Best OSINT tools

What are OSINT tools?

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) tools are software and applications used to gather, analyze, and act on publicly available information from various sources. These tools are essential for military, defence, intelligence and law enforcement professionals to help them collect data, detect threats and act accordingly. 

Use Cases for OSINT Tools

• Military Operations: Geospatial analysis, mission planning 

• National Defence: Detecting terrorist plots, tracking events unfolding in real-time 

• Intelligence analysis: Tracking individuals or groups who are involved in criminal activity

• Law enforcement: Crime analysis – determining patterns of crime and uncovering organised criminal groups 

Categories of OSINT Tools

People Search Engines 

Tools to find detailed information about individuals. 

Best Tool: Pipl | https://pipl.com/ 

Web Harvesting 

Tools that extract data from websites.

Best Tool: Sintelix Harvester | https://sintelix.com/platform/harvest/ 

Best OSINT Tools in each Category 

Sintelix

Link: https://sintelix.com/

Category: Data Collection, Processing and Visualization 

Pros

• Industry leading tool for OSINT collection and link analysis
• Collect, visualize and analyze information in a single tool

Cons

• Sintelix is a comprehensive product with many features, thus can require a time investment to get the most value

Summary

An immensly powerful OSINT tool for data mining and link analysis, useful for collecting and gathering data into a single place, then mapping relationships between people, companies, locations, and more. 

Description

Sintelix is an advanced text and data analytics tool designed to streamline the process of collecting, processing, analyzing, and visualizing large volumes of both unstructured and structured OSINT data. Developed with a focus on intelligence and law enforcement agencies, Sintelix excels in turning complex datasets into actionable insights. The platform supports various languages and is capable of processing data from diverse sources such as social media, news articles, internal documents, databases and more. Its sophisticated algorithms enable users to identify key entities, relationships, and trends, making it an indispensable tool for organizations needing to make sense of vast amounts of information quickly and accurately.

One of Sintelix’s standout features is its ability to perform entity extraction with high precision. It can identify and categorize entities such as people, organizations, locations, and dates within text, allowing users to build comprehensive profiles and uncover hidden connections. This functionality is particularly useful in investigative contexts, where understanding the relationships between different entities can lead to  breakthroughs in solving complex cases. Moreover, Sintelix’s advanced natural language processing (NLP) capabilities ensure that the tool can handle nuanced language and complex sentence structures, providing more accurate and reliable results compared to more basic text analytics tools.

Sintelix also offers robust data visualization tools that help users interpret the extracted data. With features like interactive graphs, network diagrams, interactive timelines and geospatial mapping, users can visualize relationships and patterns that might not be immediately apparent from raw data. These visualizations are crucial for briefing stakeholders, conducting threat assessments, and making data-driven decisions. Additionally, Sintelix supports integration with other intelligence and data analysis platforms, enhancing its versatility and allowing for seamless incorporation into existing workflows. By combining powerful text analytics with intuitive visualization and integration capabilities, Sintelix provides a comprehensive solution for investigators looking to leverage the cutting edge of OSINT analysis technology.

Sintelix Global Eye 

Link: https://sintelix.com/solutions/global-eye/ 

Category: Global event and social media monitoring

Pros

• Monitor events from over 60,000+ news sources in real-time
• Act on information effectively by setting alerts and generating the reports you need in a single click

Cons

• Sintelix is a comprehensive product with many features, thus can require a time investment to get the most value

Summary

Monitor and analyze global news and social media.

Description

Sintelix’s Global Eye is the latest OSINT solution for large scale monitoring and analysis of global news and social media. It uses sophisticated algorithms and deep learning capabilities to uncover hidden patterns, identify emerging events, and synthesize a comprehensive picture of incidents worldwide. This helps analysts track geopolitical risks, security threats, and social dynamics, enabling informed decision-making at an unprecedented level of quality and accuracy. 

Sintelix Global Eye offers extensive social media monitoring across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram. It integrates all harvested data into a knowledge graph, allowing users to track timelines, connections, and contextualize information with relevant news articles. This comprehensive approach ensures a thorough understanding of events and interactions. 

The platform also features robust global news monitoring from over 60,000 outlets, providing a wide-ranging survey of global events. It employs AI for entity extraction and resolution, identifying actors, targets, and other key elements in events. Global Eye facilitates rapid data screening, detailed event reporting, source analysis, and disinformation detection, making it a critical tool for intelligence analysts. 

Sintelix Global Eye is completely integrated with the Sintelix core product, allowing analysts to take full advantage of Sintelix’s visualisation and analysis capabilities. 

Gotham 

Link: https://www.palantir.com/platforms/gotham/ 

Category: Live operation and location tracking 

Pros

• Extensive mission planning capabilities
• Organize and visualize all military and similar assets from a single tool

Cons

• Incorporating data from each source requires either an integration or manual intervention
• More targeted towards enterprise and government rather than the everyday user 

Summary

Plan and track military operations in real-time 

Description

Palantir Gotham excels in integrating and analyzing vast amounts of data from diverse sources for the purpose of conducting effective military operations with precision. By consolidating OSINT data, signals intelligence, surveillance data, reconnaissance data, and other information streams into a unified platform, it allows military analysts to discern patterns, predict threats, and make informed decisions when lives are at stake. The platform’s capability to correlate data from sensors, human intelligence, and open sources enhances situational awareness and operational readiness. 

Gotham supports both strategic and tactical military planning by providing tools to model, simulate, and visualize different operational scenarios. This enables military planners to evaluate the potential outcomes of various strategies and tactics before implementation. The ability to run complex simulations and “what-if” analyses helps in identifying the most effective courses of action, optimizing resource allocation, and minimizing risks. These capabilities are particularly useful for mission planning, force deployment, and logistical support. 

During active operations, Palantir Gotham facilitates real-time coordination and execution by offering a dynamic, live-operational dashboard. Commanders can monitor ongoing missions, track unit movements, manage communications, verify information and adjust plans based on the latest incomming intelligence. This real-time situational awareness ensures that decision-makers have the most current information at their fingertips, enabling swift and accurate responses to evolving threats and opportunities. The platform’s ability to integrate with other military systems and communication tools further enhances its utility in operational environments. 

Shodan

Link: https://www.shodan.io/

Category: Device search engines

Pros

• Find insecure devices quickly
• Help build profiles of your OSINT targets, such as domains and organizations

Cons

• Typically you would first use another tool, such as SpiderFoot, to collect the target IPs you wish to search with using Shodan
• Shodan can usually identify common vunerabilities such as exposed ports, however it may not cover more advanced vunerabilities such as zero days

Summary

A search engine for online devices, allowing users to discover vulnerabilities. 

Description

Shodan, often referred to as the “search engine for Internet-connected devices,” is a powerful tool that provides detailed insights into the devices and systems exposed to the internet. Unlike traditional search engines that index web content, Shodan crawls the internet for various types of devices, including servers, routers, webcams, industrial control systems and even smart-home devices such as wireless toasters! It catalogues the headers that these devices use to communicate, offering information such as software version, operating system, and other metadata.

In the context of an OSINT investigation, investigators can use it to discover exposed systems and devices, assess the security posture of an organization, and identify potential entry points for cyberattacks. For instance, by searching for specific IP ranges or device types, investigators can map out an organization’s network and detect unpatched or misconfigured devices that could be exploited. Shodan’s data can be cross-referenced with other OSINT tools to build comprehensive profiles of targets. By combining information from Shodan with domain names, WHOIS records, and social media data, investigators can gather a detailed picture of an organization’s online presence and potential security weaknesses.

In addition to its search functionalities, Shodan offers various tools and integrations that enhance its utility. For example, Shodan Monitor allows organizations to continuously track their own networks for new and potentially vulnerable devices, while the Shodan Exploits API can be used to cross-reference known vulnerabilities with exposed devices. The platform also supports integrations with other security tools and frameworks, such as Metasploit.

The Corporate plan from Shodan benefit OSINT investigations at scale. The plan includes unlimited query credits, the ability to scan up to 327,680 IPs per month, and monitor the same number of IPs. The plan also provides access to all search filters, including batch IP lookups and the vulnerability search filter, crucial for identifying security weaknesses. Additionally, it offers premium support and complimentary membership upgrades.

Pipl

Link: https://pipl.com/ 

Category: People search engines

Pros

• Works particularly well when searching for users with a large digital footprint (ie. who spend time on social media, linkedin, etc.)
• Offers several methods to help verify that contact information is correct

Cons

• Works poorly when searching for users with a small online footprint, such as private investigators or government employees
• Can be costly if using often or at scale

Summary

Find publicly accessible information on people 

Description

Pipl is a prominent people search engine that specializes in aggregating vast amounts of personal data from various sources across the internet. It is widely used for purposes such as verifying identities, conducting background checks, and finding reliable contact information. The platform leverages advanced algorithms and a comprehensive database to provide detailed and accurate search results. 

In addition to its core search functionality, Pipl also offers specialized services for crime and fraud investigations. These services are designed to assist law enforcement agencies, private investigators, and organizations in detecting and preventing fraudulent activities by tracking people who use multiple and stolen identities to commit fraud. By providing access to extensive data sets and sophisticated search tools, Pipl helps professionals identify patterns, track down suspects, and uncover crucial information for their investigations. 

Overall, Pipl stands out for its ability to compile and deliver extensive personal information quickly and efficiently.  

EOS Data Analytics

Link: https://eos.com/products/high-resolution-images/

Category: High resolution Satellite Imagery

Pros

• Ability to select images from multiple providers and compare both price and quality
• Ability to select the time-frame that images were taken so you can compare locations before and after

Cons

• Images can be expensive, especially if you need images of a large area or require frequent updates
• Not every satelite image provider is listed
• Some areas are not available to regular customers (customers who are outside government or defence agencies)
• Some areas are not available at all due to government restrictions, such as those featuring military bases and other sensitive locations (and yes, that includes Area 51!)

Summary

A marketplace and geographical interface to find and purchase high resolution satellite imagery from multiple providers in order to support OSINT and other types of investigations

Description

EOS Data Analytics offers high-resolution satellite imagery through its LandViewer platform, providing detailed images from leading satellites such as Pléiades, SPOT, KOMPSAT, and SuperView. These high-resolution images are invaluable for OSINT investigations to verify facts concerning locations. 

For OSINT investigations, EOS also allows analysts to monitor and document changes in infrastructure, track illegal activities, verify the accuracy of reported events, and assess the impact of natural disasters or conflicts. The ability to access and analyze detailed imagery over time can provide critical insights and corroborate information gathered from other sources. 

Furthermore, the platform’s capabilities for setting Areas of Interest (AOI), applying filters, and processing geospatial data streamline the workflow for analysts. By integrating high-resolution imagery with other geospatial data, OSINT investigators can create comprehensive reports and visualizations that enhance situational awareness and support decision-making in various operational contexts. 

Sintelix Harvester

Link: https://sintelix.com/platform/harvest/

Category: Web Harvesting

Pros

• Easily collect information from the web using a simple UI with no coding knowledge required
• Collect information from multiple search engines using keywords
• Collect information from multiple pre-defined sources including social media, news sites, forums and more 

Cons

• If you require proxies, you will have to provide those. Sintelix Harvester has the capability to easily set up a proxy via settings

Summary

A tool for harvesting information from the web 

Description

The Sintelix Harvester is a versatile, out-of-the-box solution designed for large-scale data collection from the web. It features a Quick Collect user interface that allows users to gather information about people, organizations, and topics from various platforms like Telegram, YouTube, Facebook, and more. The tool can integrate collected data seamlessly into the Sintelix platform for further analysis, enabling users to create networks and explore data using advanced visualization tools. 

One of the key features of Sintelix Harvester is its ability to collect data in real-time with immediate data processing capabilities. Users can specify keywords and entities of interest, and the Harvester will collect relevant information across all sources. Additionally, it supports regional constraints and tailored data collection from different sources, ensuring that the gathered information is precise and relevant to the user’s needs. The Harvester also updates its rule sets to maintain collection effectiveness as supported sources change.

In the context of an Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) investigation, Sintelix Harvester is invaluable. It allows investigators to unobtrusively gather vast amounts of data from multiple online platforms, creating a comprehensive knowledge graph that connects information across different sources. This facilitates the identification of patterns and relationships, aiding in the detection of threats, tracking of security risks, and understanding of social dynamics. The Harvester’s capability to save images of captured web pages ensures that evidence is retained and accessible, making it a powerful tool for building detailed, reliable OSINT reports. 

Dark Owl

Link: https://www.darkowl.com/products/darknet-services/

Category: Dark Web Monitoring

Pros

• Useful for conducting investigations on a specific target, such as searching the dark net for a specific username or handle
• Search for content listings without being exposed to harmful content or compromising your security

Cons

• Dark Owl covers many popular onion domains and pages that aggregate dark net listings, however it is not comprehensive, for example it may not cover onion addresses created by individuals who haven’t shared them or listed them via an onion search engine.

Summary

A tool for discovering and monitoring targets on the Dark Web

Description

Dark Owl Vision UI is a platform designed to enable analysts to search, analyze, and monitor darknet data. It provides a user-friendly interface with advanced querying capabilities, including Boolean and Regex-supported searches, and custom filters for deep, targeted queries. This tool allows users to safely review information without exposure to harmful content, making it a robust solution for those needing to investigate the darknet. 

In OSINT investigations analysts can utilize Dark Owl’s powerful search functions to identify and track illicit activities, such as human trafficking, terrorism, and drug selling. By setting up alerts and monitors, investigators can be immediately notified when specific data appears on the darknet, enabling timely responses to emerging threats. 

Dark Owl has a feature called Vision UI, which has the ability to filter searches by specific entities, networks, and languages to enhance the precision of investigations. For instance, investigators can focus on particular darknet forums or messaging platforms like Telegram to gather relevant intelligence. The tool’s capacity to measure darknet exposure through DarkINT Scores also helps quantify the vulnerability of a given target. 

Conclusion

OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) tools have become indispensable in modern investigations, offering unparalleled access to a vast array of tools to collect and utilize publicly available information. In an era where data is proliferating at an unprecedented rate, these tools enable investigators to effectively gather, analyze, and interpret data from a multitude of sources in a timely manner. This capability not only enhances the depth and accuracy of investigations but also promotes transparency and accountability. By leveraging OSINT tools, investigators can uncover crucial insights, track digital footprints, and stay ahead of emerging threats. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the importance of OSINT tools will only grow, solidifying their role as a cornerstone of contemporary investigative practices.