OSINT Techniques

Co-Founder, Forensic OSINT

[email protected]

[OSINT Techniques @OSINTtechniques]

A few years ago, OSINT meant a laptop, curiosity, and no rulebook.

Now: proctored exams, documented hands-on hours, and a UN-backed protocol (Berkeley) defining what "ethical" even means in this field.

The skillset didn't change. The stakes did.

https://t.co/Hjsq7muFio

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

JUST IN: Meta removes a feature that let anyone generate AI images from public Instagram posts after user backlash.

[IT Guy @T3chFalcon]

If your Instagram is public, Meta just enrolled you in something you didn't agree to.

Their new AI tool, Muse Image, lets anyone @-mention your Instagram handle in Meta AI and generate images using your face and photos. launched Tuesday. opt-in by default. no notification when it happens.

→ you won't be told when someone creates an AI image of you

→ opting out only stops future generation; anything already made stays live

→ there's no mechanism to remove images created before you opted out

how to turn it off:
Instagram → Profile → Menu (☰) → Sharing and Reuse → turn off Posts and Reels under "Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta"

note: the setting is still rolling out. if you don't see it yet, keep checking.

if you want the strongest protection right now: go private.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

❗️ Meta just silently opted in every adult Instagram user for their new Muse AI Image generator, which lets anyone create AI images of your likeness by tagging your public handle in a prompt, no notification when your photos are used, and no removal of images generated before you opt out.

To opt out on Instagram: Profile > Menu > Sharing and reuse, then switch off the reuse toggles under "Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta."

[OSINT Techniques @OSINTtechniques]

AI or Die Trying 📰 ☕ @WIRED

[OSINT Techniques @OSINTtechniques]

@ForensicOsint Congrats to the winners! We have more draws coming next week. Sign up for our newsletter today.

[Forensic OSINT @ForensicOsint]

We drew two winners this week: Shirley and Michael. Check your email.

Next week's draw is bigger: a free month of Forensic OSINT Elite, plus a coin and stickers.

Only one way to win: subscribe and find the entry link inside the newsletter 🎯 https://t.co/WW2mAGHQoK

[Dutch Osint Guy Nico @dutch_osintguy]

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

By 𝟮𝟬𝟯𝟬, every major Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), law enforcement, and intelligence organization will have an Artificial Intelligence strategy.

Almost none will have a 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆.

They’ll invest millions in AI models, AI agents, autonomous workflows, retrieval, copilots, dashboards, automation, and productivity.

But they’ll spend comparatively little asking:
• How do we make analysts better thinkers?
• How do we preserve skepticism?
• How do we prevent AI overreliance?
• How do we reward analysts for changing their minds when new evidence appears?
• How do we teach verification in a world of AI-generated evidence?

Technology is no longer becoming the competitive advantage.

𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀.

I believe the organizations that outperform over the next decade won’t necessarily have the smartest AI.

They’ll have the strongest culture of critical thinking, analytical tradecraft, verification, and intellectual humility.

Preparing your AI strategy without preparing your analysts is preparing for yesterday’s problem.

𝗔𝗺 𝗜 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆... 𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴?

📚 𝘍𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨
• The Slow Collapse of Critical Thinking in OSINT due to AI
https://t.co/y1ds5C0S5d

• AI May Not Replace Analysts—It May Break Them First
https://t.co/OSOISh71kr

• OSINT Is Still a Thinking Game
https://t.co/s34xQy9X1l

• Critical Thinking Collapse 2.0: AI’s Impact on OSINT
https://t.co/79Zd6bzF2m

[Forensic OSINT @ForensicOsint]

The lawmaker investigating Pegasus was hacked with Pegasus.

That plus four more in this week's Friday 5: unmasking an anonymous exploit startup, Gaza's moving "yellow line", dueling Filipino networks, and why OSINT is growing up.

🔗 https://t.co/WW2mAGHQoK

#OSINT

[Forensic OSINT @ForensicOsint]

The FBI just seized a residential proxy network built on 2 million hijacked devices. Run by a publicly traded company.

If you rent "clean" residential IPs, know where they come from.

🔗 https://t.co/UEj56WJfFh

#OSINT

[OSINT Techniques @OSINTtechniques]

https://t.co/Hjsq7mvd7W

[OSINT Techniques @OSINTtechniques]

Wrote about something I've been watching for a while: OSINT is growing up. Past the hobbyist era -> real certification standards, the UN-backed Berkeley Protocol as an ethics baseline & OSINT getting formally recognized as a profession rather than a side skill.

[Forensic OSINT @ForensicOsint]

Two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, tracked start to finish with free tools.

MarineTraffic, VesselFinder, Equasis, Sentinel-2 imagery. @BenDoBrown shows the whole workflow. 🎯

🔗 https://t.co/fVcomAI22n

#OSINT

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

US prosecutors charged Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and alleged associates over the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.

The charges are part of “Operation Hard Ball”, an international crackdown that charged 37 alleged gang members.

[Nicole Perlroth @nicoleperlroth]

Went on CBS News to discuss the scale of North Korean IT workers infiltrating American companies this evening. In just three months, one cell of North Korean workers applied to 160,000 jobs... just in the US. And that's just one cell.
Segment here: https://t.co/fvsElO7Wcf

Podcast: https://t.co/eLyX0HVDKo

[Forensic OSINT @ForensicOsint]

@bellingcat trained an AI model to rank Telegram posts for likely civilian harm. 54,393 annotated posts, 893 signals, public code notebook.

The model ranks. Humans verify. That is the right order.

🔗 https://t.co/Cvu4UoerDX

#OSINT

[Reuters @Reuters]

The United States has charged Lawrence Bishnoi, the imprisoned head of an Indian criminal gang, and his North American deputy with directing the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep ​Singh Nijjar in Canada, which plunged relations between Ottawa and New Delhi into crisis https://t.co/JkAwIJxuxZ

[Benjamin Strick @BenDoBrown]

For all of my geolocation friends out there, while it’s scheduled for next year, it is sad to hear Google Earth Pro desktop will no longer be available for download.

It truly has been a brilliant free product.

[Kim Bolan @kbolan]

U.S. indicts dozens linked to Bishnoi gang and other transnational crime groups, including BC residents: https://t.co/eDvl2dr4bQ

[Forensic OSINT @ForensicOsint]

@bellingcat trained an AI model to rank Telegram posts for likely civilian harm. 54,393 annotated posts, 893 signals, public code notebook.

The model ranks. Humans verify. That is the right order.

🔗 https://t.co/Cvu4UoerDX

#OSINT