By Irene Maslowski
Cynthia Hetherington, MLS, MSM, CFE, President of the Hetherington Group (www.hetheringtongroup.com) in Wayne,N.J. a consulting, publishing and training
firm focusing on intelligence, security and investigations, has been named the recipient of the 2012 James
R. Baker Speaker of the Year Award by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
(www.acfe.com). The award is presented annually to honor an individual who has demonstrated the true
spirit of leadership in communication, presentation and quality instruction.
Hetherington has more than twenty-years of experience in online research, investigations and corporate
intelligence. She is directly involved with numerous public, private and government organizations on
conducting Internet investigations. Her expertise is related to employee theft and intellectual property loss,
location of hidden assets, corporate due diligence and online security. She has overseen international
investigations for Fortune 500 companies and other organizations in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
A widely published author, Hetherington authored Business Background Investigations (2007) and the
Manual to Online Public Records (2008), published by Facts on Demand Press. She is the publisher of
Data2know.com: Internet & Online Intelligence Newsletter and has co-authored articles on steganography,
computer forensics, Internet investigations and other security-focused monographs. She is also recognized
for providing corporate security officials, military intelligence units, and federal, state and local agencies
with training on online intelligence practices. In addition, she is an adjunct faculty member at the Federal
Law Enforcement Training Center, where she teaches a program on cyber counterterrorism investigations.
The ACFE is the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and
education. Together with more than 60,000 members, the ACFE is reducing business fraud worldwide and
inspiring public confidence in the integrity and objectivity within the profession. Based in Austin, Texas,
the ACFE was founded in 1988 by preeminent fraud expert and author, Dr. Joseph T. Wells, CFE, CPA.
Dr. Wells’ insight as an accountant-turned-FBI agent led to the formation of a common body of
knowledge known today as fraud examination.
