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OSINT Blog
The Evidence Challenge
During 2020, financial and white-collar crime have reached record highs, while public prosecution has reached record lows. If the low prosecution rates of high-level executives after the last financial crisis are anything to go by, these statistics are unlikely to improve in the near future. With the right open source intelligence (OSINT) capabilities,…
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From The Age of Information to The Age of Intelligence
We live in a world where information is everywhere but rarely exploited to its full potential. The distinction between information and intelligence has long been established in specialist sectors. But in the broader world, and even within these sectors, the terms are often used interchangeably. As a result, vast amounts of valuable information are…
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Tracking Illegal Horse Poaching With Satellite Imagery, Public Records, and Crowdsourcing
A series of gruesome killings at the end of 2019 shook horse owners in Florida: Three horses were stolen and brutally butchered--most likely for consumption--in the state in less than two weeks. Owners had to fear that their animals would be next, and they wondered who the perpetrators were.
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A Fraud with Your Name on It: The Use and Abuse of OSINT in Identity Fraud
Identity fraud is on the rise. The digital shift of the pandemic has affected virtually every activity and sector: including financial crime, and the malicious theft of personal information. This is a problem not just for individuals but for businesses too. Employees’ “personal” information often includes data used to access internal systems, company…
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Hunting for Open Secrets: How OSINT Can Help You Intercept a Scandal
For centuries, access to information was limited by human, geographic, and technological limitations. Corruption was typically a conversation behind closed doors. Fast forward to the year 2021, and information is everywhere. That means the conversation is often closer - and more accessible - than you might think. Sometimes it’s held right in the middle…
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Justice in a Virtual World: Will a Post-Lockdown Move Online Make Justice More Accessible?
Even before Coronavirus struck, there were calls for greater online facilitation of legal processes. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), less than 50 percent of people live under the protection of the law. In contrast, more than 50 percent of people have access to the internet in one way or another. That’s to…
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How Forensic Architecture Uses 3D Reconstruction to Investigate Human Rights Violations and State Violence
The success of open source investigations often hinges on the availability of visual evidence like photos or videos found on social media, CCTV footage, or satellite imagery. But what can you do when that evidence isn't conclusive or simply not available?
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The Anatomy of Onshore Money Laundering
The use of legitimate “onshore” economies as a thoroughfare for international financial crime is surprisingly widespread. Whilst scrutiny has long targeted offshore tax havens and low-disclosure jurisdictions - and not without good reason - comparatively, little attention has been paid to fraudsters brazenly operating on home ground.
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Tracking Down Hackers With Passive DNS Data and SSL Certificates
In early February 2018, Bui Thanh Hieu received an email. It was an invitation to an event he had been planning to attend. Bui Thanh Hieu, a Vietnamese dissident and blogger, living in Germany, knows he needs to be cautious. He nevertheless clicked the link in the email. It didn't look suspicious and seemed to come from a familiar email address.
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OSINT is the New Black Ops: Intelligence in a “Post-Truth” Information Age
Post-truth information inhabits the grey space between fact and fiction. It is where slippage between truth, “alt-facts”, opinions, and beliefs creates a treacherous informational landscape, and objective truth remains evasive. Such an environment spells trouble for any industry that depends on granular coverage of objective facts to make informed…
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