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OSINT

Open-Source Intelligence

Heidi Wagner, ITC Secretariat

„Access to sources of information to improve compliance and prevent tax fraud“

Rome, 2 October 2015

Definition

Finding and selecting information which is freely available

• Print media

• Television

• Radio

• Web

Availability

of information

Access

to information

high

low

low high

strategical

tactical

2° level

1° level

Why OSINT?

• Systematic and quick information gathering to deal with the

constantly increasing amount of data in the web

• Suitable for tight intelligence budgets

• Provides background information before starting EoI

Key steps

• Identifying:

Knowing which type of information is suitable/needed

• Finding:

Knowing where to look and where to get the information

• Selecting/Filtering:

Careful distinction between relevant and irrelevant sources

to prevent information overload

• Saving:

Documentation of the information found in the web

Sources

1. Business Websites

2. Public data

Government reports, official data such as registry of companies, land-registry etc.

• www.registro-publico.gob.pa (PA)

• www.opencorporates.com (USA) • www.zefix.admin.ch (CH) • www.companycheck.co.uk (UK)

Sources

3. Media

Newspapers, magazines, news channels,…

• www.onlinenewspapers.com

• www.abyznewslinks.com

Sources

4. Social networks, blogs, video sharing, wikis

• www.facebook.com (graph search)

• www.linkedin.com

• www.viadeo.com

• www.twitter.com

• www.youtube.com

5. Deep Web

Search Tools

IP locators, website search

• www.whatismyipaddress.com

• www.whois.com

• www.centralops.net

• flagfox (geotool, Whois, etc.)

Regional Internet Registries:

• www.ripe.net (Europe)

• www.arin.net (America)

• www.lacnic.net (Latin America and the Carribean)

• www.apnic.net (Asia)

• www.afrinic.net (Africa)

Search Tools

Search Engines

• Google Advanced Search

• www.bing.com

• http://search.carrot2.org

Search Tools

Image search

• Google ‘Image’: search tools

• Exif Viewer

• www.tineye.com (website search with image URL)

Search Tools

Translation

• www.freetranslation.com

• www.free-translator.com

• www.stars21.com/translator

• http://translate.google.com

Search Tools

Anonymous search

• VPN (Virtual Private Network),

e.g. Shellfire

• Anonymizer website

www.anonymouse.org

www.online-anonymizer.com

www.proxfree.com

• Anonymizer software

www.torproject.org

Saving Tools

Saving websites, including links and URL

• www.httrack.com

• http://getfireshot.com

Conclusions

• OSINT is cost-efficient

• Information gathered by OSINT can be easily shared

• No guarantee that the information is 100% correct

• No magic bullet, but provides useful pieces

Thank you for your interest!

ITC Secretariat

GIZ Office Bonn

Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 36

53113 Bonn

secretariat@taxcompact.net

www.taxcompact.net