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, our Timely Tips overview three resources. These platforms can be valuable for a variety of Social Media Investigations activity. All can be useful tools for uncovering a plethora of information. Come on, it’s time to dig in.
Social Media Investigations: www.triller.co
Triller is a video-sharing social media platform designed for heightened engagement and clout-chasing users. Coined the “adult version of TikTok” by its co-owner Ryan Kavanagh, Triller has over 65 million users and targets a musically driven audience. Content on this application may be accessed without a profile; simply search by user or hashtag to locate your desired video or user. From here, you may be able to watch live streams as well. This applications interface is similar to TikTok, including like, comment, share, and sound features. For those familiar with TikTok, navigating the Triller platform will be a breeze.
Social Media Investigations: www.4chan.org
4chan is primarily an image-based message board where any user can post comments and share other images anonymously. Due to its anonymity, 4chan is where trolls, hackers, and haters commonly go to exercise their free speech rights. 4chan has a list of seventeen general rules that all users must follow. However, the rules—such as refraining from posting racist, pornographic, and grotesque content—are quite loosely enforced. While identifying a 4chan user is difficult, searching 4chan is simple; go to boards.4chan.org/search to search by keyword, and within either All Boards or narrowed by subcategories.
Social Media Investigations: www.expertsphp.com
TikTok is a hub for personal information and OSINT research. Despite few tools being accessible to analyze TikTok information, ExpertsPHP provides users with an instrument to download videos on the social media app without a watermark. Simply locate a public video on the platform, and through a web browser, copy its URL. To download the video, paste the URL in the download field located on this tool. The video will then be saved as an MP4 to your computer and can be viewed or shared. The tool is excellent for social media investigations, specifically for TikTok users.
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.
