OSINT Techniques

La localisation du porte-avions français Charles de Gaulle rendue possible grâce à l'imprudence d'un marin utilisant l'application de running Strava, rapporte Le Monde. En faisant son footing sur le pont, il révélait la présence du navire.

Most people give up when all they see is sand. Benjamin S. (linkedin.com/in/bendobrown/) used it to solve the case. He geolocated Taliban special forces drills in a featureless Afghan desert using only sand dunes as reference points. By applying geo-profiling, he started wide → Kandahar Airfield → drop-off point → finally pinpointed the exact dune that was bombed. Instead of hunting the “exact spot” first, he mapped the broader environment and let the terrain guide him in. 💡 Key takeaway: When the target vanishes, map the surroundings first. Let nearby terrain anchors lead you to the truth. Check the full breakdown here: lnkd.in/gBCgumwF Want more OSINT gems like this? Subscribe to the Forensic OSINT Friday 5 Roundup – it's FREE! 📩 lnkd.in/ghhZwpZ8

⚠️🛡️ Fraudsters are impersonating government employees and claiming personal documents are under investigation. #FPM2026 When in doubt, report your concerns to the @canantifraud ow.ly/43rW50YtCvT

The feature, which Grammarly shut down Wednesday, presented editing suggestions as if they came from established authors and academics—without their consent. wired.com/story/grammarl…

Meta has announced plans to discontinue support for end-to-end encryption for chats on Instagram after May 8, 2026. thehackernews.com/2026/03/meta-t…

🛑 Meta will shut down Instagram’s end-to-end encrypted chats on May 8, 2026. Users with affected conversations will get instructions to download messages or media before the change. 🔗 Read → thehackernews.com/2026/03/meta-t…

Fraud impersonation comes in all shapes and sizes. In the early ’60s, this “toy truck” was actually a microdot reader equipped with a lens, and a one-time cypher pad to encrypt messages. #FPM2026

#NEW: New Canadian legislation would expand police, spy agency powers to probe online activity. toronto.citynews.ca/2026/03/12/new…

Another eventful night of conflict across the Middle East: - Two oil tankers reportedly attacked in the Persian Gulf - Dubai luxury hotel hit by a drone - Fire spreads at oil facilities in Oman's Salalah port after an earlier drone attack - Bahrain International airport attacked - Oil facilities in Bahrain's Muharraq governorate attacked by a drone - Missiles and rockets fired at Israel by Iran and Hezbollah - Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon - Reported Israeli drone strike targeting security checkpoints on the streets of Tehran

Happy to share that the SANS OSINT Europe Summit 2026 is coming to Amsterdam 🇳🇱 And the Call for Papers is now open. On 15–16 June, OSINT investigators, analysts and researchers will come together to share: • emerging techniques • AI & automation • real-world case studies • tools & data exploitation • ethics & legal challenges • OSINT in cyber & threat intelligence If you have insights the community should hear - submit a proposal. 📅 Deadline: 23 March 2026 app.smartsheet.com/b/form/019c704… Let’s advance the craft. #OSINT #ThreatIntel

Breaking News: The U.S. was responsible for a missile strike on an Iranian school, an ongoing military investigation found. The inquiry said the strike — which Iranian officials said killed at least 175 people — was the result of a targeting mistake. nyti.ms/47G2uw2

The Feb. 28 strike on the elementary school was the result of a targeting mistake by the U.S., preliminary inquiry says: “U.S. Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency.” nytimes.com/2026/03/11/us/…

The family of Maya Gebala, the 12-year-old Tumbler Ridge shooting victim who is fighting for her life at BC Children’s Hospital, has filed a civil claim against artificial intelligence company OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. toronto.citynews.ca/2026/03/09/tum…

We are aware of recent reports regarding targeted phishing attacks that have resulted in account takeovers of some Signal users, including government officials and journalists. We take this very seriously. To be clear: Signal’s encryption and infrastructure have not been compromised and remain robust. These attacks were executed via sophisticated phishing campaigns, designed to trick users into sharing information – SMS codes and/or Signal PIN – to gain access to users’ accounts. 1/4

A kind note to fellow open source researchers: Do not post the coordinates of videos from Iran that reveal the home addresses of people, particularly if they're chanting anti-government slogans or showing dissent. It could put them at risk of being identified and detained.

This investigation from @OCCRP, published a few weeks ago, uncovered how a person running two UK-registered crypto exchanges was actually a fake front linked to laundering for Iran's regime. One of the links in the investigation relied on facial matching a cat. Brilliant.

I'm being asked by many users how they can verify images and videos of the conflict in the Middle East, including many fakes that are going viral. This is a thread I wrote exactly three years ago with a step-by-step guide on verifying online images that anyone can learn to do.

Courts have gotten IP geolocation wrong. An IP address is not a GPS coordinate. It resolves to network infrastructure, not a person's location. People have had their homes raided over this misunderstanding. Our free IP Lookup report explains exactly what the data means and what it doesn't. Digitally signed, SHA-256 hashed, built for disclosure.

You get a legal return from a social media platform. Dozens of IP addresses are buried across pages of session data. Miss one? Transpose a digit? That's a lost lead or a wrong address. Our IP Lookup tool parses the entire document and extracts every IPv4 and IPv6 automatically. 100% client-side. Your sensitive material never leaves your browser. forensicosint.com/free-tools