Did You Make any OSINT New Year's Resolutions?
Know Your Goals and Scope
Know Where to Look
Know How to Search
Know What to Do with What You Find
There’s a school of thought that says, do not make New Year’s resolutions. The arguments are great and small. Some argue that so few people succeed at New Year's resolutions because it’s just discouraging and counter-productive to even try. Others do not question the idea; they just feel you should not look across the year. The idea here is that yearly resolutions do not get done because people dawdle all year and run out of time, —or they just forget. Instead, make resolutions for 30 days or 90 days. Still, there is something magical about the way January 1 wipes the slate on last year’s calendar and provides the illusion of a fresh start.
Have you made any resolutions? Any associated with your OSINT work?
In early December 2023, I laid a blog post with four easy steps that will help you become an ace OSINT professional. These steps should match your New Year’s resolutions.
Know Your Goals and Scope
I posited that successful OSINT starts with understanding what you are trying to achieve, understanding your capabilities and limits, and understanding the technology and data availability constraints you may face. If you can do this well, everything else flows. Do you have New Year’s resolutions about improving your goals and scoping?
· Are you scoping out your matters with precision? Do you find yourself having to “eat time” because there was more work than you expected? Did you have to scramble to find the resources you needed?
· Can you refine or improve your reporting? Most people over-report. Do you really need to say everything you say? Do you use too much investigator jargon or legalese? Or too much passive voice?
What other resolutions do you have regarding goals and scope?
Know Where to Look
I speak out of both sides of my mouth on this. I detest the OSINT lists that are profligate on the Internet, the ones where OSINT is split into 33 columns, and each column has 11 websites. These lists bug me because they give the imprimatur that the universe of OSINT is contained within these 363 websites. Moreover, as I argue repeatedly, it just does not work that way. You find ownership with news websites, hidden business relationships in UCC filings, and track people down via lawsuits. Still, you need a good set of bookmarks, knowing which websites to go to get vital information. So here are two reasonable New Year’s resolutions about knowing where to look:
· Increase the breadth of your go-to websites. In other words, find new places you should be looking.
· Clean up your bookmarks. How many sites do you have bookmarked that are dated or no longer useful?
Did I miss any resolutions for knowing where to look?
Know How to Search
If I’m not bashing your list of OSINT sites, I’m sneering at your belief that you can do it all via Google hacks. Believe me, it comes from the same dark place in my heart. I know you have good points. You absolutely need to know how to search. But just knowing how to search is not the be-all, end-all of OSINT. Oh, but good search techniques make your life so much easier.
· So, maybe this year you learn Google hacks instead of sneering.
· If you use Lexis, Factiva, or Westlaw, there are a lot of site-specific search techniques you are probably not using that may help your searching. These companies love to give you guidance, which I believe they see as a way to also upsell you. Ignore the pitches and learn how to use the sites as intended.
· Do better image searching (this may be the main OSINT New Year’s resolution of someone I know well).
· Get better at searching social media; to the extent there is “better” searching
Any other resolutions for knowing how to search?
Know What to Do with What You Find
As I’ve said, too much focus is often put on lists of links and Google hacks because the presumption in a lot of OSINT literature is that you have to work extra hard to find something. The truth is, in nearly every case, you have too much rather than too little. What you need to do as an ace OSINTer is find meaning in all the materials you gather. Recognize what’s vital. Find connections. Understand deeper meanings. As they say, turn information into intelligence. Except, as I noted the other day, it’s not necessarily easy to teach this.
What are your resolutions to know what to do with what you find?
· Read more. Do you have resolutions related to your Kindle App?
· Network. Learn from people who have done it before. Do you have resolutions related to conferences, seminars, associations?
· Find a mentor.
As you grow as an OSINT professional, you need to become adept at four things: 1) know how to scope, and what you need to find, 2) know where to look, 3) know how to look, and 4) know how to make sense of what you find.
Have you made any resolutions to get better in these areas? Please share.