The Evolution of Intelligence Gathering
The US military first coined the term OSINT in the late 1980s as a way of providing timely, objective intelligence, free of bias, based upon all sources available to the US Intelligence Community, public and non-public.
When 9/11 occurred, government agencies were formed to ensure OSINT was a major source in merging and consolidating relevant intelligence into actionable products.
The government learned to collaborate with academia - universities are the perfect place for capturing the expertise needed to do the analysis.
OSINT analysts are now processing immense amounts of public data, such as that on social networks, to discover emerging trends and identify valuable information.
The tools being used for OSINT have also evolved greatly. On the evolution of the tools used, Danchev writes that the “majority of tools that I'm aware of rely on APIs including the active use of public sources. Users who use these tools should definitely take basic precautions to protect their own privacy, such as through the use of VPNs and secure tunnels.”
“I'd rather say people should look for what information they publicly provide including social media as people including spies and bad guys often tend to do their homework before and prior to launching cyber attacks that also includes espionage campaigns.” Sage advice from an experienced OSINT researcher.
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