Build Your Cyber Skills By Open Source Intelligence

Open Source Intelligence:

Today I am going to talk about the world of OSINT, or open-source intelligence and how it can really help boost your skills as a cyber practitioner, whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out.

To better understand what OSINT is, let’s know how a military commander begins a campaign. First, he starts off by conducting reconnaissance and gathering intel. He’ll then send out spies to collect as much info on the enemy’s strength and disposition. If he’s really smart, he might also do the reverse and use the same scouts to recon his own forces to understand what kind of information the enemy might be able to gather on him.

In the cyber world, it’s no different. Building situational awareness is crucial to success, whether you’re doing digital investigations, red or blue team operations, or looking for a place to start in the world of cybersecurity. And OSINT is one of the most accessible and low-cost ways to do this.

In this article, we’ll go through a conceptual overview of OSINT, how it can benefit your skills as a cyber professional, and some great resources out there to start with. So back in World War Two, the United States had an intelligence Department called the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, which was the precursor to the CIA. The OSS had an entire Research and Analysis branch dedicated to open-source intelligence.

They collected newspapers, journals, press clippings, and radio broadcast reports from all over the world, just to hunt down photos or articles that might give away crucial intelligence about the enemy.

From bomb craters to new aircraft or battleships, these bits of data, once pieced together, could be used to assess an enemy or to verify other sources of intel.

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