banking claims, insurance matters, platform reports, or recovery efforts.
Countervail does not act as law enforcement and cannot compel an agency, bank, insurer, platform, or third party to take action.
Do you guarantee recovery, attribution, or criminal charges?
No. Cybercrime investigations depend on available evidence, third-party records, platform cooperation, law enforcement action, banking processes, and case-specific facts.
Countervail provides evidence-driven investigative support, OSINT, documentation, and analysis based on lawful methods and available information. Attribution is provided only where evidence supports it.
What should I do first if money was stolen or transferred?
Contact your bank immediately and ask about fraud reversal, recall, or recovery options.
Preserve all related evidence, including emails, texts, phone numbers, transaction records, screenshots, account alerts, usernames, domains, links, and communication with the suspected scammer or impersonator. Do not delete messages, confront the suspect, or send more money before getting guidance.
You may also need to file a report with IC3.gov for cybercrime or financial fraud.
What should I do if I think my email or account was compromised?
Preserve evidence before changing anything when possible.
Look for forwarding rules, unknown devices, connected apps, unfamiliar login locations, sent messages you did not send, password resets, changed recovery information, or financial accounts tied to the compromised email.
Your email account often controls password resets for other services, so email compromise should be treated as a priority.
How much do cybercrime investigations cost?
Cybercrime investigations are billed at $325 per hour and require a 6-hour minimum retainer.
Pricing may vary based on complexity, urgency, duration, evidence volume, and scope.
Do you list pricing for organizational consulting or training?
Organizational consulting, tabletop exercises, incident readiness work, and training engagements are scoped based on the organization’s needs, size, risk profile, goals, and preparation required.
Countervail provides a proposal after an initial consultation.
Do you offer emergency support?
Emergency or urgent support may be available depending on investigator availability, case severity, and the nature of the matter.
If funds were transferred, contact your bank first. If there is an immediate physical threat, contact emergency services or local law enforcement.
Do you work outside Washington State?
Yes. Many cybersecurity consulting, training, OSINT, incident readiness, and digital investigation services can be performed remotely.
Private investigation requirements may vary by jurisdiction. Countervail will assess whether a matter can be handled directly or requires referral, coordination, or additional support.
Do you provide cybersecurity software?
Countervail is not a software reseller first.
We assess the risk, identify the gap, and recommend practical solutions when they fit the client’s needs. When appropriate, Countervail may recommend vetted partner solutions for exposure reduction, secure browsing, security testing, cyber strategy, or other needs.
Do you replace an IT provider or managed service provider?
No. Countervail does not replace your IT provider, managed service provider, attorney, insurer, bank, or law enforcement agency.
Countervail provides adversary-informed cybersecurity judgment, incident readiness, investigative support, evidence organization, and practical recommendations that help clients make better decisions and coordinate with the right parties.
How do I start?
Contact Countervail with a brief description of the concern, the type of support needed, whether the matter is urgent, and the best way to reach you.
Do not submit passwords, full financial account numbers, Social Security numbers, private keys, recovery codes, or sensitive evidence through a contact form or unsecured email.
Contact: contact@countervailintelligence.com