The OSINT Newsletter - Issue #42
Use machine learning and face recognition to analyze videos at scale
👋 Welcome to the 42nd 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.
🙏 The OSINT Newsletter now has over 12,000 subscribers. Thanks for reading and sticking with me as this publication grows.
🚨 The print version of The OSINT Newsletter is SOLD OUT! The print copies are almost here. As soon as they’ve arrived, I’ll package and ship them out. I’m expecting them to arrive this week.
🪃 If you missed the last newsletter, here’s a link to catch up.
⚡ Discover hidden information for a Weibo profile such as gender, age, online status, and more
Let’s get started. ⬇️
OSINT News
📰 Expanding our Decentralized Footprint
SMAT-App is now Open Measures. Open Measures is expanding its coverage of the fediverse. If you’re unfamiliar, that’s the same technology you find on Mastodon, BlueSky, etc. Check out their open-source tool or request a demo.
📰 Building the Toilet Timer
I like the idea of lightweight tools. This is why I always support a good bookmarklet. In this issue of Bullshit Hunting, Justin shows you how to create tools in Google Sheets. Just wait until Python is supported in Sheets, not just Excel!
🎩 H/T: Justin Seitz
📰 The OSINT mindset: obstacles & considerations
When doing an open source investigation, it’s easy to assume that all publicly accessible information is fair game; however, depending on your environment, that’s not always true. Matt explains some caveats and exceptions to consider.
🎩 H/T: Maciej Makowski
OSINT Community
📺 OSINT for Crisis Management
OSINT for crisis management is how I got my start in open source intelligence in the private sector. In this talk, Dieter shows you OSINT tools, tactics, and techniques for investigating crises with case studies in Mozambique and Myanmar.
🎩 H/T: Dieter Stroobants
🐦 Alternatives to Google Cache pages
If you’re unaware, Google Cache pages are being phased out. This is significant because finding archived web pages is essential for OSINT investigations. Nico shows you a few alternate sources you can use instead.
🎩 H/T: Nico Dekens
🐦 Tools for geolocating an image
The convergence of AI and geolocation continues. Cyber Detective shows you several tools that leverage AI to do geoestimation. Keep in mind, this should get you close to the right area but you’ll need to manually verify before publishing.
🎩 H/T: Cyber Detective
OSINT Tools
🌟 Sponsor: Authentic8
OSINTUp: a virtual skill-sharing event
Thursday, Feb. 22, join OSINT experts like Micah Hoffman of MyOSINT.Training and Cynthia Hetherington of OSMOSISCon for a day of FREE, virtual tips and resources to further your open-source tradecraft.
🔎 OSINT Bookmark Stack
OSINT Combine has a collection of bookmarks covering categories such as Area and Event Monitoring, Person of Interest Search, Corporate Profiling, Mapping, Artificial Intelligence, Intelligence Analysis, Reporting Tools, Collective Tools, Cryptocurrency, Country Specific, Verification and Fact-Checking.
Free to download!
🎩 H/T: OSINT Combine
🖥️ Resurrect Pages
With Google Cache pages going down, this browser extension might be useful. Not only does it check Google Cache (now legacy), but it also checks other sources for a more comprehensive check.
🥸 Cover Your Tracks
Use this OPSEC tool to determine how exposed your browser is to the internet. Find out ways you can improve your OPSEC and ensure you’re as anonymous as possible when browsing online during sensitive investigations.
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⚡ Use machine learning and face recognition to analyze videos at scale to expedite person search
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