Wikipedia

Open-source intelligence

Open source intelligence(OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (overt sources and publicly available information) to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used innational security,law enforcement,andbusiness intelligencefunctions and is of value to analysts who use non-sensitive intelligence in answeringclassified,unclassified,orproprietary intelligencerequirementsacross the previous intelligence disciplines.[1]

Categories

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OSINT sources can be divided up into six different categories of information flow:[2]

OSINT is distinguished from research in that it applies theprocess of intelligenceto create tailored knowledge supportive of a specific decision by a specific individual or group.[3]

OSINT collection methodologies

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Collecting open-source intelligence is achieved in a variety of different ways,[4]such as:

Definition

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OSINT, broadly defined, involves gathering and analyzing publicly accessible information to produce actionable insights.[5]

TheU.S. Department of Homeland Securitydefines OSINT as intelligence derived from publicly available information, collected and disseminated promptly to address specific intelligence needs.[6]

NATOdescribes OSINT as intelligence obtained from publicly available information and other unclassified data with limited public distribution or access.[7]

TheEuropean Uniondefines OSINT as the collecting and analyzing information from open sources to generate actionable intelligence, supporting areas like national security, law enforcement, and business intelligence.[8]

TheUnited Nationshas also recognized OSINT’s potential, noting its value in monitoring member states’ compliance with international regulations across various sectors, including public health and human rights.[9]

In theprivate sector,companies likeIBMdefine OSINT as the process of gathering and analyzing publicly available information to assess threats, inform decisions, or answer specific questions. Similarly, cybersecurity firms such asCrowdStrikedescribe OSINT as the act of collecting and analyzing publicly available data for intelligence purposes.[10]

History

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Seal of the9/11 Commission

OSINT practices have been documented as early as the mid-19th century in the United States and early 20th century in the United Kingdom.[11]

OSINT in theUnited Statestraces its origins to the 1941 creation of theForeign Broadcast Monitoring Service (FBMS),an agency responsible for the monitoring of foreign broadcasts. An example of their work was the correlation of changes in the price of oranges in Paris with successful bombings of railway bridges duringWorld War II.[12]

TheAspin-Brown Commissionstated in 1996 that US access to open sources was "severely deficient" and that this should be a "top priority" for both funding andDCIattention.[13]

In July 2004, following theSeptember 11 attacks,the9/11 Commissionrecommended the creation of an open-source intelligence agency.[14]In March 2005, theIraq Intelligence Commissionrecommended[15]the creation of an open-source directorate at the CIA.

Following these recommendations, in November 2005 theDirector of National Intelligenceannounced the creation of the DNIOpen Source Center.The Center was established to collect information available from "the Internet, databases, press, radio, television, video, geospatial data, photos and commercial imagery."[16]In addition to collecting openly available information, it would train analysts to make better use of this information. The center absorbed theCIA's previously existingForeign Broadcast Information Service(FBIS), originally established in 1941, with FBIS head Douglas Naquin named as director of the center.[17]Then, following the events of9/11theIntelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Actmerged FBIS and other research elements into theOffice of the Director of National Intelligencecreating theOpen Source Enterprise.

Furthermore, the private sector has invested in tools which aid in OSINT collection and analysis. Specifically,In-Q-Tel,aCentral Intelligence Agencysupported venture capital firm in Arlington, VA assisted companies develop web-monitoring and predictive analysis tools.

In December 2005, the Director of National Intelligence appointedEliot A. Jardinesas the Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Open Source to serve as the Intelligence Community's senior intelligence officer for open source and to provide strategy, guidance and oversight for theNational Open Source Enterprise.[18]Mr. Jardines has established the National Open Source Enterprise[19]and authoredintelligence community directive 301.In 2008, Mr. Jardines returned to the private sector and was succeeded byDan Butlerwho is ADDNI/OS[20]and previously Mr. Jardines' Senior Advisor for Policy.[21]

Tools

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Open source intelligence may be ingested to battle management systems such as CPCE bySystematic,which uses an open source feed fromJanes Information Services.

The web browser is a powerful OSINT tool that provides access to numerous websites and both open source and proprietary software tools that are either purpose-built for open source information collection or which can be exploited for the purposes of either gathering of open source information or to facilitate analysis and validation to provide intelligence. A cottage industry of both for-profit and not-for-profit investigative and educational groups such asBellingcat,IntelTechniques, SANS and others offer indices, books, podcasts and video training materials on OSINT tools and techniques. Books such as Michael Bazzell'sOpen Source Intelligence Techniquesserve as indices to resources across multiple domains but according the author, due to the rapidly changing information landscape, some tools and techniques change or become obsolete frequently, hence it is imperative for OSINT researchers to study, train and survey the landscape of source material regularly.[22]A guide by Ryan Fedasiuk, an analyst at theCenter for Security and Emerging Technology,lists six tools open-source analysts can use to stay safe and utilize operational security (OPSEC) when conducting online investigations. These includeVPNs,cached webpages,digital archiveservices, URL and file scanners, browser sandbox applications, andantivirus software.[23]

Numerous lists of aggregated OSINT content are available on the web. The OSINT Framework contains over 30 primary categories of tools and is maintained as an open source project onGitHub.[24]

Risks for practitioners

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A main hindrance to practical OSINT is the volume of information it has to deal withinformation explosion.The amount of data being distributed increases at a rate that it becomes difficult toevaluate sourcesinintelligence analysis.To a small degree the work has sometimes been done by amateur crowd-sourcing.[25]

Private individuals illegally collecting data for a foreign military or intelligence agency is consideredespionagein most countries. Espionage that is nottreason(e.g. betraying one's country of citizenship) has been a tool of statecraft since ancient times.[26]

Professional associations and certifications

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The OSINT Foundation is a professional association for OSINT practitioners in the United States Intelligence Community.[27]It is open to U.S. Citizens and seeks to raise the prominence of the open-source intelligence discipline.[28]

OSMOSIS (an association for OSINT professionals) provides courses and conferences that lead to the designation of being Open-Source Certified (OSC). OSMOSIS is an offshoot of the Hetherington Group, a private investigation and corporate & market intelligence group. According to the OSC, its goal is to "help standardize our profession and demonstrate that our members are Legal, Ethical, and Competent practitioners of investigating and analyzing Publicly Available Information." Further they state that, "To obtain the OSC designation, practitioners must meet certain requirements to demonstrate dedication to their craft and pass a 100-question exam."[29]

The company IntelTechniques offers online and live training that can lead to the Open Source Intelligence Professional Certification (OSIP) and/or help individual practitioners develop and formalize their skills, sans certification. Their certification program "provides participants with an opportunity to work through a real-world scenario and demonstrate that they can produce an intelligence product that meets a high professional standard."[30]In addition to their training program, IntelTechniques offers a community that serves supports those seeking the OSIP certificiation, but is also open to practitioners who enroll in the training program itself without the intention of seeking certificiation. This community facilitates an exchange of information about best practices, the training itself and tradecraft & methodology in a moderated environment.

Other organizations including Bellingcat, offer training as well other options for OSINT practitioners to associate and exchange information on OSINT best practices and issues.

See also

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References

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  1. ^Schwartz, Leo (March 7, 2022)."Amateur open source researchers went viral unpacking the war in Ukraine".Rest of World.Retrieved8 March2022.
  2. ^Richelson, Jeffrey (2016).The US Intelligence Community.Avalon.ISBN978-0813349183.
  3. ^"Spy Agencies Turn to Newspapers, NPR, and Wikipedia for Information: The intelligence community is learning to value 'open-source' information".Archivedfrom the original on 2012-10-23.Retrieved2008-09-15.
  4. ^Leos, Devan (2023-02-28)."Thinking Like a Spy: How Open Source Intelligence Can Give You a Competitive Advantage".Entrepreneur.Retrieved2023-11-08.
  5. ^"What is OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence?) | SANS Institute".SANS Institute.Retrieved2025-02-18.
  6. ^Ethical Frameworks in Open Source Intelligence.(Report) (2022). Part of the 2022 Public Private Partnership Analytic Exchange Program. Washington, DC:US Department of Homeland Security.
  7. ^NATO OSINT Handbook V 1.2.NATO.2001-11-01.
  8. ^"OSINT: Open-source intelligence".European UnionData.2022-05-02.Retrieved2025-02-18.
  9. ^Bochert, Florian (2021-11-19)."OSINT – The Untapped Treasure Trove of United Nations Organizations".Harvard International Review.Retrieved2025-02-18.
  10. ^Baker, Kurt (2025-01-17)."What is OSINT Open Source Intelligence? | CrowdStrike".Crowdstrike.Retrieved2025-02-18.
  11. ^Block, Ludo (2023)."The long history of OSINT".Journal of Intelligence History.23(2):95–109.doi:10.1080/16161262.2023.2224091.hdl:1887/3731669.ISSN1616-1262.
  12. ^Bornn, D Marshall (9 Jan 2013)."Service members, civilians learn to harness power of 'Open Source' information".army.mil.Archivedfrom the original on 9 December 2017.Retrieved14 May2017.
  13. ^Lowenthal, Mark; Clark, Robert (2015).The Five Disciplines of Intelligence Collection.CQ Press. p. 18.ISBN978-1483381114.
  14. ^See page 413 of the9-11 Commission Report (pdf)Archived2007-07-05 at theWayback Machine.
  15. ^McLaughlin, Michael (June 2012)."Using open source intelligence for cybersecurity intelligence".ComputerWeekly.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-06-29.Retrieved2018-06-29.
  16. ^Office of the Director of National Intelligence. "ODNI Announces Establishment of Open Source CenterArchived2006-06-23 at theWayback Machine".Press release, 8 November 2005.
  17. ^Ensor, David. "The Situation Report: Open source intelligence centerArchived2007-03-25 at theWayback Machine".CNN,8 November 2005.
  18. ^Office of the Director of National Intelligence "ODNI Senior Leadership AnnouncementArchived2006-06-23 at theWayback Machine".Press release, 7 December 2005.
  19. ^"National Open Source Entreprise Vision Statement"Archived2007-09-28 at theWayback MachineMay 2006
  20. ^DNI Open Source Conference 2008 "Decision Advantage" agenda, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, July 2008.Archived2010-04-17 at theWayback Machine
  21. ^DNI Open Source Conference 2007 "Expanding the Horizons" agenda, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, July 2007.Archived2008-08-01 at theWayback Machine
  22. ^"Books by Michael Bazzell".inteltechniques.Retrieved2022-05-02.
  23. ^Fedasiuk, Ryan (2022-04-06)."Into the Jungle: Best Practices for Open-Source Researchers".Center for Security and Emerging Technology.Retrieved2022-04-22.
  24. ^OSINT Framework,lockFALE, 2022-05-02,retrieved2022-05-02
  25. ^"Bellingcat's Eliot Higgins Explains Why Ukraine Is Winning the Information War".Time.Retrieved2022-04-13.
  26. ^Sun Tzu(Warring States period),The Art of War,Chapter 13: "Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day. This being so, to remain in ignorance of the enemy's condition simply because one grudges the outlay of 2 hundred ounces of silver in honors and emoluments, is the height of inhumanity."
  27. ^New OSINT foundation aims to 'professionalize' open source discipline across spy agencies,2022-07-27
  28. ^Volz, Dustin (2022-07-27),"New Group to Promote Open-Source Intelligence, Seen as Vital in Ukraine War",Wall Street Journal
  29. ^OSMOSIS (2025-02-06)."0SMOSIS Open-Source Certified".OSMOSIS - An Association for OSINT Professionals.Retrieved2025-02-06.
  30. ^IntelTechniques (2025-02-06)."Open Source Intelligence Professional Certification".IntelTechniques.Retrieved2025-02-06.
  • WashTimes,Washington Times – CIA mines 'rich' content from blogs, 19 April 2006
  • GCN,Government Computer News – Intelligence units mine the benefits of public sources 20 March 2006
  • FindAcricles,Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin October–December, 2005 by Barbara G. Fast
  • FAS.org,Congressional Testimony on OSINT and Homeland Security 21 June 2005
  • Forbes,When Everyone Can Mine Your Data by Taylor Buley, 11.21.08]
  • Thompson, Clive (2006-12-03)."Open-Source Spying".The New York Times.Retrieved2018-05-29.
  • "Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)".RIS Open Source Intelligence.2018-05-29.Retrieved2018-05-29.
  • "The Intelligence Network: I n t r o d u c t i o n".intellnet.org.2008-05-09. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09.Retrieved2018-05-29.

Further reading

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Scientific publications

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