The OSINT Newsletter - Issue #35
Methods for reverse searching email addresses at scale and finding hidden connections using GoodReads
👋 Welcome to the 35th issue of The OSINT Newsletter. This issue contains OSINT news, community posts, tactics, techniques, and tools to help you become a better investigator. My goal with this newsletter is to help promote the OSINT industry, develop better investigators, and raise awareness of ethical use cases for open source intelligence.
🙏 2023 has been a crazy year. I almost ended the newsletter only to revive it a month later after removing my conflict of interest. I went from publishing one issue a month to one or more per week. I grew the publication from 2600 subscribers to over 10,000. I created Poastal and started writing a book. I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with several OSINT investigators, researchers, and organizations. It’s been amazing. Thank you so much.
🚨 This is the last issue of 2023. Stay tuned for exciting new issues in 2024. Here are some things to look forward to:
January - The print version of The OSINT Newsletter will be shipped to customers
February - OSINT Tools Tuesday will be launched, providing step-by-step guides and video tutorials for popular OSINT Tools
March - This is a surprise, but paid subscribers will receive a major level up to their OSINT workflow by getting early access to my projects in a very cool way
🪃 If you missed the last newsletter, here’s a link to catch up.
Let’s get started. ⬇️
OSINT News
📰 How to investigate messaging apps and social media for electoral disinformation
This guide shares tips and tricks for investigating disinformation, specifically through the lens of disinformation. Muskan talks joining groups and channels, investigating ad libraries, collaboration, and more.
🎩 H/T: Muskan Bansal
📰 Covert Indian operation seeks to discredit Modi’s critics in the U.S.
This piece talks about a covert operation that an Indian intelligence officer conducted to research and discredit foreign critics of the Modi government. This article shows an excellent example of a disinformation paradox. You can’t use disinformation to counter disinformation.
🎩 H/T: Benjamin Strick, Gerry Shih, Clara Ence Morse, and Pranshu Verma
📰 Pulling Threads: An OSINT Guide
If investigating Threads profiles is a part of your regular workflow, give this article from OSINT Combine a read. It shows you manual techniques you can use to uncover information on Threads despite the in-platform limitations. This is a similar, less technical version of an issue I wrote earlier this year.
🎩 H/T: Jemma Ward
OSINT Community
📺 Steam: Unlocking the OSINT Potential of Gaming Platforms
Watch this video to better understand how you can use Steam and Discord in your OSINT investigations. Gaming platforms and ecosystems are harder to monitor than social media, Ivan shows you where to look to find the overlooked.
🎩 H/T: Ivan Kravtsov
📺 How To Use PeakVisor, The Mountaineering App, For Open-Source Research
In July, Bellingcat wrote an article about how they were using a mountaineering app, PeakVisor, to assist with geolocation. I mentioned this in a previous newsletter and was impressed by the use of unconventional methods for open source investigations. Now, Bellingcat has a step-by-step guide on how you, too, can use this app in your workflow.
🎩 H/T: Sophie Tedling
🐦 MetaOSINT v3.0 is live!
I mentioned in a previous issue that a major update to MetaOSINT, a giant repository of OSINT resources, was imminent. That update is now live! Scott Small shares on LinkedIn what to expect in the latest enhancement.
🎩 H/T: Scott Small
🐦 Fraudster Glossary
Fraudster Glossary is a list of fraud-related terminology used in eCrime circles ranging from Telegram to Discord and even online forums. Eric Huber explains the logic behind creating this list and how you can contribute.
🎩 H/T: Eric Huber
OSINT Tools
🔎 Telegram Similar Channels
Soxoj is at it again with a new Telegram tool. He originally posted this on X as a preview with a graph but now it’s available for public use locally or in Maltego as a transform. See how channels are linked and visually investigate the results.
🎩 H/T: Dmitry (Soxoj) Danilov
🔎 Infoooze
Infoooze is an OSINT multi-tool with 18 different features. From social media intelligence (Instagram, YouTube, etc.) to IP address lookups and port scans, Infoooze does it all. Even if you’re not going to use this tool, look under the hood at the methods it’s using and incorporate them into your workflow.
🎩 H/T: Prateek (devXprite)
🖥️ PDF.ai
PDF.ai allows you to upload a PDF and then ask questions about that PDF. There are a few use cases for this, ranging from general productivity to OSINT investigations. Whether you’re investigating content within files or trying to avoid reading 400 page user guides, give this tool a shot.
🎩 H/T: Damon Chen
✅ That’s it for the free version of The OSINT Newsletter. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support this publication and independent research.
By upgrading to paid, you’ll get access to the following:
⚡ Using Goodreads to reverse email search in bulk
👀 You get access to all paid posts in the archive. Go back and see what you’ve missed!
🚀 If you don’t have a paid subscription already, don’t worry there’s a 7-day free trial. If you like what you’re reading, upgrade your subscription. If you can’t, I totally understand. Stay tuned for the geolocation challenge in next week’s issue to get a shot at free access.
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