Our weekly hack for those in the field doing the work & digging up critical intel.
The ability to uncover information on the internet is the primary skill of an online investigator. There are hundreds of thousands of surface, deep, and dark websites, but which are most pertinent to your unique case? Do you know how to utilize Google to its full potential? With new social media platforms coming online at a rapid pace, capturing leads and evidence in social media networks is more complex than ever. Do you know the latest tools of the trade?
Hg’s OSINT Tips of the week provides you with the latest intel how to be most effective in our tradecraft. We are always looking for new tools, so don’t hesitate to let us know if you have one you’d like reviewed in a future post!
Enjoy!
This week, we provide a couple of valuable resources for geolocation. These platforms can be valuable for investigative activity—uncovering all kinds of valuable intel. Come on, it’s time to dig in.
GEOLOCATION: instahunt.co
InstaHunt can locate additional places and posts based on a desired geolocation. Use the InstaHunt website’s right-hand corner search bar to begin searching any desired location. Once located, click on the red Find Places bar and then proceed by clicking Get Instagram Place Data. A new tab will open with place data code. Copy the entire code, then go back to the original InstaHunt tab, paste the code into the Final Step box, and select Map Your Instagram Places. Additional locations common to your initial location will aggregate on the map. Hover over each location to get its name and select Instagram or Facebook to see posts at this location.
GEOLOCATION: hoodmaps.com
People have a distinctive way of describing their surroundings, especially places they have frequented. Understanding geographical culture can assist in capturing a complete, thorough situational awareness regarding risk. Hoodmaps provides insight into neighborhoods through culture-relevant, frank (if not brazen) descriptions. Users, from their own experiences, can input tags on neighborhoods and districts. These tags describe locales where businessmen and women work, places where the wealthy, the tourists, and even the hipsters frequent. Hoodmaps can provide an investigative analyst a modern, culture-driven perspective that assists with a better understanding of one’s operational environment.
Have an OSINT tip for us? Contact us, and we will consider reviewing it in future posts!
Like what you’re reading? Check out Hg’s monthly webinars!
Throughout the year, Hetherington Group offers monthly live webinars on current investigative tactics involving social networks, search engines, due diligence, the dark web, and other related topics. Participants should have some basic experience of the topic, as all programs are offered at an intermediate level, unless otherwise noted.
