The Future of OSINT
Conducting a Google search on “OSINT” or “open source intelligence”, returns a list of 1.8 million related sites in under half a second. Results include pages providing definitions of the term, ads for tools assisting in information collection, and links to articles discussing the role that OSINT plays in intelligence gathering.
All of this easily discoverable, freely accessible content can be used to develop open source intelligence. Any overt, publicly available information can contribute to future OSINT. While not all open sources of information are intentionally made public, they can be utilized by anyone that knows where to find them.
With just a name and an email address, an open source analyst can likely discover the hometown, employer, and alma mater of most individuals with a smartphone. These are basic elements of a Facebook profile and, for all but the most privacy-conscious social media users, this information is available to everyone on the platform. Public profiles on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube provide enormous amounts of culturally and regionally important information by allowing any individual with an internet connection the ability to share news and experiences occurring wherever they are in the world.
The influx of publicly available, regionally specific information has made social media the primary focus of many open source intelligence initiatives. Any user that does not make their social media profiles private can act as a source of information. Anything from the photos they share, to the friends they’re connected with can be exposed. Posts made during significant events often include not only visual elements, but also location, date, time, and feedback from other users, all of which can be passively collected by anyone with access to a post.
While open source intelligence has traditionally relied on receiving information from news organizations, businesses, and public entities, the proliferation of social media has resulted in networks of subject matter experts that now have the ability to share information with the public and potentially receive more precise details and feedback from other users in return. As a result, crowdsourcing has become a valuable technique.
Journalists on Twitter frequently retweet scoops from their colleagues while adding their own commentary and insight along with it. This information is then passed to a new set of unique followers who often continue the cycle. In the process, the growing stream of information reaches a vast number of users, any of whom may have access to crucial pieces of missing intel not previously known. Many open source analysts and organizations are going beyond simply disseminating information to their followers and have begun actively requesting that users in their networks contribute intel in turn. Europol’s “Trace an Object” campaign provides their followers with parts of images involved with child abuse and asks others to assist in geolocating where they were taken. According to their website, they have received twenty-one thousand leads that have helped them prevent further child abuse thus far. The significance of open source intelligence will continue to grow as communities work together, share their knowledge, and increase access to open source information. From passive collection, to active engagement with networks and sources, future OSINT taps into the potential expertise of hundreds of thousands of amateurs and experts alike.
