Taking OSINT Seriously
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)—Intelligence produced from publicly-available information—can be a key enabler when addressing national security and public safety challenges, insider threats, and business risk. Ranging from widely-available information culled from periodicals and websites to data extracted from the far corners of social media or the Dark Web, OSINT not only supplements intelligence gathered through clandestine means, but in many cases offers insights unavailable anywhere else . OSINT provides a relatively low-cost, low-risk, and efficient means of addressing intelligence gaps—especially for organizations that lack the resources to run extensive technical intelligence or espionage operations.
OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE : "RELEVANT INFORMATION DERIVED FROM THE SYSTEMATIC COLLECTION, PROCESSING, AND ANALYSIS OF PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO KNOWN OR ANTICIPATED INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS. ALSO CALLED OSINT."
- DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, JOINT PUBLICATION 1-02
In 2018, undergraduate student researchers at Fairmont State University in West Virginia positively identified the clandestine presence of specific Russian army units in eastern Ukraine through cutting-edge exploitation of Russian social media sites and unclassified publications on Russian military uniforms and order of battle. This trend continues today as journalists, think tanks, and even intelligence services following the Russia-Ukraine War use social media crowdsourcing to track the movement of combatants and refugees, conduct battle damage assessments, and glean insights about strategy and policy. That case is not an isolated incident:
Careful review of publicly available scientific research articles can shed light on the direction of a country’s research and development programs.
Commercially Available Electronic Information (CAEI) gathered by credit agencies and online marketing firms can be mined for individuals’ biographical, financial, and lifestyle information.
CAEI rapidly is becoming the new face of OSINT. Extremist organizations often publish press statements and manifestos that reveal information about their ideology, goals, and targets.
Political memoirs and autobiographies frequently detail the inner workings of government bureaucracies and decision making.
Marketing materials from military industries can provide capability and performance data about weapons, platforms, and systems.
Unfortunately, even today’s “digital natives” do not fully understand the capabilities—and limitations— of OSINT. OSINT is much more than running a search on Google or “catphishing” someone on social media. Navigating the vast labyrinth of resources, parsing the immense volume of data, avoiding cybersecurity pitfalls, and staying on the right side of evolving legal and policy requirements depends on deep knowledge of OSINT tradecraft, tools, and procedures.
The OSINT analyst must effectively coalesce information from a broad spectrum of research disciplines (e.g. historical information, imagery analysis, sociological and linguistic analysis, public communications, etc.) to derive insights relevant to specific persons, groups, events, and institutions of interest. These data products represent valuable resources to the intelligence consumer.
The multi-dimensional skills of required to fuse these data into a cohesive picture should be fostered among today's analysts to better understand tomorrow's threats. Practicing OSINT without the right training can lead to missed collection opportunities, security compromises, and even civil liberties issues.
The Intelligence and Security Academy, LLC, offers training to help your organization create a cadre of skilled OSINT practitioners. Created and led by veterans of the U.S. Intelligence Community, ISA’s OSINT Course covers the fundamentals of creating a successful OSINT program, including policy and resource considerations. It examines how developments in AI/ML, and Big Data are changing OSINT. The course also reviews essential OSINT tradecraft related to operational security, data collection, and analysis, while giving practitioners the skills they need to effectively exploit the full-range of sources (including social media, Deep Web, and the Dark Web). This course can be tailored to specific client needs, such as OSINT for Background Investigators or Law Enforcement Officers.
To schedule your organization’s next training, or for any questions about ISA’s education and training program, contact us at learn@isallc.net.