What is OSINT (Open Source Intelligence)?

Delve into OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) meaning, its history, and how it’s used for ransomware prevention, risk assessment, and investigations. Discover OSINT tools, frameworks, and best practices to protect businesses.

Today’s organizations generate and share large volumes of information ranging from social media posts to corporate documents. On the other hand, cyber attackers also use these open sources to plan and launch successful attacks that have significant effects, such as ransomware attacks. As stated by IT Governance, there were more than five billion data breaches worldwide in April previous year, which shows that public data remains unprotected. These stats make the importance of OSINT clear in present times. As a result, businesses should know what is OSINT and how this form of intelligence utilizes open-source information for defense, analysis, and investigation.

To start with, this article will explain what is Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) and how it is becoming increasingly important in the risk intelligence field. Subsequently, we outline the history of OSINT, its typical applications, and a brief insight into the specifics of OSINT.

You will learn about the OSINT tools and OSINT techniques that organizations use to defend themselves or for threat investigation purposes, which is often necessary to prevent ransomware attacks. Lastly, we discuss OSINT frameworks and challenges, best practices, and how SentinelOne complements modern OSINT strategies.

What is OSINT (Open Source Intelligence)?

OSINT stands for Open Source Intelligence and is defined as the accumulation, processing, and integration of information from public platforms. Such sources may include social networks, forums, press releases, and documents in the company’s reference, geographical data, or research papers. With the growth of data in the online space, the OSINT definition has evolved to include information from cloud logs, domain registration, and even users’ analytics.

In the context of security teams, OSINT defines a framework that takes raw public data and transforms it into actionable intelligence. Through constant scanning of the open sources for any signs of threats or threat indicators, OSINT enables organizations to identify infiltrations, credential harvesting, and other advanced threats, including ransomware.

In conclusion, OSINT leverages the power of the available open-source information to enhance protection, fuel investigations, and provide future vision.

History of Open Source Intelligence

The history of Open Source Intelligence can be dated back to intelligence techniques that rely on open-source publications, broadcasting, and records. Over the years, it has evolved with the growth of the internet and eventually became established as a specialized OSINT tool and OSINT technique.

Today, OSINT enables anything from business cybersecurity intelligence to fact-checking information in real-time. Below are four benchmarks that can be considered significant moments in the development of OSINT into a discipline of contemporary investigation:

1. Early Government Broadcast Monitoring (1940s-1950s): Historically, the first attempts to use OSINT were made during the Second World War when intelligence agencies listened to the broadcasts of the enemy’s radio and read propaganda leaflets. This approach obtained information on the morale or plans of the troops without the need to cross into the enemy’s territory. The partnership established a paradigm that big and broad data scanning can provide a tactical advantage. While these analyses were restricted to analog means, they paved the way for better and more sophisticated OSINT techniques.
2. Expanding Diplomatic & Academic Sources (1960s-1970s): During the Cold War, intelligence agencies were able to gather information from newspapers, journals, and state-issued bulletins of other countries. From a systematic analysis of the documentation, they made assumptions of the technological advancement or policy change. This synergy demonstrated how carefully selected open data enhanced the level of national security consciousness. It also inspired academic researchers to explore the use of open data in geopolitical models.
3. Internet Emergence Fuels OSINT Growth (1990s): The rapid growth of internet usage in the 1990s increased the amount and diversification of publicly available information. People understood that there is great potential in crawling websites, newsgroups, and other publicly available databases. At the same time, specific OSINT tools appeared that could deal with the issue of ingesting and indexing large amounts of data. This synergy elevated OSINT from a specialized intelligence to a mature sector that connected business, law enforcement, and foreign policy.
   1. Real-Time Analytics, AI Integration (2010s-2025): In the modern period, OSINT industry peaked with sophisticated data-mining tools analyzing social networks, threat feeds, and even the dark web. The approach of AI-driven analytics allows analyzing billions of posts or logs daily to identify infiltration patterns in near real-time, which is necessary to prevent ransomware infiltration. Furthermore, open source intelligence training programs are also available to help enterprises and agencies to leverage it successfully. These developments point to the fact that OSINT is now an important part of managing crises and protecting brands.

What is Open Source Intelligence Used For?

Although OSINT was primarily used by the military or government to gather intelligence, the modern application of the technique is much broader. In fact, 43% of OSINT usage is associated with cyber security, 27% with government intelligence, 20% with corporate security, and the rest 10% with fraud detection. Here are four key areas where organizations use Open Source Intelligence, as shown below to reveal the vast and versatile application of this concept:

1. Cyber Security Monitoring: In the context of OSINT in cyber security, one monitors hacker forums, leaked credentials or dumped, or vulnerability disclosures. They prevent infiltration, such as ransomware infiltration, by flagging mentions of corporate domains or employee data. OSINT tools can process thousands of posts on a daily basis and present leads that can be acted upon. This synergy assists SOC teams in identifying potential attack vectors, ranging from stolen admin credentials to a new exploit release.
2. Government & Law Enforcement Intelligence: OSINT is used by agencies to detect extremists, prepare for disasters, or gain real-time information on the ground. From social media, satellite images, or local news sources, they get a wider perspective than from classified networks only. This helps in identifying the cross-border smuggling or revealing the nature of the foreign propaganda narratives. In the long run, open data analytics can sometimes work hand in hand with HUMINT (Human Intelligence) or signals intelligence in integrated approaches.
3. Corporate Security & Asset Protection: Organizations utilize OSINT industries insights to monitor brand impersonation threats, competitor spying, or threats of insider attack. They may monitor trademarks or find domains registered with the purpose of phishing. During crises such as product recalls, OSINT can determine the sentiment or misinformation that is circulating. When open-source intelligence is combined with internal logs, corporate security decreases the number of approaches and accelerates the response.
4. Fraud Detection & Investigations: Banks and other financial organizations use OSINT methods to search for patterns of money laundering, credit card fraud, or fraud groups. Law enforcement observes illicit goods or stolen credentials on social media profiles or a marketplace to track the leakage. They use addresses, phone numbers, or shipping records on other sites to cross-reference. This synergy aids in revealing cross-jurisdictional coordinated scams, which, in turn, encourages quick actions to be taken against them.

How Does OSINT Work?

People interested in OSINT or open source intelligence are often asking what the data collection and analysis process looks like in real life. In a nutshell, OSINT combines purposeful data gathering with systematic analysis, leading to tangible conclusions. In the following sections, we disintegrate the process into four major functions that every open-source intelligence analysis must employ.

1. Data Collection & Aggregation: The first step is to search for various website forums, social networking sites, or DNS that contain the posts, users, or domain information. Large-scale scraping is done using tools to avoid the monotonous process. A standard OSINT tool can analyze logs, source codes, or stolen credential databases at the same time. This complementarity guarantees coverage, which may show infiltration angles or newly created domain spoofs.
2. Filtering & Data Normalization: The information that is collected is often unstructured and can be received in various formats, such as HTML, JSON feeds, or lists of CSVs. These variations are normalized by analysts or scripts that eliminate repeated entries, parse the keywords, or define metadata. This synergy fosters consistent queries and correlation across massive datasets. Once normalized, the data becomes more friendly for further processing or analysis—such as looking for domain name registration patterns that look suspicious.
3. Correlation & Analysis: With curated data, OSINT intelligence specialists find connections—such as the same IP address being used in forum posts or the same username on multiple platforms. They can trace social networks, associate leaked logins to targeted staff’s email addresses, or link domain registration to previous hack attempts. The combination of correlation with domain knowledge is more valuable than simply having log data. In many cases, this is done with the help of machine learning that helps to detect outliers or potential clusters of suspicion.
4. Reporting & Actionable Recommendations: Last but not least, teams apply recommendations for security or risk handling—such as fixing a discovered vulnerability in the software or blocking domains in the list of threats. This synergy ensures OSINT does not remain an academic discipline but is implemented in decision-making processes. The same data may also be fed into the incident response if the infiltration has already taken place. Crisp reports with recommendations for further actions help executives or SOC teams allocate their time and efforts efficiently.

Types of Open Source Intelligence Tools

When it comes to open-source intelligence, there is a vast list of specialized solutions that organizations can implement. Every OSINT tools category is focused on a specific data type, such as social media or domain infiltration, thus enabling analysts to tackle specific infiltration points. Here, we define major types of OSINT tools and explain how each of them can be used for daily threat hunting or brand protection.

1. Social Media Analytics Tools: These tools crawl and index sites such as X (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn, or specific interest forums for posts that contain a company’s data or the use of its data. They monitor hashtags, user engagement, or any form of abnormal activity at a large scale. In infiltration scenarios, criminals sometimes boast stolen data in closed groups—these solutions identify such possibilities. Through enhanced filtering of the conversation and sentiment analysis, the teams can easily identify the infiltration and the impersonation of the brand.
2. Domain & IP Intelligence Tools: There is also a category that covers domain registrations, DNS information, IP address location, and host reputation. It allows analysts to identify look-alike domains to the official sites, which is critical in preventing phishing or ransomware attacks. IP intelligence helps to determine if specific addresses are present in malicious blacklists or if they have previous infiltration histories. In this way, organizations actively prevent intrusions at the domain level by analyzing such footprints.
3. Metadata & File Analysis Tools: Malicious documents or images may contain metadata, version information, or user log files. In this category, tools analyze the headers of files to determine who created them or if they connect to established infiltration kits. If the criminals make mistakes and include macros that connect to a command-and-control server—these solutions assist. This synergy ensures that the investigators are able to obtain infiltration angles from every corner, such as the document properties or the code snippets that have been embedded.
4. Deep/Dark Web Monitoring Tools: Apart from the surface web, advanced search engines target the deep web for markets, forums on the Tor network, and data leak sites. They search for stolen login credentials, business and other proprietary information, or staff details that criminals may sell. This synergy assists the security teams to act quickly if the previous infiltration resulted in data leakage. Continuous scanning identifies infiltration signs as soon as possible, such as criminals using stolen credentials or advertising a company’s database for sale.
5. Geospatial & Image OSINT Tools: These solutions leverage map data, satellite imagery, and photo metadata to extract location intelligence from open-source data. They can verify alleged infiltration of physical locations or monitor status updates containing geographical coordinates of a crime scene. Through the elimination of image backgrounds or weather patterns, most advanced forensics normally validate the point of entry of the infiltrators. This synergy especially proves beneficial to law enforcement or crisis response teams that deal with location-based threats.

OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) Techniques

Open source intelligence goes beyond simple tools as analysts apply Open Source Intelligence Techniques in the analysis of public data. All the methods ensure that the interpretation of data is precise and free from any noise or false alarms. In the following section, we focus on some of the most commonly used methods that serve as the foundation of OSINT analysis.

1. Advanced Keyword & Boolean Searches: Special operators enhance specific keywords on search engines or social media by eliminating unnecessary items or concentrating on certain keywords. Sometimes, analysts might use synonyms, exclude some areas or search within a specified time period. This synergy significantly reduces the amount of data to the relevant infiltration leads. Staff then fine-tune these queries and find out the infiltration discussion or the mention of a company in such forums.
2. Metadata & EXIF Extraction: Photos, documents, or PDFs can have metadata such as timestamps, geolocation, device information, or owner information. OSINT intelligence specialists examine EXIF data to verify if the location mentioned in metadata corresponds to the place where an image is actually inserted. In infiltration scenarios, the criminals may also give out their positions unconsciously. It integrates with geospatial analysis to either validate the suspicious statements or to trace infiltration footprints.
3. Cross-Referencing Multiple Data Sources: It should be noted that analysts do not work on a single platform at all. They match the social media activity, domain registration, or leaked credentials to validate infiltration vectors. In the case that a user handle is found in both a hacking forum and a job listing with the same pseudonym, these might link infiltration incidents. This ensures that the team does not record or work on false positives or rumors that have not been confirmed by other sources.
4. Passive vs. Active Reconnaissance: Passive recon refers to obtaining data from queries or records that are already publicly available—such as domain registration information or web archives. Active reconnaissance includes direct contacts like, for instance, sweeping across servers and probing open ports, which incurs the risk of being noticed by intrusion observers. Many of the tasks in OSINT are still performed in a passive manner, thereby avoiding legal or ethical concerns. Both stances help to provide a balanced, law-abiding intelligence that is achieved by different intelligence organizations.

OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) Framework

The sheer volume of activity across social media platforms, domain checks, and dark web scanning can be overwhelming, even for experienced analysts. An OSINT framework aligns the tasks, tools, and correlation processes to allow these different perspectives to be consolidated. In the following, five aspects are discussed to ensure that OSINT tasks stay clear and goal-oriented.

1. Data Collection Layer: This layer crawls web pages, APIs, or file shares for information related to the search query. Tools could process domain records or extract data from social feeds and store them in a normalized database or data lake. Through the integration of input feeds, teams are able to prevent any lost infiltration signals or user group noise. Ongoing or scheduled collection fosters near real-time OSINT updates.
2. Processing & Normalization: Upon receiving raw data, the system processes it, assigns tags, and merges it. These may involve eliminating duplicate entries, formatting date strings into standard formats, or categorizing the sources. This synergy ensures queries or analytics run smoothly across varying structures or languages. Without this step, advanced correlation may give false positives or false negatives in cases of different naming conventions hiding infiltrations.
3. Correlation & Analysis Engine: This layer uses elaborate queries, artificial intelligence, or rule-based reasoning to detect infiltration angles or repetition patterns. For example, it can draw attention to the domain that has been frequently associated with hacking forums. It infers infiltration risk by cross-checking the domain ownership records with the leaked credential sets. The synergy enhances how OSINT intelligence presents itself in terms of identifying or presenting anomalous activity or malicious footprints.
4. Visualization & Reporting: Transforming the raw analysis into dashboards, charts, or written reports makes the information more easily interpretable by the organization. This integration assists in identifying trends of infiltrations, geographical origins of malicious IPs, or social networks of criminals. Clear visuals can also inform tactical choices, such as where to target infiltration efforts or which data is likely to be compromised. In the long term, the staff fine-tune these visuals to reflect daily or event-based concerns.
5. Feedback & Learning Loop: In each case of infiltration detection or a closed case, the framework records what led to the triggering of the alert or a failure to trigger it. These insights help to fine-tune future queries, changing the values or adding new keywords to monitor. The longer the system is active, the more it familiarizes with infiltration patterns, making the detection process more effective. This synergy guarantees that OSINT is a dynamic process that adapts to the changing threats and organizational growth.

OSINT for Enterprise Security

In an enterprise setting, data originates from different departments, regions, and third parties, and any crack can be exploited by ransomware. When using OSINT cyber security management, external threats (such as domain intelligence or social media discussions) are combined with internal logging. For example, an enhanced OSINT analysis may identify recently registered domains mimicking the brand or identify staff credentials shared on the dark web. The integration of open-source intelligence data and internal threat logs in real time allows for proactive measures against infiltration. At the end of the day, OSINT is not just an ‘enhancement’ but a force multiplier that connects public domain information with the company’s security measures to ensure that the number of approaches is limited.

Open Source Intelligence Use Cases

Today, OSINT meaning is widely understood by numerous industries, ranging from finance to manufacturing, for the purpose of risk management. Whether it is for detecting fraudulent user behavior or tracking brand mimicry, OSINT offers a perspective outside of logs. Here are four primary situations where OSINT sources are greatly helpful in keeping infiltrations either contained or prevented before they happen:

1. Brand Protection & Social Monitoring: Businesses monitor the presence of their brand on Twitter, Instagram, or specific forums to identify fraudulent products, domain clones, or negative campaigns. This synergy assists them in making quick responses, such as filing takedown requests or correcting misinformation. In the case of infiltration, the criminals mimic official accounts to engage in the phishing of employees or customers. Through monitoring the open channels, OSINT protects the brands’ reputation and ensures the users’ confidence.
2. Fraud & Scam Detection: Banks and other financial organizations look for stolen credit card or identity information on the black market. OSINT tools are designed to crawl through the black or grey markets or check known bin ranges or user credentials. This synergy shows the possible angles of infiltration if criminals sought to perpetrate large-scale fraud or impersonation. This ensures card re-issuance or account freezing is done early enough to reduce losses to the bare minimum.
3. Threat Intelligence for Security Operations: Open source intelligence techniques are used by SOC teams to look for new infiltration kits or vulnerability disclosures in hacking forums. They might also monitor for signs of ransomware intrusion that mentions their organization. Real-time alerts guarantee that patches or user warnings are put in place before the criminals find the angle. Integration of the OSINT feed correlation with the SIEM logs enhances flexibility in the detection of infiltration attempts.
4. Law Enforcement & Investigations: Some of the ways agencies use OSINT include identifying and confirming the identity of a suspect, tracking their social media, or establishing any infiltration network. From the leaked log files, they match the IP addresses and find out the other conspirators or exfil point IP addresses. Combined with internal leads, the open data allows them to bust the entire ring of infiltrations. On the other hand, targeted OSINT training guarantees that the officers respect the law on the handling of personal information.

Key Benefits of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)

OSINT is cost-efficient, as it relies on publicly available information, and it is effective in providing detailed information in various fields. From real-time infiltration warnings to ease of compliance checks, the benefits are numerous. Here, we will outline and analyze four key advantages that demonstrate OSINT’s relevance to today’s operations:

1. Cost-Effective, Wide-Ranging Insights: Unlike proprietary intelligence solutions, open source intelligence mainly depends on publicly accessible information. Other forms of information, such as tools or specific search queries, like advanced domain checks, cost less than closed feeds. This synergy makes it possible for small businesses to gather a lot of intelligence and close the gap with better-funded opponents. However, the broad scope shows infiltration angles or public mentions that may never be seen in specialized feeds.
2. Faster Threat Detection & Incident Response: OSINT can also help teams detect infiltration attempts more quickly by monitoring the outside environment for brand or staff mentions. For example, if criminals boast of stolen credentials on hacking forums, analysts can immediately change the affected accounts. This synergy reduces the time to infiltrate down to hours from weeks, thereby reducing the time that data can be exfiltrated. Over time, a real-time approach fosters a more adaptive security posture.
3. Enhanced Situational Awareness: This is where combining open data with internal logs can help explain how infiltration or brand impersonation might happen in more detail. For example, linking the weather reports with social posts could either substantiate or dismiss geo-based infiltration allegations. This provides a balanced risk evaluation that helps to determine where to allocate staff or where to strengthen the system. It is over several cycles that organizations acquire refined intelligence of infiltrations that are both virtual and physical.
4. Informed Strategic Planning & Compliance: Through OSINT techniques, it is possible to detect new trends in infiltration or new TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures). Such information shapes decisions about the budget for patching, hiring more staff, or implementing more advanced EDR solutions. However, the data obtained through OSINT can show that an organization is ready for compliance with such frameworks as GDPR or NIST, which will prove that threats are being monitored actively. This synergy ensures that security teams are well-positioned to adapt to changes in the infiltration challenges.

OSINT Challenges and Issues

Although OSINT is a helpful tool in infiltration detection and brand protection, there are some problems related to it. Below are four potential risks of OSINT that may hinder its proper utilization if not well addressed:

1. Data Overload & False Positives: The collection of data from numerous sources causes an overload of information, or noise, and hides important information in minor fluctuations. Advanced correlation or automated filters are useful, but they can create a flood of alerts that are impossible to manage if they are configured incorrectly. A high number of false positives can obscure actual infiltration angles. Thus, careful selection, proper tuning, and successive adjustments are required to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high.
2. Ethical & Legal Boundaries: Gathering information from the public domain is not without invading the right to privacy or practically engaging in doxxing. Infiltration or excessive scraping of “semi-private” communities may violate the terms of service or local data protection laws. This synergy requires that OSINT intelligence teams adhere to a certain code of conduct when conducting their operations while ensuring that they do not infringe on privacy laws. Such an overextension may lead to legal consequences or harm the company’s reputation.
3. Rapidly Evolving Platforms & Tactics: Cybercriminals are constantly changing their ways of operation and moving from open forums to encrypted apps and using social media for a short time. Applications that once extracted information from large networks may slow down if criminals switch to small specialized forums. This synergy implies that OSINT tools have to be dynamic and adapt to changes in the new sites or use stealth scrape methods. If it is not updated, analysts might be able to observe only a limited number of infiltration conversations.
4. Verification & Source Reliability: Not all open data is reliable—some of it may be a rumor, a fake screenshot, or fake information. Such over-reliance leads to wrong infiltration conclusions or resource wastage. To ensure the authenticity of the findings, analysts should corroborate each claim with secondary data or company releases. This synergy ensures that OSINT analysis is built on facts and not assumptions or falls victim to infiltration or manipulated stories.

OSINT tools help organizations identify threats and vulnerabilities from publicly available information. For a more comprehensive approach, Singularity XDR integrates advanced threat intelligence for faster and more accurate detection and response.

OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) Best Practices

Effective open source intelligence does not only require the efficient use of scraping tools alone. Adherence to the best practices in planning, ethical conduct regulation, integration across disciplines, and documentation is crucial for optimal results. Here, we outline four OSINT best practices to ensure that analyses are carried out in a uniform and effective manner and that infiltration can be effectively detected:

1. Define Clear Objectives & Scope: Firstly, determine what kind of infiltration angles or data leaks you want to identify, for example, brand impersonation, theft of staff credentials, or competitor spying. The creation of boundaries helps to avoid the time spent on data that is not relevant. The integration guarantees that each of the OSINT steps corresponds to the general business or security objectives to enhance the return on investment. In subsequent expansions, revisit the scope to include new staff expansions or product lines.
2. Select the Appropriate Tools & Methodologies: There are certain cases that call for specific types of scanning, such as code repository observers, scanning for threats on the dark web, or geospatial scans. It is crucial to assess a wide range of open source intelligence tools to identify the ones that are suitable for the targeted data types. The synergy facilitates a better understanding of infiltration depth, as well as coupling domain knowledge with social scraping. In the long run, the analysis of the tool’s effectiveness and the feedback from the users help to shape the OSINT tech stack.
3. Maintain Ethical & Legal Compliance: Explain how to proceed so that staff members do not engage in unlawful spying on closed groups or violate privacy rights. Develop a sound policy for the collection, storage, and use of data, basing the policy on the jurisdictions. The synergy helps to establish credibility with the stakeholders and protects the brand from potential lawsuits. In case of doubt, seek advice from a lawyer, especially when searching through personal information or banned sites.
4. Validate & Cross-Reference Findings: Do not rely on a single post or a claim – look at several different pieces of data that should be similar. Try to check the authenticity of the infiltration rumors or leaked credentials using other sources or logs. It combines the elements of OSINT and internal forensics to ensure that infiltration leads are credible. This approach creates balanced, trustworthy knowledge that can then inform appropriate responses.

Real-Life Examples of OSINT

In addition to theoretical considerations, real-life OSINT examples demonstrate how open source intelligence assists in solving crimes or espionage. Here are five examples that demonstrate the practical application of curated public data, from identifying criminals to verifying internal threats. All of these examples demonstrate how systematic OSINT influences investigations.

1. Open-Source Intelligence Reveals Kremlin Connections in the Korolev Spy Case (2024): In this case, OSINT identified links between a local suspect and possible Russian spying. Police and other investigators used local newspaper and social media accounts together with references from an overseas university to establish links to the infiltration. Even when the official records were not complete, cross-checking the data helped unveil an espionage network. This synergy demonstrated how OSINT skills can complement intelligence that official channels might not cover.
2. Police Sextortion Case Study (2024): In a sextortion scam that was perpetrated last year, law enforcement employed OSINT training and tools to track the criminals, who forced victims into paying money. The subject of the investigation involved the monitoring of an individual scammer from Nigeria, and the use of sophisticated social media scraping and metadata analysis to map the suspect’s activity. While the call records were not included in the investigation, and there was no official sting operation, these practices proved to be useful in understanding the framework of the scam. In the end, the police did not apprehend any suspect, which is quite typical for digital forensics investigations.
3. Human Trafficking Initiative (2024): As a part of the Traverse Project, investigator Aidan used OSINT tools to identify human traffickers and find their profiles online. Using the conceptual and contextual understanding of the domain and the subsequent image analysis, it was possible to identify several digital links that bound different aspects of the trafficking network. Though it did not entail matching ads or identifying cross-state migration, it expanded the investigation greatly. This case also demonstrates the applicability of OSINT in humanitarian work beyond the business setting.
4. Implications of Facebook for Fraud & Missing Persons (2024):  In another operation, investigators used OSINT in relation to Facebook profiles to solve insurance fraud cases and to search for missing persons. Using the Facebook Marketplace data and users’ activity, they were able to identify the last locations and build the digital personas. The investigation did not use community-based platforms to gather the data but relied solely on tracking the profiles, which showed that OSINT is a powerful approach compared to traditional methods. It could be seen that continuous scanning and analysis provided a solid foundation for the previous methods of investigation and helped to shed light on both cases of fraud and the situations with missing individuals.
5. Exposing Crypto Scam Underbelly (2024): Researchers used OSINT frameworks integrated with blockchain analysis to identify a Pig Butchering crypto scam perpetrator who contacted the victims directly through messaging applications like WhatsApp, email, or Telegram. The investigation of the scam was able to establish their modus operandi by analyzing the footprints left on the digital world and the Blockchain transactions without having to rely on the forum post and share similarities. This kind of approach showed how, by combining digital intelligence with blockchain analysis, it is possible to unveil even complex crypto scams through accurate OSINT methods.

How Can SentinelOne Help?

SentinelOne constantly monitors and scans vast quantities of open-source data, detecting threats before they escalate into critical issues.  Purple AI and hyperautomation workflows provide insights into vulnerabilities such as compromised credentials, domain impersonation, and ongoing cyber threat campaigns.

The platform continuously cross-maps OSINT intelligence with in-built security alerts for real-time management of exposed endpoints. SentinelOne’s autonomous response features engage with ransomware, phishing attacks, and zero-day threats faster than traditional security solutions.

SentinelOne assists security teams in collating OSINT sources from darknet markets, hacker boards, and social media. SentinelOne provides compliance support for industry standards such as NIST, CIS Benchmark, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, SOC 2, and GDPR, thus achieving holistic security.

Singularity™ Threat Intelligence can build a deep understanding of your threat landscape. It proactively monitors emerging threats, reduces risks, and identifies adversaries in environments. SentinelOne can enhance threat detection with its autonomous AI engines and contextualize incidents by correlating them. It can help you stay multiple steps ahead of attackers with its Offensive Security Engine™ and Verified Exploit Paths™ capabilities.

Users can rapidly detect, prioritize and respond to known threats in real-time, empowering them to focus on high-priority incidents to minimize potential impact. You can triage security alerts with adversary context. SentinelOne can identify threat actors with its high-fidelity detections. It can use auto-response policies when Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) are identified, ensuring swift action is taken to neutralize potential risks.

Singularity™ Threat Intelligence is powered by Mandiant (now a part of Google Cloud), who is widely recognized as a leader in threat intelligence.

Mandiant intelligence is curated by:

• 500 threat intelligence experts across 30 countries speaking over 30 languages.
• Insights from over 1,800 breach responses annually.
• 200,000 hours of incident response per year.
• Frontline intelligence from Mandiant IR & MDR services.
• Both open-source threat intelligence (OSINT) and proprietary intelligence.

Singularity™  Threat Intelligence highlights IOCs found within your network, providing you with valuable leads to initiate targeted threat hunting activities. Built on Singularity™ Data Lake, you can proactively hunt for threats across security tools and preemptively neutralize them before they cause harm.

Book a free live demo to explore.

Conclusion

In the end, It is crucial to understand what is OSINT, especially when the world is full of information and criminals are smart enough to take advantage of data that is available to them. Through OSINT, organizations can collect, analyze, correlate, and gain a vantage that is beyond normal logs or paid threat feeds. From checking fake domain impersonators to scanning social media for infiltration claims,

OSINT promotes early identification of infiltration angles or patterns. Combined with solid frameworks, regular staff training, and improved best practices, open source intelligence provides a flexible approach that may address modern infiltration threats, including ransomware infiltration.

In other words, OSINT depends on the cycle of data collection, noise reduction, correlation, and feeding the results back into security tools that prevent intrusions. Tools such as SentinelOne facilitate this synergy, providing the ability to quarantine compromised endpoints in real-time, while OSINT enhances the broader threat understanding.

Why wait? See how SentinelOne Singularity™ can help you consolidate real-time threat detection with an AI-powered endpoint protection platform and OSINT.

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OSINT FAQs

What does Open Source Intelligence mean?

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the collection, analysis, and interpretation of publicly available information from publicly available sources such as social media, public documents, and news websites. It is used heavily by the cyber security community, law enforcement, and corporate security for threat detection, information verification, and supporting investigations.

Is OSINT legal?

Yes, OSINT is legal if it is practiced ethically within the framework of data protection law. Analysts must comply with legislations such as GDPR and refrain from any unauthorized access to personal or restricted data. Ethical OSINT only uses data which is publicly accessible and privacy respectful.

How is OSINT used in cybersecurity?

OSINT is applied to threat detection, risk assessment, and vulnerability management in cybersecurity. Threat intelligence teams track open sources for indicators of data breaches, phishing pages, leaked credentials, and new cyber threats. Threat intelligence is used to create proactive defense strategies to prevent or reduce the likelihood of potential attacks.

What is OSINT analysis?

OSINT analysis entails gathering, screening, and analyzing publicly accessible information to amass actionable intelligence. This might involve monitoring cybercrime, finding disinformation, and correlating several data points (from sites, forums, social media, etc.) to find security threats or patterns.

How Can I Use OSINT to Protect My Network?

You can use OSINT to track for stolen credentials, domain spoofing, and publicly disclosed security vulnerabilities that are relevant to your organization. By correlating OSINT feeds with threat intelligence platforms such as SentinelOne, security teams can identify and block threats in real time—typically before the attackers can take advantage of the leaked information.

Do Hackers use OSINT?

Yes, hackers use OSINT to gather information on targets, take advantage of vulnerabilities, and launch cyberattacks. Criminals might browse social media, corporate sites, or public forums for confidential information and clues that allow bypassing defenses. Ethical hackers and penetration testers, on the other hand, utilize OSINT to find and fix vulnerabilities prior to the use by the bad guys.

How do ethical hackers use OSINT?

Ethical hackers use OSINT to perform security testing, find vulnerable sensitive information, and mimic actual attack scenarios. They aim to find the vulnerabilities by examining the same publicly available information as the attackers. By using OSINT to find the weaknesses, ethical hackers assist companies in making their defenses stronger for future attacks.

What Are OSINT Skills?

OSINT skills encompass sophisticated search techniques, metadata analysis, social media intelligence gathering, network forensics, and data correlation. Highly skilled individuals with superior OSINT skills are able to extract meaningful and valuable information efficiently from vast reservoirs of publicly available data.

What is an open source intelligence tool?

An open source intelligence tool is a software program that collects, analyzes, and delivers publicly available information for intelligence purposes. SentinelOne is not open-source but its Singularity™ XDR integrates OSINT intelligence into automated security processes to enhance threat detection and response.