VRA

VRA Security and Risk Management Tools Protect Organizational Assets, Operations & Human Resources

A post-9/11 survey, conducted by Aon Corporation, suggests "the pace of globalization has been extraordinary, and even the most sophisticated firms may not yet have come to terms with some of the new risks they are taking on."

The VRA Platform seeks to change this by providing a user-friendly and integrated system for you to use. We make your data work for you, whether you need Analytic Support, Data on Demand, or Operations Support and Training.





  • analyze structural vulnerability and resilience

  • identify emerging threats and evolving risks

  • support evidence-based prevention and mitigation options

  • manage exposure to reputations

Virtual Research Associates, Inc. (VRA) was established on March 1, 1996 as a Massachusetts corporation. VRA was founded to support the development of data required to analyze news and other reports on volatile conflict situations throughout the world, and to engage in that analysis with a focus on identifying, tracking and assessing the risks posed by evolving situations of social, political and economic conflict.

Virtual Research Associates’ mission is to bring automated conflict, vulnerability and sentiment analyses to international finance, commerce, and communications firms—companies whose interests depend upon an accurate assessment of trends in conflict interactions via real-time technologies that are:


  • Automated and interactive modes of operation

  • Flexible and extensible to meet individual user requirements

  • User customizable across a wide range of social, economic and political phenomena

  • Based on VRA’s patented natural language processing technology

  • Low-cost to operate

  • Intuitive and easy to learn

  • 100 % transparent

  • Source independent

VRA’s first customer in 1997 was the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). SAIC required customized events data for a modeling project that exceeded the capabilities of human (manual) coding. Sandia Labs also required events data tailored to their interest in bio-terrorism incidents. Again, VRA was able to supply custom data on demand. Several other US government agencies have purchased various events data sets and/or sponsored research and development projects by VRA over the years.


Beginning in 1998 the Center of Excellence Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs sponsored the development of the ASIA system, a customized version of the VRA Knowledge Manager that focused on the Asia-Pacific region. The ASIA system provided a system to support early warning of contingencies and humanitarian events. In late 2001, in a development effort sponsored by World Vision International, the system expanded to support monitoring field security for humanitarian aid workers, leading directly to a global situational awareness tracking system used by large nongovernmental organizations and several intergovernmental organizations. VRA continues to support operations of a number of these systems operating throughout the Africa and Asia.


VRA’s roots extend into the academic research community, founded as it was on a decade of research into the effectiveness of social movements throughout the world. VRA continues to work closely with the academic community providing customized data sets on demand across a wide range of research efforts that require global, empirical data on reported events.