The OSINT Newsletter - Issue #58
The latest and greatest in news, tools, tactics, and techniques for open source intelligence.
👋 Welcome to the 58th issue of The OSINT Newsletter. This issue features OSINT news, community posts, tactics, techniques, and tools designed to enhance your investigative skills. The goal of this newsletter is to support the growth of the OSINT industry, improve investigative capabilities, and highlight ethical use cases for open-source intelligence.
🚨 I will be away from writing this summer due to planned vacations. As a result, I will be pausing recurring payments and the ability to upgrade your subscription. Paid content will be intermittent throughout the summer.
🪃 If you missed the last newsletter, here’s a link to catch up.
📰 How to find a location using only a shadow
Rainbolt demonstrates the use of a new Bellingcat tool that calculates the areas on the map where an image must be taken given the height of an object, the length of the shadow, and the date and time of the image.
Analyst note: This tool utilizes a JupyterHub Notebook/Google Collab to use. If you aren’t familiar with how to use those, consider reading this primer. Learning this skillset will be critical to developing your OSINT skillset as many tools utilize this technology, particular within organizations.
🎩 H/T: Bellingcat, Rainbolt
🧰 Botnadzer
This tool will determine whether a VK profile is a bot or not. If you’re investigating a lot of influence operations, this tool is an excellent addition to your toolkit.
Analyst note: If you can determine a VK profile is a bot using this tool, you can map this profile to other profiles beyond VK and confidently report that identical profiles (same image, name, description, etc.) are also bots.
🎩 H/T: Soxoj
📰 Disrupting deceptive uses of AI by covert influence operations
On the note of influence operations, OpenAI recently published a report showing how ChatGPT is being used in several covert influence operations. It breaks down how threat actors are using the tool including phishing campaigns and translation to several different languages.
Analyst note: It’s good to see OpenAI disclosing the misuse of their toolset beyond just high-level “alignment” discussions. If you’re interested in eCrime from an investigative perspective, learn the new TTPs threat actors are using with AI in this report.
🎩 H/T: OpenAI, OSINT Ambition
🧰 Open Source Munitions Portal
If you’re investigating any ongoing or historic wars, the Open Source Munitions Portal is a directory of the different munitions discovered and identified during conflict. If you’re a student of international relations or similar, study these entries.
Analyst note: With OSMP and ChatGPT, you can identify a firearm or munition in an image and then ask ChatGPT to identify the munitions and find similar entries on the OSMP. It’ll give you a step-by-step guide on how to find similar images.
🎩 H/T: Benjamin Struck, Airwars
📰 Harnessing the Power of Global Forest Watch for Data-Driven Reporting on Land Cover Change
Over the last 10 years, resources for monitoring the destruction of forests has noticeably increased. The Global Investigative Journalism Network steps through several tools, tactics, and techniques for investigating deforestation and similar using open source information.
Analyst note: With satellite imagery becoming more readily available and the resolution improving, new use cases with OSINT will become available. You can already see significant environmental impacts from free satellite imagery (you can even see elephants using Google Maps or Sentinel).
🎩 H/T: Morgan Erickson-Davis
🌟 Sponsor: UserSearch Premium
No Code, No API Keys, No Sales Calls — Pure OSINT at your Fingertips.
Check out why UserSearch Premium is growing so fast. A new type of solution, for a new era.
✅ That’s it for the free version of The OSINT Newsletter. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support this publication and independent research.
🚨 I will be away from writing this summer due to planned vacations. As a result, I will be pausing recurring payments and the ability to upgrade your subscription. Paid content will be intermittent throughout the summer.