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 two aggregators that amass information from sources including blogs, news sites, online forums, message boards and videos. Both can be useful tools for investigative or intelligence work. Come on, it’s time to dig in.
Aggregator: www.fark.com
Fark is a news aggregator and social networking news site run by its creators and subscribers. It is stated that there will be no tolerance for things such as racism or misogyny; however, it is unclear how strict moderators are at policing these rules. Currently, a full subscription requires payment. Full subscribers are able to submit “notable news” and media headlines to the creators for review. Once a headline is chosen, subscribers can make comments or have conversations under each specific headline. A casual searcher of Fark can view headlines and conversations but is unable to submit their own entry or comment without subscribing.
Aggregator: www.boardreader.com
BoardReader doesn’t look like much at first visit, but don’t be deceived. BoardReader aggregates information from blogs, news sources, online forums, message boards, and videos. BoardReader aggregates more than popular community forums such as Reddit. The tool is excellent for finding hard-to-reach boards and forums that are typically not searched in social media monitoring platforms, such as those which are industry or topic specific. Keywords can be searched and filtered by post or thread, date posted, and even language.
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.
