The concept
OSINT stands for Open-Source Intelligence, which is one of the key aspects of understanding cybersecurity. It is a piece of information collected from public sources such as those available on the Internet, although the term is not strictly limited to the Internet, but rather refers to all publicly available sources.
Why uses OSINT?
This practice of collecting information available online can be used for intelligence and national security purposes.
OSINT is also used in the context of economic intelligence activities. Unfortunately, it is also used by hackers (Black Hat) who can collect information on targets in order to plan their attack. By having elements corresponding to a person, the attacker will be able to implement a credible hacking or swindling attempt.
Information analysis
“Information” is the keyword behind the OSINT concept, information that can be obtained for free. It doesn’t matter if it’s in newspapers, blogs, web pages, tweets, social media maps, images, podcasts or videos, as long as it’s public, free and legal.
However, once you have completed your OSINT research, you will have a lot of data to analyze. This is when you will need to refine your results, search in detail for all the really necessary items you need and discard the rest.
The final stage of the OSINT strategy will be to translate all this digital intelligence data into a human-readable format so that it can be understood by non-technical people, who are often at the top of most businesses.
What risk for an OSINT investigation?
An OSINT investigation also involves risks:
- The risk of being detected,
- The risk of losing access to this information,
- The risk of becoming the victim.
But these risks can be mitigated by using trusted third-party services, such as APIs, proxies, VPN servers, TCP tunnels and many other advanced techniques.
OSINT for Cybersecurity
In the field of cybersecurity, OSINT is regularly used for activities such as Strategic Intelligence, Security, or Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI). As an example, OSINT is also used in a professional context by penetrators when carrying out certain types of audits, or by “bounty hunters”, security researchers participating in Bug Bounty programs.
OSINT can also be used to identify possible data leaks through searches via search engines such as Google, investigations on document sharing sites or on the darkweb.
How can Excellium help you?
Excellium, as a well-established cybersecurity company in Luxembourg, makes it a priority to be constantly on the lookout for all issues that may apply to its clients.
As a result, we continually adapt to the information security landscape and ensure that our clients are prepared for all situations.
Through our diverse experiences, we have established a structured and pragmatic approach to helping our clients establish and implement their information security strategy.
OSINT is a set of methods for collecting information from a variety of open, public or accessible sources for the purpose of cyber security. The analysis of this information makes it possible to identify trends, anticipate cyber risks and naturally serve the cybersecurity of our clients.
To be able to anticipate threats to our clients, it is necessary to know their level of exposure. It is through this knowledge that the exploitation of OSINT contributes to their cybersecurity.
To help you with your OSINT requirements, we have developed an intuitive approach based on the following plan
– Definition of needs
– Collection of data
– Analysis of the collected information
– Report writing
This process requires multiple skills. Excellium, thanks to its wide range of skills, calls upon specialized consultants for each step to ensure a high level of confidence.
