In today's digital world, we reserve a huge amount of information: posts on social networks, comments, photos, profile data, participation in forums, mentions in the news and much more. All these are called open sources of information, and one of the most interesting areas of cyber intelligence, OSINT, operates on their basis. In this article, we will explain in simple words what OSINT is, why it is needed, who uses it, and how it works.
Decoding the OSINT term
OSINT is an abbreviation of the English expression Open Source Intelligence, which translates as intelligence from open sources. This is the collection, analysis and interpretation of information available to everyone — without the need for hacking, access to confidential databases or the use of hidden methods.
Simply put, if you found information about a person in his Facebook profile, found a phone number in the public domain, checked the address via Google Maps, or found his name in the judicial database, you are already dealing with OSINT.
How OSINT works
OSINT does not involve hacking or espionage activities. This is an exceptionally legitimate way to search for data that uses publicly available resources. Information can be gathered from:
- Instagram Facebook, TikTok, etc.),
- forums and comments,
- public databases (registers of companies, courts, real estate),
- news and mass media,
- video and photo content,
- mapping services (Google Maps, Yandex Maps),
- WHOIS-data about website domains,
- Telegram channels and bots,
- search engines (Google, Bing, etc.).
The most interesting thing is that OSINT tools can quickly collect and process large amounts of such information, combining them into a dossier on a specific person or organization.
A simple example from life
Let's say you want to find out more about a person who sold you something through a bulletin board, but you doubt his honesty. You have his name, phone number, and possibly an avatar. You can use OSINT to:
- Check if this number is registered in Telegram or WhatsApp and how it is signed there.
- Find this number on Google — it may have already been mentioned in negative reviews.
- Search for his name on social media and find his profile.
- Match photos from avatars with other accounts.
- Find his address or even his car from the ad database.
And this is only a superficial level. OSINT allows you to dig deeper.
Where OSINT is used
OSINT is used much more widely than it might seem.:
1. Cybersecurity
Security experts use OSINT to find vulnerabilities in the company's infrastructure, password leaks, mentions of the company on the Darknet, and more.
