After weeks of wrangling, European leaders last week reached agreement to ban 75% of Russian oil shipments into the EU. The sanctions target all seaborne oil shipments from Russia to European ports. Lots has been written about where Russian oil and gas is going, but I thought it might be interesting to take a look […]
Leonardo da Vinci would have been great at OSINT
Up until the beginning of the 16th Century, most maps of cities were drawn from a hillside view, also called a side-on or birds-eye perspective. They often lacked accuracy as buildings in the forefront would appear larger than equally sized buildings in the the distance. The surrounding landscape and prominent features were often exaggerated. Many […]
How to track Russian oil
On March 9th 2022, Greenpeace launched a Twitter bot called @RUTankerTracker. The bot tweets out every time a ship leaves a Russian port with oil or gas. Thanks to the bot, Greenpeace was able to confirm that 148 super tankers had left Russia since the start of the war. The shipping industry is deceptive and […]
When do you stop verifying?
An important part of any investigation is verifying pieces of evidence that you or your team have managed to collect, be it images, videos, or statements made by witnesses or court documents. In most cases, easier said than done. There are a number of variables that determine the difficulty of verifying, say an image. The […]
Maps & the Open Source
Maps are, perhaps, the most common and important tool for any open source investigator. The reason for this is the versatility, simplicity, and effectiveness of using maps for gathering and visualizing information/evidence. For myself (Robin), it was also my introduction to OSINT with the Tibet Research Project and one of my first ever OSINT guides […]
Getting Started in Open Source Research
If you are new to the world of OSINT (OOSI, OSI, etc.) and are looking to get started, this is the guide for you. Published by Bellingcat, this comprehensive guide will help you get started and get a feel for what it means to do open source research. It also includes a many additional resources […]
Verification Handbook
Verification is one of the single most important steps in an investigation. There will be other useful sources for verification added here, but a useful one to start off with is the Verification Handbook. Free online, this handbook provides you with the very basics of verification. Recommended to anyone just getting started or in a […]
Digital Witness
Digital Witness: Using Open Source Information for Human Rights Investigation, Documentation, and Accountability is a must-read for anyone new or old to the field of OSINT and human rights investigations. The book goes into great detail about a number of various tools and methodologies. It teaches you about the importance of verification and archiving. Written […]
Pandora Papers: the importance of offshore leaks for investigations
On October 3rd, 2021, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced that a collaborative effort between 600 journalists in 117 countries had spent two years deciphering nearly 12 million documents detailing offshore accounts, property, the relationships between people, companies, public figures, organisations – and much, much more. Called the Pandora papers, the leak is […]
Geolocation: AI in Open Source Investigations
Much has been made about Artificial Intelligence (AI) being used to spread disinformation. The latest threat (I use threat lightly here) to open-source investigations is AI created maps and satellite imagery (or deep fakes). However, little has been made about efforts to use AI for citizen investigations, at least on a level accessible to all […]
