Overview#
An analyst investigating a sanctions evasion case suspects a subject is using a vessel to move commodities in violation of export restrictions. She links the vessel's MMSI number to the investigation and the platform begins polling AIS tracking data. Within hours, it flags that the vessel has disabled its transponder near a sanctioned port, then reappeared further along the coast. Simultaneously, the subject's known cryptocurrency wallet shows an outbound transaction that correlates with the timeline. That kind of cross-domain correlation, across maritime, blockchain, and sanctions data, is what the External Data domain provides.
Real-time external data is most valuable when it surfaces changes automatically rather than requiring analysts to check multiple external portals manually. Configurable polling intervals and investigation-linked data feeds keep relevant intelligence current without analyst intervention.
Key Features#
- Configurable polling engine with custom intervals, expiration times, and investigation linking
- Aviation integration for flight tracking: number lookup, route tracking, and status monitoring
- Maritime integration for AIS vessel tracking: MMSI-based queries, position updates, and destination tracking
- Blockchain integration for transaction monitoring: address history, value filtering, and contract detection
- Sanctions screening with risk level assessment and compliance scoring
- Cross-source data correlation with confidence scoring and ranking
- Cache management with TTL-based expiration and hit rate tracking
- Polling health monitoring with error rates and service status dashboards
- Domain-specific summary statistics for each integrated data source
Use Cases#
- Monitoring cryptocurrency wallet transactions for suspicious activity during financial crime and sanctions investigations
- Tracking vessel movements and correlating AIS maritime data with investigation subjects for sanctions evasion and smuggling cases
- Screening addresses and entities against sanctions databases for compliance verification
- Correlating data across aviation, maritime, and financial sources to build a comprehensive intelligence picture of a subject's activities
Industry Context#
Financial intelligence units use blockchain monitoring to trace cryptocurrency flows through mixing services and identify off-ramp transactions. Maritime security agencies correlate AIS dark ship events with sanctions screening results to identify vessels likely involved in illicit cargo transfers. Aviation security teams track flight routes to identify travel patterns associated with high-risk subjects. National border control agencies integrate sanctions screening into real-time inspection workflows. Commodity trading compliance teams screen counterparties against multiple sanctions lists before settlement.
Integration#
The External Data domain integrates with Organisation for tenant isolation, Investigation for case linking, Alert for risk notifications, and Dashboard for data visualisation. All polling configuration and results are stored in PostgreSQL with organisation-scoped access control.
Open Standards#
- ITU-R Recommendation M.1371 (AIS): The maritime integration decodes Automatic Identification System messages over WebSocket, extracting navigational status codes, MMSI identifiers, IMO numbers, callsigns, speed over ground, and course over ground as defined by this ITU-R standard for vessel tracking.
- IATA and ICAO Designators: Aviation flight tracking uses IATA flight, airline, and airport codes alongside ICAO airline and aircraft type designators for identification and cross-source correlation of aviation data.
- IMO Ship Identification and UN/LOCODE: Vessel metadata is cross-referenced against the International Maritime Organisation ship identification registry, and port destinations are resolved against the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE) database.
- WGS 84 (EPSG:4326): Latitude and longitude coordinates for aircraft positions, vessel positions, and airport locations are expressed in the World Geodetic System 1984 reference frame, enabling geographic correlation across all data sources.
- ISO 8601 / RFC 3339: All timestamps throughout the polling engine, cached data records, and processed results are serialised and parsed as ISO 8601 date-time strings with UTC offset, ensuring interoperability across aviation, maritime, and blockchain data sources.
- Ethereum Protocol (EIP-1): Blockchain monitoring queries the Ethereum network for transaction histories, processing values in Wei, gas parameters, contract addresses, and input data method signatures consistent with the Ethereum Yellow Paper and core Ethereum Improvement Proposals.
- OFAC SDN and Consolidated Sanctions Lists: Sanctions screening evaluates entities against the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals list and other consolidated sanctions programmes, producing structured risk scores and compliance verdicts.
- GraphQL (June 2018 Specification): All external data queries, mutations, and type definitions are exposed via a GraphQL API, allowing clients to request precisely the aviation, maritime, blockchain, or sanctions data fields they require.
Last Reviewed: 2026-02-05 Last Updated: 2026-04-14