Monthly Round-Up (July 2024)
A FREE Summary of Tradecraft Tips & Industry News from the OSINT World.
Welcome to the seventh edition of our Monthly Roundup!
This edition is filled with the latest tradecraft tips and industry updates, making it an invaluable resource for staying ahead in the OSINT field. We've proudly maintained a consistent publication schedule for over 2.5 years, delivering weekly content straight to our subscribers' inboxes every Sunday evening.
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Now let’s dive into the month of July 2024!
Previous Issues
July 2024 Highlights
Tip: Effective Techniques for Searching X
In this guide, Authentic8 provides different techniques for effectively searching the X platform, including using various tools to facilitate and improve searches. X (formerly Twitter) remains a valuable source of open-source information for investigations despite a decrease in active users after Elon Musk's 2022 acquisition and 2024 rebranding.
Tip: Detailed Walkthrough on Topic Modelling Open Source Research with the OpenAlex API
This walkthrough, including step-by-step Python code, introduces topic modeling and the OpenAlex data source. It covers building a data pipeline for API data ingestion, constructing and visualising an LDA model with pyLDAvis.
Note from the OSINT Jobs Team: This advanced article is for those working with large amounts of text data and those interested in coding with Python, especially in an OSINT context. Topic modelling can help understand and visualise what is being said. An interesting application could be to use the underlying methodology for topic modelling exported Telegram chats, thus identifying the main topics of discussion.
Tip: Understanding Generative AI Misuse
We recently came across this paper and thought it would interest some of our readers who work in this space. Google recently published a paper on the misuse of generative AI (GenAI). The paper discusses a taxonomy and considerations based on real-world data. It covers the exploitation of GenAI capabilities, compromise of GenAI systems, and provides a detailed breakdown of tactics, definitions, and real-world examples (HT LinkedIn user Chris H.)
Tip: Scrape Instagram Content with Instagram Scraper
Instagram Scraper allows you to extract data with options to export or integrate the data with other tools. But be aware you understand the legal and ethical implications before scraping any data.
Note from the OSINT Jobs Team: It is advisable to seek professional advice for legal matters. For a basic understanding (not legal advice), refer to Apify’s blog post titled "Is web scraping legal?"
Tip: GitHub Repository of Effective Google Dorks
DailyDarkWeb on LinkedIn shared a GitHub repository containing numerous Google dorks, which are search parameters to refine Google searches. While not all will always work or yield desired results, it's a useful resource for more effective searches. It's also recommended to use multiple search engines for best practices.
Industry: The Satellite Era: How Earth Observation Data is Being Mobilized as Potential Digital Evidence
Public monitoring of conflicts around the world shows that human rights defenders and journalists increasingly use earth observation data (EOD) to verify facts.
Industry: The Emerging Role of AI in Open-Source Intelligence
Find out more about the role of AI in OSINT in this insightful blog post.
Starting an Analytics Org From Scratch — Lessons From a Decade at DoorDash
DoorDash VP Jessica Lachs expanded the analytics team from a few generalists to a specialised group of 300. She explains how founders can establish an analytics function and choose the right initial hires for their startups.
Book Recommendation: Research Handbook on Cyberwarfare (Edited by Tim Stevens and Joe Devanny)
The handbook features over 20 chapters that dives into various theoretical and practical aspects of cyberwarfare.
Recommended Article: A Globally Integrated Islamic State
The Islamic State has evolved over the past five years, becoming more integrated globally than al-Qaeda, with increased external operations and a misunderstood operational structure, crucial for policymakers to recognise given its current threat dynamics. Find out more about in this new article by War on the Rocks.
Tip: New Search Grid Generator Tool for Investigating Areas
Bellingcat's new Search Grid Generator helps investigate areas of interest square by square. Input coordinates, and it creates a grid file for use in Google Earth. The tool idea came from conversations with their Volunteer Community.
Tip: How BBC Open Source Journalists Investigate Information from Gaza
BBC Arabic’s digital forensics unit and BBC Verify collaborated to investigate Hamas's preparations for the October 7 attack on Israel. Using open source methods, they analysed footage dating back to 2020, located 14 training sites around Gaza, and identified several militant groups involved. The team continues to collect and verify footage and news about hostages. The Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) spoke with the journalists about their methods and tools.
Tip: How to Organise Information Using the P.A.R.A Method
The P.A.R.A method by Tiago Forte helps you organise information efficiently and improving productivity. The main steps are: capturing relevant information; organising it effectively; distilling the essentials; and expressing thoughts clearly.
The author of the LinkedIn post, Wouter Gerrits, stresses that it’s about having a system and not isolated tools. The focus should be on extracting value from information, not just accumulating it.
Note from the OSINT Jobs Team: This method is particularly useful for analysts in many ways, especially when monitoring multiple issues and storing information that may not be relevant now but could be crucial in the future.
Industry: Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) 2024
The Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) is Europol’s analysis of emerging threats and trends in cybercrime, highlighting changes and developments over the past year.
Industry: Russia cracks down on personal phones on the frontline
Ukrainian open source investigators stated that the new restrictions will complicate the analysis of Russian movements.
That’s it for this month!
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