OSINT Training Sessions: Activate Your Open Source Skills
What Is OSINT?
The open web is a valuable source of information for online researchers. Open source intelligence, or OSINT, includes any data that can be obtained from resources accessible to the public. Social media platforms, online newspapers, blogs, and various other web resources provide an endless amount of data. This data is available for anyone who wishes to examine it.
OSINT Challenges
The ability to perform OSINT efficiently and without detection is not any easy task. The sheer volume of information available for public use may seem insurmountable to survey. Once you’ve managed to locate the best sources for information, understanding how to cultivate this data is another challenge. While there are a number of useful techniques for performing OSINT research or OSINT investigations, if your teams aren’t aware of these methods, their OSINT efforts might be unproductive.
At the same time, operators performing covert missions will have to manage their online presence to avoid revealing their authentic identities. As users gather data from the web, their activities leave a detailed digital trail that online entities can track. Cookies, tracking links, and browser histories establish a traceable presence if operators do not take the proper operational security measures. Any messages sent or images posted will also contribute to a behavioral signature that potentially links back to the operator. Since VPNs and other commercial methods of managing your online presence are not infallible—as discussed in a previous Academy blog on VPNs—OSINT investigators require a sophisticated solution to hide their identities.
How We Can Help: Academy Training Sessions
Our trained cyber analysts offer a number of virtual OSINT training sessions. At the Academy, our analysts discuss the collection phase of the OSINT cycle, OSINT research, and OSINT investigations.
During the Academy’s remote training sessions, the team presents insightful OSINT lessons using our managed attribution products, allowing OSINT operators to learn all about the methods necessary to cultivate the research they require for successful operations. We offer OSINT training for beginners, providing introductions on OSINT research methods. Additionally, we provide advanced OSINT training sessions for users with more experience in this area of expertise.
Our team hosts these complimentary webinars semimonthly. The sessions typically cover methodologies and case studies related to dark web investigations, managed attribution from home, and other useful operational lessons with our products. In addition to our Academy-led courses, guest speakers often direct our Expert Series sessions. These are fascinating lessons guided by Ntrepid subject matter experts, who have backgrounds in data analysis and national security operations.
Register for a training session with the Academy to expand your team’s OSINT capabilities today.
