Leveraging OSINT Across The Enterprise: A Roadmap for Fortune 500 Companies

In an era of unprecedented data accessibility, Fortune 500 companies are increasingly turning to publicly available information to mitigate risks and strengthen their overall security posture against physical, reputational, financial, and operational risks. By leveraging open-source intelligence (OSINT), these industry giants are revolutionizing how they protect their people, safeguard their assets, and secure their supply chains. Incorporating public data into security-focused workflows bolsters the capabilities of organizations that require actionable, informed, and timely insights. As a result, this approach enhances decision-making processes, helping to fortify corporations against diverse threats.

From enhancing security measures to supporting business continuity, the potential application of OSINT spans across multiple departments within large enterprises. While some security functions within large organizations may already be leveraging public data, many companies have yet to fully embrace internet investigation techniques across their relevant operations. Today, we’ll explore how various teams within large enterprises can unlock the power of OSINT to protect assets, mitigate risks, minimize losses, and more. Let’s start by breaking down the applications, department by department:

Internal Investigations

An internal investigations team plays a crucial role in maintaining organizational integrity by identifying insider threats, such as policy violations, workplace violence, and fraud. With the right OSINT techniques, they can:

• Identify potential policy violations across employee social media activity, such as violent rhetoric or threats against coworkers that could escalate to the workplace
• Spot patterns in publicly available data that may signal elevated risk, like associations with extremist groups or a history of violent behavior
• Gather forensic-grade evidence to support or refute allegations of misconduct

Executive Protection

When protecting senior executives, OSINT is a vital component of security operations such as:

• Analyzing public sentiment and online chatter for emerging threats
• Vetting individuals who will have close access to executives
• Planning and amending secure travel routes and event attendance based on real-time insights and developments

Loss Prevention

Large companies, particularly retailers with a large brick-and-mortar presence, often have to tackle theft. These investigations can benefit from OSINT by:

• Identifying organized retail crime rings through social media analysis
• Scouring online marketplaces for stolen merchandise
• Correlating vendor accounts with employee information

Supply Chain Risk Management

Specialized security and supply chain teams utilize OSINT to:

• Conduct due diligence on potential suppliers for potential reputational or financial risks 
• Flag any geopolitical and weather-related risks that may impact the supply chain
• Analyze crime data and harness public cameras to observe cargo for risks

Event Security

When hosting or participating in large-scale or high-profile events, OSINT helps security teams:

• Conduct venue threat assessments for predictable risks
• Identify potential disruptions or adjacent gatherings based on social media posts
• Determine criminal histories and behavioral risks in the digital footprints of venue staff and attendees

Financial Crimes and Fraud Investigation

Financial institutions, insurance carriers, and AML/KYC departments leverage OSINT to:

• Verify claimant information against public records and social media accounts
• Research potentially fraudulent claims and possible money laundering
• Identify connections between individuals or businesses suggesting organized crime

Cybersecurity and Cyber Threat Intelligence

Cyber-focused teams in enterprise companies rely on OSINT for:

• Scanning dark web forums for potential internal data leaks
• Identifying emerging cyber threats and attack vectors
• Gathering intelligence on threat actors targeting the organization

Automate OSINT with Skopenow

Maintaining security across large enterprise companies is a complex task that requires many resources and workflows. By integrating OSINT techniques into their operations, teams across the business can enhance security, mitigate risks, and make more informed decisions.

While companies and industries may have different use cases and priorities, teams can capitalize on OSINT’s benefits by collaboratively investing in training and technology. By centralizing these resources, organizations can ensure that the business is effective and efficient in implementing OSINT into their operations. 

Skopenow’s automated OSINT platform can provide a broad spectrum of security and investigation teams with a fast, effective, and scalable process for gathering real-time information from millions of publicly and commercially available data points. 

Join over 1,500 organizations, including 20% of the Fortune 500, that rely on Skopenow's platform to automatically collect and process relevant publicly available information and make better decisions. Learn more and schedule a personalized demo today at www.skopenow.com/try.