Algorithms and Lists
Learn about the search algorithms employed by Cognito Screening as well as the available lists.
Cognito’s watchlist screening system supports a wide variety of algorithms and languages to support common inconsistencies across both user inputs and underlying watchlist search data.
Supported Languages
| Arabic | German | Korean |
| Spanish | Simplified Chinese | Greek |
| Pashto | Thai | Traditional Chinese |
| Hungarian | Persian | Urdu |
| English | Italian | Portuguese |
| French | Japanese | Russian |
| Hebrew | Burmese | Vietnamese |
Supported Algorithms
| Phonetic similarity | Jesus ↔ Heyzeus ↔ Haezoos |
| Transliteration spelling differences | Abdul Rasheed ↔ Abd al-Rashid |
| Nicknames | William ↔ Will ↔ Bill ↔ Billy |
| Missing spaces or hyphens | MaryEllen ↔ Mary Ellen ↔ Mary-Ellen |
| Titles and honorifics | Dr. ↔ Mr. ↔ Ph.D. |
| Truncated name components | McDonalds ↔ McDonald ↔ McD |
| Missing name components | Phillip Charles Carr ↔ Phillip Carr |
| Out-of-order name components | Diaz, Carlos Alfonzo ↔ Carlos Alfonzo Diaz |
| Initials | J. E. Smith ↔ James Earl Smith |
| Names split inconsistently across database fields | Dick. Van Dyke ↔ Dick Van . Dyke |
| Same name in multiple languages | Mao Zedong ↔ Мао Цзэдун ↔ 毛泽东 ↔ 毛澤東 |
| Semantically similar names | Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ↔ Eagle Drugs, Co. |
| Semantically similar names across language | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation ↔ 日本電信電話株式会社 |
Supported Watchlists
US – Office of Foreign Assets Control
- Specially Designated Nationals List
- Foreign Sanctions Evaders
- Palestinian Legislative Council
- Sectoral Sanctions Identifications
- Non-SDN Menu-Based Sanctions
- Correspondent Account or Payable-Through Account Sanctions
- Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex List
US - Department of Justice
- FBI Wanted List
US – Department of State
- Nonproliferation Sanctions
- AECA Debarred
Bureau of Industry and Security
- Denied Persons List
- Unverified List
UK – Her Majesty’s Treasury
- Consolidated list
EU – European External Action Service
- Consolidated list
AU – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Consolidated list
CA – Government of Canada
- Consolidated List of Sanctions
Interpol
- Red Notices for Wanted Persons List
United Nations
- Consolidated list
Politically Exposed Persons
- Politically Exposed Persons List
- State Owned Enterprise List
- CIA List of World Leaders
SG - Government of Singapore
- Terrorists and Terrorist Entities
TR - Government of Turkey
- Terrorist Wanted List
- Domestic Freezing Decisions
- Foreign Freezing Requests
- Weapons of Mass Destruction
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