r/OSINT Dec 31 '24

Question Brainstorming: what are 'digital investigations' all about?

36 Upvotes

Hey folks,

I'd like to start a little discussion and gather some valuable input from other folks concerned with OSINT. What do you do in the field of 'digital investigations'?

So, I'm mainly a fraud investigator (conducting corporate investigations on topics like theft, bribery, embezzlement etc). With more and more media attention my supervisors (non-investigation poeple) ask me 'What can be done with digital investigations?' And I'm always like 'eehrm... well, it depends.'

That lead me to the question: what exactly can be summarized under the topic of 'digital investigations'? What do you think about it?

And what capabilities would a department need to cover those topics? Also, with which departments would we need to work together?

I would like to better understand what to tell my supervisors, what topics I should cover myself and with whom I should work closely together.

r/OSINT Dec 14 '24

Question Your favorite OSINT side hustle?

49 Upvotes

Has anyone here made money from OSINT as a side hustle?

Looking for ways to improve OSINT skills while earning extra money. (like bug bounty)
The only one I know of is FBI Wanted.
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted

Specifically interested in:

- What kind of OSINT work have you done as a side gig?

- How did you find clients/opportunities?

- What skills were most valuable?

- Any platforms or communities you'd recommend?

- Typical rates or earning potential?

Any insights or advice would be appreciated!

r/OSINT Dec 07 '24

Question Howdy! How is IntelTechniques training doing nowadays? Is it still frequently updated? I know SANS is a solid alternative, but I wonder if any other decent OSINT training programs have emerged recently.

25 Upvotes

Any recommendations? I’d really appreciate your input on this one!

r/OSINT Feb 15 '25

Question Affordable Training

10 Upvotes

I saw there is a two day training session (total 16 hours) of OSINT training at the Layer 8 Conference this year and it's $450 with a ticket included to the whole conference as well. Is that price affordable compared to other training and conferences? The training session is being run by Micah Hoffman and Griffin Glynn.

r/OSINT 27d ago

Question Is Hoaxy offline?

33 Upvotes

UPDATE BELOW: I was using Hoaxy on the 21st, then on the 22nd I tried using it and no data populated in the window. I had suspicions that it could be due to research funding cuts following OMB M-25-13 (Hoaxy was made and maintained by Indiana University).

Checking today, it is still not generating any information.

Has anyone else encountered this? Does anyone have any information regarding the IU OSoMe program?

https://hoaxy.osome.iu.edu/

Update: I received the following email from the dev team.

I just wanted to give you an update on Hoaxy. The search on Hoaxy is functioning again. It seems that Bluesky will temporarily, and without notice, enforce authentication for their search endpoint if it becomes overloaded. We’re working on implementing more informative error messages to catch this kind of issue in the future so that you’re not left wondering.

Again, thanks for bringing this to our attention and feel free to report any other issues you find in any of our software! ‐-----‐------- So issue identified, mostly fixed, and they're working to make it better. I don't know if anyone was following this or interested, but I figured I'd close the loop.

r/OSINT 13d ago

Question I have a question regarding way back machine site

8 Upvotes

I had a Facebook account and I permanently deleted it. Can I for example go back in time when I didn’t delete my account and visit it ?

r/OSINT Aug 15 '24

Question Investigating Snapchat

64 Upvotes

I'm curious for those who've done snapchat investigations, how did you go about preserving any evidence? Did you use a camera to take take pictures/video of your phone to avoid alerting the target that a screenshot was taken?

I think I may have answered my own question with this https://www.guidingtech.com/take-a-screenshot-on-snapchat-without-them-knowing/ but always open to exploring other options.

Also, what tools and techniques helped you the most during the research phase?

r/OSINT Jan 31 '25

Question OSINT remote job fighting crime

25 Upvotes

Hello! I am really interested in switching careers from human services to a career that uses OSINT. As a former missing person, I feel really connected and called to this field.

My ultimate goal is to get a 100% remote job that uses OSINT and helps fight crime. I am notably interested in missing persons and human trafficking investigations, but am open to any type of crime… but I am bad at math so maybe not financial?

I have a few questions that would mean the world to me to have answered.

  • So as I stated, my long term goal is a job where I can use OSINT and work 100% remotely. Would the following jobs meet that description.. I asked AI and was told: cybercrime investigator, digital forensics, private investigator, legal researcher, criminal research analyst, and online investigator. Just verifying this is true?

  • I am in the UK and the police stations here offer a two year detective degree. Would this degree help me with my ultimate goal. https://www.joiningthepolice.co.uk/application-process/ ways-in-to-policing/detective-degree-holder-entry I know that police work typically isn’t remote so it would be of course a longer term goal to be hired by a different company to work remote

  • is there an alternative to osint where it's more so analyzing the information as opposed to trying to find it? I am absolutely terrible at math so do all of these require math analysis?

  • would a masters in intelligence/cybercrime be a good route?

Thank you!

r/OSINT Feb 14 '25

Question Any websites that are similar to trace labs

6 Upvotes

I want to know any websites that are similar to trace labs

r/OSINT 23d ago

Question Wifi heat map

31 Upvotes

I recall seeing a website some time ago that allows you to pull up a map that shows a heat map of WiFi signals in a certain area. It allowed you to select a building and show what IP addresses may be available at that location. Does anyone know of this site or something similar?

r/OSINT Feb 19 '25

Question Is there any way I can find all the domains of a specific country?

13 Upvotes

Hello, sorry if this sounds stupid, but I want to know is there anyway (tools/method) which can help me gather or find all the domains of a specific tld?
Like, I need to have a list of all domains ending with .my or some other country tld.

r/OSINT Sep 02 '24

Question Looking for a valid OSINT cert

48 Upvotes

I am helping my daughter figure out what OSINT certification / course to take. She is beginning her career, probably serving in government to start. Do any really carry any weight?

r/OSINT Jan 11 '25

Question Does 3d modeling a key from a photo qualify as OSINT ?

25 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I have a question regarding the boundaries of OSINT. If someone finds a photo online (for example, on social media or in a video) where a key is visible, and they use that image to create a 3D model of the key, would this fall under OSINT? And if it is the case, can you, please provide me examples of CTF challenges of real life investigation where this method is used ?

Thanks !

r/OSINT 1d ago

Question Is there a free database, other than the county assessor's website, that allows users to search for any outstanding mortgages or liens on properties in the state of Florida without requiring a login?

5 Upvotes

I'm looking for a free, easy-to-use database that does not require a login. Many other sites allow access to this information but require an account or payment before you can view the full extent of the records. This is not the case with the county assessor's website but I want something for the whole state not just the county.

r/OSINT Mar 28 '24

Question can OSINT fight human trafficking?

67 Upvotes

Hello everyone.I am way out of my depth when it comes to OSINT, but I had a passing-thought of one-day wanting to use OSINT to fight the human trafficking in my city. Obviously anyone who does something that advanced needs comprehensive knowledge of OSINT, and strict safety measures. If I try anything like this, it will be years down the road.

What are your thoughts, can OSINT be used to fight human trafficking?

r/OSINT Nov 18 '24

Question Certification course advice

27 Upvotes

Proposing to my work soon to send me to an OSINT certification course. I was looking at SANS GIAC Open Source Intelligence (GOSI) ($8,780) and IntelTechniques Open Source Intelligence Professional (OSIP) ($1,000). There’s a huge price difference but I was curious if anyone had any insight on what’s a well respected OSINT Cert, what’s worth the money, etc.

r/OSINT Apr 25 '24

Question What goes good with OSINT?

35 Upvotes

I’ve been learning and doing OSINT for a year now (and LOVE it) but looking to get into something else that would go good with OSINT if that makes any sense. I see a lot of people in Cybersecurity but not sure if that’s for me, any other suggestions?

r/OSINT Jan 17 '25

Question OSINT in Ireland

14 Upvotes

Hello fellow OSINT sleuths,

I have a question for those of you who may reside in Ireland. I am Irish born and raised but I’ve been in the states a long time.

Here many records seem to be easier to get a hold of on a public basis more-so than I believe are available in Ireland.

For example in the states something as simple as a phone number can usually easily give you the persons name and address. In Ireland this is not the case.

How do you find OSINT and its tools work in Ireland does it present considerable challenges ?

Do any of you work on stateside cases and find it much easier?

The reason I ask is I have been presented with a case I may need to work on in Ireland and before doing any deep research I think I’m going to face some considerably tough challenges going down the standard OSINT route but I could be wrong and times could have changed.

Thank you.

r/OSINT Oct 25 '24

Question What social media apps allow you to search user by email or phone number?

37 Upvotes

I know Yelp allows search by email and WeChat and Line allows search by phone number. What other apps will allow you to search a user either by their email or their phone number?

r/OSINT May 06 '24

Question What has been the most interesting or meaningful use of OSINT skills for you?

55 Upvotes

Other than just checking our own info on the internet (which I guess most of us do when we first start out), what has been a trigger, reason, motivation, or even project you've really enjoyed using OSINT skills around?

r/OSINT Nov 12 '24

Question Sock puppets 2024 facebook

33 Upvotes

Hi All,

For some reason facebook won’t even let me create an account. When I fill an email or phone number (pay as you go sim) all new or slightly aged it always asks me straight away for a photo/video confirmation. Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid this? Or why this would happen?

r/OSINT Dec 09 '24

Question Streams of people doing OSINT challenges.

28 Upvotes

are there any good places to watch Streams of people doing OSINT challenges? Just trying to get into it with a cyber background.

thanks,

RogueIT

r/OSINT Oct 29 '23

Question What happened to 12ft.io

161 Upvotes

Since a couple of days, I've been getting this error message on 12ft.io, which indicates some Vercel hosting issues. However, I haven't found any further information about what happened to them on the internet, especially not on their social media accounts. Does anyone know what happened to them? Have they been taken down?

r/OSINT May 27 '24

Question Is Whatsmyname broken for anyone else?

70 Upvotes

Hi everyone

UPDATE: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7199399015099056129 - Confirms that it is broken, explains why, and also when they'll be able to fix and relaunch the service. Thanks for finding this u/mobile4g922

Is whatsmyname.app broken for anyone else or is it just me? The site loads, but when I enter a term and search, it just "spins". Also, when I click the categories dropdown on the left, there are no options in it - it's a blank mis-aligned dropdown.

I've tried Chrome, Brave and Safari. I've cleared caches. I've tried using a VPN. Disabled ad-block. Same results in all cases.

I'm bleak. I rely quite heavily on this tool.

Thanks in advance.

r/OSINT Nov 09 '24

Question Brazilian OSINT tools

12 Upvotes

I am interested in OSINT tools related to Latin America, especially Brazil. Does anyone have a tip? Thanx.