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What is Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)? Tools & Examples 2024

Open-Source Intelligence is a method for getting information on any person or organization. OSINT likely existed as long as social networks do. Completing the jigsaw of personal data is very amusing, especially if you like games of this sort.

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What is OSINT? Open-Source Intelligence Tools | Gridinsoft

What is OSINT?

September 20, 2024

OSINT, or Open-Source Intelligence, is a method for getting information on any suspect. It is often used by special governmental services but is available to every user.

The meaning of this abbreviation uncovers the whole task of that phenomenon. The intelligence conducted based on the open-source data works exceptionally well when you need to keep the fact of surveillance secret. All breaches or attempts of ones may easily be detected by system administrators or other qualified personnel. Meanwhile, obtaining the info about the co or the person on Instagram or the website with local companies’ information is much more stealthy and easier.

It is essential to uncover how that works. It is hard to describe how much information you leave while acting on the Internet. And it is not your fault if you are not paranoid about your privacy and don’t think twice about each message. You mentioned your location here and there and said when you usually finish your workday – and that is already enough to say a lot about you.

Instagram data
Instagram contains a lot of data for OSINT operations

Comprehension of shattered facts about a person or a company is not an easy task, especially when in OSINT you rely on databases or unstructured info rather than on messages in social networks. At that moment, OSINT tools come into view.

OSINT Tools

Primary task of OSINT toolkits is to make the data analysis more accessible by structuring it. But most modern OSINT tools offer the ability to sort your info in a preferred way and ready databases to analyze. Yes, that may look like an attempt to be more clever than the user is, but it is just the way to make these semi-legal tools less fragmented.

Majority of the OSINT tools are available even in the surface Web - on GitHub, in particular. However, some of them - especially ones for deep analysis - could be found only in the Darknet. Some special tools designed for actions that can easily be classified as spying are placed for sale on the Darknet forums or sales platforms.

Name Source Description Language Price
Amass Git DNS enumeration and network mapping tool suite: scraping, recursive brute forcing, crawling web archives, reverse DNS sweeping Go πŸ†“β€‹
Asnlookup Git Leverage ASN to look up IP addresses (IPv4 & IPv6) owned by a specific organization for reconnaissance purposes, then run port scanning on it Python πŸ†“β€‹
AttackSurfaceMapper Git Subdomain enumerator Python πŸ†“β€‹
AutoRecon Git Multi-threaded network reconnaissance tool which performs automated enumeration of services Python πŸ†“β€‹
badKarma Git Advanced network reconnaissance tool Python πŸ†“β€‹
Belati Git OSINT tool, collect data and document actively or passively Python πŸ†“β€‹
Certstream Git Intelligence feed that gives real-time updates from the Certificate Transparency Log network Elixir πŸ†“β€‹
Darkshot Git Lightshot scraper with multi-threaded OCR and auto categorizing screenshots Python πŸ†“β€‹
dataleaks Git Self-hosted data breach search engine PHP πŸ†“β€‹
datasploit Git OSINT framework, find, aggregate and export data Python πŸ†“β€‹
DNSDumpster Domain research tool that can discover hosts related to a domain - πŸ†“β€‹
dnsenum Git DNS reconnaissance tool: AXFR, DNS records enumeration, subdomain bruteforce, range reverse lookup Perl πŸ†“β€‹
dnsenum2 Git Continuation of dnsenum project Perl πŸ†“β€‹
DNSRecon Git DNS reconnaissance tool: AXFR, DNS records enumeration, TLD expansion, wildcard resolution, subdomain bruteforce, PTR record lookup, check for cached records Python πŸ†“β€‹
dnsx Git Multi-purpose DNS toolkit allow to run multiple DNS queries Go πŸ†“β€‹
EagleEye Git Image recognition on instagram, facebook and twitter Python πŸ†“β€‹
Espionage Git Domain information gathering: whois, history, dns records, web technologies, records Python πŸ†“β€‹
eTools.ch Metasearch engine, query 16 search engines in parallel - πŸ†“β€‹
Facebook_OSINT_Dump Git OSINT tool, facebook profile dumper, windows and chrome only Shell πŸ†“β€‹
FinalRecon Git Web reconnaissance script Python πŸ†“β€‹
Findomain Git Fast subdomain enumerator Rust πŸ†“β€‹
FOCA Git OSINT framework and metadata analyser Csharp πŸ†“β€‹
GHunt Git Investigate Google accounts with emails and find name, usernames, Youtube Channel, probable location, Maps reviews, etc. Python πŸ†“β€‹
gitGraber Git Monitor GitHub to search and find sensitive data in real time for different online services such as: Google, Amazon, Paypal, Github, Mailgun, Facebook, Twitter, Heroku, Stripe, etc. Python πŸ†“β€‹
Gorecon Git Reconnaissance toolkit Go πŸ†“β€‹
GoSeek Git Username lookup comparable to Maigret/Sherlock, IP Lookup, License Plate & VIN Lookup, Info Cull, and Fake Identity Generator - πŸ†“β€‹
gOSINT Git OSINT framework; find mails, dumps, retrieve Telegram history and info about hosts Go πŸ†“β€‹
h8mail Git Email OSINT & Password breach hunting tool; supports chasing down related email Python πŸ†“β€‹
Harpoon Git CLI tool; collect data and document actively or passively Python πŸ†“β€‹
holehe Git Check if the mail is used on different sites like Twitter, Instagram and will retrieve information on sites with the forgotten password function Python πŸ†“β€‹
IVRE Git IVRE (Instrument de veille sur les rΓ©seaux extΓ©rieurs) or DRUNK (Dynamic Recon of UNKnown networks); network recon framework including tools ofr passive and active recon Python πŸ†“β€‹
kitphishr Git Hunts for phishing kit source code by traversing URL folders and searching in open directories for zip files; supports list of URLs or PhishTank Go πŸ†“β€‹
Kostebek Git Tool to find firms domains by searching their trademark information Python πŸ†“β€‹
LeakDB Git Normalize, deduplicate, index, sort, and search leaked data sets on the multi-terabyte-scale Go πŸ†“β€‹
LeakIX Git Search engine for devices and services exposed on the Internet - πŸ†“β€‹
LeakLooker Git Discover, browse and monitor database/source code leaks Python πŸ†“β€‹
leakScraper Git Set of tools to process and visualize huge text files containing credentials Python πŸ†“β€‹
LinEnum Git System script for local Linux enumeration and privilege escalation checks Shell πŸ†“β€‹
LittleBrother Git Information gathering (OSINT) on a person (EU), checks social networks and Pages Jaunes Python πŸ†“β€‹
Maigret Git Collect a dossier on a person by username from a huge number of sites and extract details from them Python πŸ†“β€‹
MassDNS Git High-performance DNS stub resolver for bulk lookups and reconnaissance (subdomain enumeration) C πŸ†“β€‹
Metabigor Git OSINT tool that doesn't require any API key Go πŸ†“β€‹
Netflip Git Scrape sensitive information from paste sites CSharp πŸ†“β€‹
NExfil Git Finding profiles by username over 350 websites Python πŸ†“β€‹
Nmmapper Cybersecurity tools offered as SaaS: Nmap, subdomain finder (Sublist3r, DNScan, Anubis, Amass, Lepus, Findomain, Censys), theHarvester, etc. - πŸ’°β€‹
nqntnqnqmb Git Retrieve information on linkedin profiles, companies on linkedin and search on linkedin companies/persons Python πŸ†“β€‹
Oblivion Git Data leak checker and monitoring Python πŸ†“β€‹
ODIN Git Observe, Detect, and Investigate Networks, Automated reconnaissance tool Python πŸ†“β€‹
Omnibus Git OSINT framework; collection of tools Python πŸ†“β€‹
OneForAll Git Subdomain enumeration tool Python πŸ†“β€‹
OnionSearch Git Script that scrapes urls on different .onion search engines Python πŸ†“β€‹
OSINT Framework Git A web-based collection of tools and resources for OSINT Javascript πŸ†“β€‹
Osintgram Git Interactive shell to perform analysis on the Instagram account of any users by their nickname Python πŸ†“β€‹
Osmedeus Git Automated framework for reconnaissance and vulnerability scanning Python πŸ†“β€‹
Photon Git Fast crawler designed for OSINT Python πŸ†“β€‹
PITT Git Web browser loaded with links and extensions for doing OSINT - πŸ†“β€‹
ProjectDiscovery Git Monitor, collect and continuously query the assets data via a simple webUI Go πŸ†“β€‹
Qualear Git Reconnaissance Apparatus; Information gathering, a conglomerate of tools including custom algorithms, API wrappers Go πŸ†“β€‹
ReconDog Git Multi-purpose reconnaissance tool, CMS detection, reverse IP lookup, port scan, etc. Python πŸ†“β€‹
reconFTW Git Perform automated recon on a target domain by running a set of tools to perform scanning and finding out vulnerabilities Shell πŸ†“β€‹
Recon-ng Git Repository (inactive) Web-based reconnaissance tool Python πŸ†“β€‹
Reconnoitre Git Tool made to automate information gathering and service enumeration while storing results Python πŸ†“β€‹
ReconScan Git Network reconnaissance and vulnerability assessment tools Python πŸ†“β€‹
Recsech Git Web reconnaissance and vulnerability scanner tool PHP πŸ†“β€‹
Redscan Git Mix of a security operations orchestration, vulnerability management and reconnaissance platform Python πŸ†“β€‹
Red Team Arsenal Git Automated reconnaissance scanner and security checks Python πŸ†“β€‹
reNgine Git Automated recon framework for web applications; customizable scan engines & pipeline of reconnaissance Python πŸ†“β€‹
SearchDNS Netcraft tool; Search and find information for domains and subdomains - πŸ†“β€‹
Shodan Search devices connected to the internet; helps find information about desktops, servers, and IoT devices; including metadata such as the software running - πŸ†“β€‹
shosubgo Git Grab subdomains using Shodan api Go πŸ†“β€‹
shuffledns Git Wrapper around masses that allows you to enumerate valid subdomains using active brute force as well as resolve subdomains with wildcard handling and easy input-output support Go πŸ†“β€‹
SiteBroker Git Tool for information gathering and penetration test automation Python πŸ†“β€‹
Sn1per Git Automated reconnaissance scanner Shell πŸ’°β€‹
spiderfoot Git OSINT framework, collect and manage data, scan target Python πŸ†“β€‹
Stalker Git Automated scanning of social networks and other websites, using a single nickname Python πŸ†“β€‹
SubDomainizer Git Find subdomains and interesting things hidden inside, external Javascript files of page, folder, and Github Python πŸ†“β€‹
Subfinder Git Discovers valid subdomains for websites, designed as a passive framework to be useful for bug bounties and safe for penetration testing Go πŸ†“β€‹
Sublist3r Git Subdomains enumeration tool Python πŸ†“β€‹
Sudomy Git Subdomain enumeration tool Python πŸ†“β€‹
Th3inspector Git Multi-purpose information gathering tool Perl πŸ†“β€‹
theHarvester Git Multi-purpose information gathering tool: emails, names, subdomains, IPs, URLs Python πŸ†“β€‹
tinfoleak Git Twitter intelligence analysis tool Python πŸ†“β€‹
Totem Git Retrieve information about ads of a Facebook page, retrieve the number of people targeted, how much the ad cost, and a lot of other information Python πŸ†“β€‹
trape Git Analysis and research tool, which allows people to track and execute intelligent social engineering attacks in real time Python πŸ†“β€‹
TWINT Git Twitter Intelligence Tool; Twitter scraping & OSINT tool that doesn't use Twitter's API, allowing one to scrape a user's followers, following, Tweets and more while evading most API limitations Python πŸ†“β€‹

OSINT as an attack vector

Let’s look at where you can get the information about the suspect you’re interested in. Once again - all data from all OSINT sources can be gathered and analyzed manually, without any additional software. Apps are needed to make this process faster and easier, one may say - available for everyone.

Email

How much can you get by having only your target's email address? Surprisingly, a lot. With the help of Google, you can uncover various facts, including shocking ones. But only by analyzing the exact email address can you get the user’s name, year of birth (or even the full date), or other important dates. The pronunciation of this individual, along with the language and possible country, may be there, too.

Email OSINT
Information about the sender that you can get from the single email address

Applying Google or other search engines (or even special tools), you can find the social network connections for this particular email. Sometimes, you will also find the related images, domains registered with this email, and other things. If there was a breach with this email in the leaked data pack - you will likely see this pack, too.

Social networks (Twitter, Instagram examples)

Twitter and Instagram are where people are not shy to uncover their details. What is more important for OSINT - these networks have a lot of valuable data exposed by default. Hence, all things are available - just take it and use it. And there are a lot of new users to both of these networks who still don’t know how to hide their private information.

Main points of interest in these social networks are concentrated in profiles and posts. The information lies on the surface, so you don’t need to run any additional tools to complete the jigsaw. Instagram reconnaissance surface is the target’s username, followers and followed accounts, its websites, biography in the profile top, and so on. In the posts, you will find enough information to track this person's favorite places or the friends of your object of interest.

Twitter offers other data to observe, but you will have almost the same full picture. You can see the profile pic and track the last replies of the user, see the join date and birthday. Some users add a location to their profile - this action is not obligatory but may say a lot if the target does not try to counteract the reconnaissance. Twitter also allows everyone to save the media attached to the message. That allows you to make the image analysis - see the next paragraph.

OSINT surface Twitter
OSINT surface in Twitter

Images analysis

Metadata in the images is a juicy source of information about who, where, and how it was made. Even if you deal with screenshots, you can figure out the screen characteristics, phone model, operating system, and camera app. Going deeper may uncover the geolocation and time when the photo was taken. However, metadata is pretty hard to analyze without the special software - it looks like a row of slightly structured numbers and letters.

Exploring the metadata of photo
Exploring the metadata of photo

Another edge of image analysis touches the exact contents of the image. Buildings, persons, views - all these things will help you to determine location and circumstances. For such an analysis, you will likely need to use Google Street View, Google Maps, and Google Lens. All of them are free and pretty effective. However, people who have a decent knowledge about cybersecurity and privacy will likely wipe the metadata - manually or with the use of special tools.

IP analysis

The old good verbal threat to figure out the location by the IP address is not as silly a joke as it could look. Sure, you will still likely fail to get the precise location, but there are many other things to compensate for that. This analysis is done prevalently using special tools - websites or web applications.

OSINT by IP-address
Scheme of OSINT attack through the IP-address

First step into IP analysis is to make sure that you are dealing with a real IP, not a VPN server or Tor Exit Node IP-addresses. After clearing that moment, you may step forward - to check the IP properties. You can use certain sites to determine if that IP is static or dynamic, private or public, and check if Cloudflare bans it. By the way, services like Cloudflare can reveal to you if that IP is associated with threat actions or spamming.

Scanning that IP address with basic network tools will show you the open ports on that address, OS, hostname, and the services run under that IP. Using some specific keywords and functions of the torrent-trackers, you can get what did the user download, which search engines used in both Surface and Dark Web.

YouTube

The most popular video hosting sites also keep secrets poorly. However, that is just the specific model of that social network. You can easily track the comments of the person you need by having their nickname. On the exact YouTube page, you can see which games this user plays, what are his typical activity hours, and possibly get some details on his personal life. Location may be obtained through either checking the activities and in the Community tab.

OSINT surface in the YouTube
OSINT surface in the YouTube

Another part of the information hides in the Channel Info section. Here you can see the subscriptions of that user, channels they like, email of that account, joined date, and a lot of other interesting stuff. What will you do with all this information - that is your choice. But YouTube offers one of the biggest surfaces for OSINT attacks.

Of course, that is not a full list of possible vectors of open-source intelligence. Moreover, there is no guarantee that you will get even a thing from the object of intelligence. Users who know the key rules of online anonymity will leave no significant tracks. Ones who know the same OSINT vectors will also understand how to avoid a successful survey or even mislead it.

Who and why uses the OSINT?

Open-source intelligence is demanded by a wide range of different users. Don’t think that if it contains the word β€œintelligence,” thus it is demanded only by the FBI and cybercriminals. They use it, too, but they have access to more serious and sophisticated surveillance tools. Meanwhile, OSINT is widespread in companies and sometimes used by individuals. Companies use it to prepare for negotiations with a company they have never had a deal with. Knowing more about your potential partner or rival before the talks is useful.

Individuals, on the other hand, use open-source intelligence to get some information. OSINT may be extremely useful if you want to know more about the company you’re trying to get a job in or see who that beautiful girl you met in the park is. That may look strange and overkill, but stopping before that goes too far is possible.

Unless you use illegal software for it - yes. However, illegal programs for OSINT that you can see for sale on the Darknet are rather a spyware than just a program for data analysis. That’s nothing bad in checking the available information without any evil intentions. However, a benevolent search may turn malevolent when you go too far to get the information. Searching online is OK, starting a phishing campaign to get the info out of the employees is not.

However, from a moral point of view, any type of intelligence is bad. If someone doesn't want to say something to you, they likely have some motivation. And searching for some info on that topic in the social networks of this person may be harmful to your relationships. Sure, it cannot be called illegal from the legislative point of view but can make you an ill-famed maniac. Reconnaissance based on open-source data is a potent tool, so use it wisely to keep your reputation clean.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is meant by open source intelligence?
Open Source Intelligence refers to any information legally obtained from accessible publicly available sources about a person or organization. Typically, this is information found on the Internet, that is, any publicly available information, whether it be books or reports in a public library, articles in a newspaper, or statements in a press release. However, OSINT also includes information found in various types of media. For example, it can contain text, images, videos, webinars, public speeches, and conferences.
How long has OSINT existed?
The OSINT has existed for decades. For example, if an investigator visited a local land title registry and obtained information about deeds or mortgages on a property, that investigator would conduct OSINT research. OSINT has also been used for military purposes, at least since World War II, when Allied forces monitored news releases from the Axis powers to understand public sentiment and government actions in those countries. Although the invention of social media, messaging apps, and the Internet, in general, has changed the way open source intelligence is conducted and information available, the practice of OSINT has been around much longer than these inventions.
Is the practice of OSINT legal?
OSINT is not "hacking". OSINT-trained analysts never invade secure areas to find information; they don't steal passwords or circumvent firewalls. Instead, they use advanced search techniques and research skills to find information freely available to anyone who knows where and how to look. Because OSINT only searches publicly available resources, the information obtained is, by definition, "publicly available." Even if an individual or company expected the data to remain confidential or private, the OSINT analyst did not violate any technical (e.g., "hacking" an account) or legal barriers to obtaining the information. Thus there are no known privacy or other legal violations inherent in the OSINT process.
What Are the Disadvantages of OSINT?

Although OSINT sounds quite powerful, it is not without its drawbacks. Many professionals using OSINT experience information overload. It may take too long to filter every detail. Further, with social media intelligence (SOCMINT), it is tough to verify the legitimacy of each part collected. One disadvantage of OSINT tools is that many do not have fact-checking features, making it difficult to distinguish between real and fake news.

The other problem of OSINT is its social acceptance. A lot of people will consider gathering the information on social networks and wherever else as spying, even though no privacy borders are corrupted. It is understandable that folks typically dislike when someone collects facts about them, but as we mentioned earlier, there is nothing illegal in open-source intelligence.

Who Uses OSINT?
Professionals in a variety of industries use OSINT. This is how journalists gather information about a subject to help them in investigative journalism, cybersecurity professionals track and identify hackers, law enforcement officers gather evidence for a criminal case, and businesses collect data about a company in due diligence. Many companies now offer OSINT training to their employees. Some have a dedicated team of analysts and market researchers who conduct OSINT events.