What Is Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)?
Open Source Intelligence, or OSINT, is intelligence developed from sources that are free, public, and legal to access. This should not be confused with Open Source Software. OSINT is the opposite of many other forms of intelligence. Unlike sources of intelligence like spies, satellites, sensors, and hackers, OSINT is about developing impactful understanding based on information that is intentionally public. It is amazing how much of the information a government or business needs to know can be found through OSINT.
The term OSINT originated in the 1980s, but the idea is much older. People have long read newspapers, listened to broadcasts, watched harbors, counted delivery trucks, read government publications, followed academic journals, and studied commercial reports. However, with the growth of the internet, and particularly after 9/11, online collection of OSINT quickly became the dominant source.
On the internet, open source intelligence can come from news websites, blogs, discussion boards, search engines, social media, and the dark web. In the past, OSINT research has differed from more aggressive forms of intelligence collection, because all the information was gathered from sites that did not require any kind of account or login. Increasingly, content is available on websites only through a login, despite the fact that the information is intended to be public. This is most visible on social media sites. There is some debate within the OSINT community as to whether simple logins, with no attempt to create an identity or engage in interactions, should disqualify that content from being considered “open source.” Some organizations use the term Social Intelligence (SOCINT) to distinguish this kind of information from OSINT.
While the media has occasionally portrayed OSINT as being scary, it is important to understand that it is not engagement, influence, hacking, or theft. The collection of OSINT is a largely passive activity where the only information collected has been intentionally publicly published.
Online OSINT has a number of challenges that are not seen in the older, more conventional methods. On the internet, it is often possible to know that you are being observed and by whom. If a target becomes aware that it is being scrutinized, it may take countermeasures. These can include removing the information completely, blocking access to the information from the organization conducting the OSINT research, or providing targeted misinformation to that organization. Many websites, particularly social media sites, are working very hard to eliminate “fake accounts,” as they are often involved in influence, abuse, or criminal activity. Unfortunately, this is also leading to the suspension of many accounts used for OSINT collection. Finally, open source intelligence can produce too much information. The internet is vast, so it is easy to capture far more information than can be reasonably analyzed. The amount of information created on the internet every day dwarfs the daily production of offline data from decades ago.
In this video, I go into more depth on all of these areas, then discuss a number of key capabilities that can mitigate the challenges. I also explore large-scale collection and big data. Finally, I look at some examples of how OSINT has been used to great effect.
