What is OSINT, or "Open-Source Intelligence"?

OSINT is an acronym that stands for "Open-Source Intelligence," but even knowing the words behind this acronym, that doesn't necessarily give you all the keys to understanding what's behind this concept!

Let's go word by word...

Here "Intelligence" doesn't refer to our intellectual abilities, but rather to the search for and investigation of information. This is the American usage of the word, which is also found in the acronym CIA for "Central Intelligence Agency".

And the "Open-Source" part means that the investigation won't be conducted using confidential data, documents, or information requiring special authorization, but with data available to the general public.

If we had to summarize it in one sentence: OSINT is an intelligence and investigation practice based on openly available information.

Note that some of this openly available information is actually data that should be confidential but whose security has been neglected...

What is it for?

Information gathering can be needed in all fields, ranging from very sensitive topics (crime, terrorism, geopolitics, etc.) to entertainment topics (video games, music, film, etc.).

It's a professional practice very present in law enforcement, but also in the press, for gathering exclusive stories before everyone else!

For example, many announcements of new content in video games are detected before their release, simply by digging through the game's files!

An example of an intelligence problem: Finding the true identity of an online harasser in order to bring them to justice.

If you want to see OSINT in practice, I recommend watching this mini-documentary where the identity of a person is found from a simple photo taken from a plane... https://code-garage.fr/videos/?id=udYtHVEwbYA

Some people have made OSINT their profession, while others help out voluntarily, or simply do it for fun!

How to do it?

OSINT uses every possible technique and tool to extract additional information from a source piece of data, then cross-reference it with other information, documents, etc.

Here are a few basic techniques for finding more information from a simple piece of data. For example, we use:

• A EXIF metadata analysis tool on an image to find the geolocation, date/time the photo was taken, etc.
• Reverse image search to find the origin and context of an image
• Boolean searches in search engines to filter results
• Mapping tools to pinpoint the precise location of aerial views
• Social media to gather information about a person

If you want a more or less exhaustive list, I recommend the following site: https://osintframework.com/

How to practice?

If you want to test your skills while learning through fictional missions set in real situations, the OZINT site is absolutely fantastic: