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. One is for setting up temporary phone numbers and the other for listening to and monitoring first-responder radio. These platforms can be valuable for investigative activity—uncovering all kinds of valuable intel. Come on, it’s time to dig in.
APPS: hushed.com
Hushed is an application and website offering temporary phone numbers. It contains affordable private numbers with an expansion of area codes in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Hushed can allow analysts and investigators to keep their phone numbers private and anonymous for a variety of reasons and add multiple numbers on one device. The resource includes calling, call routing, auto-reply messages, and texting. To create a Hushed account, a Wi-Fi or data connection to a device is required. Hushed will then work anywhere in the world where a connection is established.
NEWS/MEDIA: broadcastify.com
As an app and website offering free and paid services, Broadcastify allows investigators and analysts to listen in to all live first-responder radio. The tool includes feeds from police, fire departments, EMS, aircraft, and railway communications in any county in the U.S. Written records of incidents reported that day are available along with the times in which calls came in, although not all calls are transcribed. The tool proves useful in tracking the causes behind incidents such as traffic congestions, floods, evacuations, and more. The paid version allows access to archived recordings within the past year.
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.
