Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/tag/open-source-investigations/page/2/)
Many people have been using some of the most common OSINT tools and techniques unwittingly. There’s one tool in particular that anyone with an internet connection has used: Google, or other search engines. Here are examples of how good ol’ Google search queries can be more effective than any fancy reverse image search tool.
How do you track cryptocurrency transactions? Brenna Smith, an undergraduate researcher at UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Investigations Lab, who specializes in investigating disinformation and the illicit use of cryptocurrencies, has created a tutorial using Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ bitcoin funding campaign as a case study to show you how.
In this interview, Amnesty International’s Sam Dubberley discusses how open source techniques can help in the investigation of human rights abuses and gives advice for journalists interested in this type of research.
In this reboot of GIJN’s popular “Toolbox” series, we walk through the techniques journalists can use to find connections between websites using IP addresses and Google Analytics tags hidden in the source code of websites. We’ll also demonstrate how to use the powerful tool SpiderFoot HX to visualize network maps, which help journalists draw connections unseen in the offline world.
The New York Times’ Visual Investigations unit uses social media and open-source tools to create powerful video reports. Here’s how they collected virtual breadcrumbs to retrace the movements of the 15-man Saudi hit team that killed Jamal Khashoggi.
Open source investigation teams around the world sprang into action as they watched a pro-Trump mob violently storm the US Capitol on January 6. A senior investigator with Bellingcat told GIJN how his team was able to scrape and preserve hundreds of social media videos from the attack, and shared ten tips on how any reporter can grab visual evidence during breaking news events.
In the hot summer of 2018, Hungary’s Atlatszo tracked two luxury vehicles – a private plane and a yacht – that the Hungarian government elite, including Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his closest allies, used to travel to business meetings, football games and vacations abroad. Here’s how they did it.
A fugitive convict from the Netherlands has taunted Dutch police with provocative pictures and videos from Iran, playing a game of “catch me if you can” on Instagram. Investigative reporters from Bellingcat were able to reveal the last known location of the criminal with the help of over 60 Twitter users. Here’s how they did that.
University of California, Berkeley hosted the first-ever summit for the growing workforce of college students being trained worldwide to review and verify digital content that could help human rights lawyers prosecute war criminals.
If you’re an OSINT investigator or use OSINT in any of your work, it’s impossible to ignore Twitter as a collection source. Here’s how to get the most out of it by organizing your searches on a TweetDeck dashboard.