OSINT in Journalists' work

Nikola Gabriela Veisberga, Head of Communications at ACMC, Germany

Nikola is originally from Latvia but currently lives in Germany. She has a degree in psychology but has always had a passion for writing and journalism.

Nicola is a news editor, which means she has a lot of information about current events in the world. The author of the article collects and processes the information to make it more accessible to an international audience. In her spare time, she works with non-profit organizations and helps manage their communications and social media strategy.
 

The term OSINT has become widely popular in recent years. Mostly it is used in relation to politics or governmental work, but more and more it is being used by investigative journalists. OSINT, or open-source intelligence, has become an increasingly vital tool in modern journalism. 

The amount of information available on the internet is unimaginable, this is where OSINT comes in. It provides people with a way to access and verify information, track down sources, and uncover secrets and lies that may otherwise stay hidden.

What is OSINT

OSINT is the practice of collecting information from publicly available sources. This can include a wide variety of data. Just to name a few, they are news reports, broadcasts, social media posts, blogs, discussion groups, government documents, etc. There is so much open-source information available, you just need to know where and what to look for. The more tools and softwares you can use, the more data will be available and understandable to you. 

OSINT is mainly used in the governmental, security and law enforcement sector to gain valuable intelligence from open-source information. But it is also very useful for journalists who often perform investigations and analyses similar to people working in previously mentioned fields. While OSINT has been a part of journalism for a long time, it has become essential in the digital age. 

Social Media Intelligence

The time we spend online is increasing every moment, which also means we leave a trace of ourselves online. Have you ever thought about what happens to the information you leave behind yourself online? And what does it say about you? You might think, how does publishing a selfie or a photo from my vacation can be considered intelligence? 

You need to remember that behind every click online, you leave a digital fingerprint – metadata. It can provide others with your location, time zone, and information about your device, among other things. 

The background and details of your photo can also provide information. 

By analysing the landscape or architecture, it can provide information about your location. It is called geolocating and is just the tip of the iceberg. 

People and organisations who know how to use the tools for exploring the depths of the internet and data can access and use the information to gather intelligence.

Another type of Open-source intelligence is SOCMINT (SMI), or Social Media Intelligence. The name says it all: data and information collected from social media sites, forums, media sharing and blogging platforms. It mainly gathers audio and video files, photos, eyewitness accounts, news reports and official documents. 

Almost every person nowadays has access to a mobile phone. Whether they are standing in the centre of Paris, hiding in a bunker in Ukraine or dealing with a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The world is connected by the internet, and the speed of information shared online is unimaginable. The data can help document crimes, spot warning signals, provide an understanding of current events, and help expose propaganda and disinformation. 

As the need for social media analysis and monitoring grows, the information gained can be more than just market research, security, and business development. 

Social media platforms can be misused and abused. They can be used to incite violence or to coordinate and commit crimes. Blogs and chat rooms are being used by extremist groups and criminal networks to spread their agenda and recruit like-minded individuals. 

The increased use of social media platforms has changed the way that journalists collect information for their work. In the past, journalists relied on sources like news articles and conversations. But today, journalists can use a variety of easily accessible tools to find information themselves. 

For journalists in modern times, learning how to use OSINT can be a valuable and even crucial skill. But with such great things also comes the responsibility of verifying information and making sure to report the truth.

The value and risks of OSINT

In both the past and present times, information has had value and power. There is a reason for the saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” And now more than ever, when information online moves at the speed of light, the accuracy and authenticity of information are increasingly valuable. It is more important than ever for journalists to be able to find and report the truth. And OSINT can be of help there.

One of the key advantages of OSINT is that it is often more cost-effective than traditional methods of investigative journalism. Rather than hiring a team of researchers or private investigators, journalists can use free or low-cost tools to collect and analyze information.

Of course, with any tool, there are also potential cons. 

• OSINT is ever-changing and even time-sensitive, and journalists must carefully weigh the reliability and accuracy of the information they gather. 

• Online sources can hide behind a user name or even be anonymous. 

• Information can be manipulated, and misinformation and disinformation campaigns are increasingly common. As such, it is crucial that journalists verify the accuracy of their sources before publishing a story.

In addition, there are concerns about privacy and ethical issues when using OSINT. Journalists must be careful not to invade the privacy of individuals, particularly if they are not public figures. Additionally, some sources of information may be obtained illegally, raising questions about the legality and ethics of using such information.

Despite these challenges, OSINT represents a powerful tool for journalism in the digital age. By providing fast and cost-effective means of gathering information, tracing connections, and verifying sources, it can help to uncover stories and shed light on important issues. With the rise of disinformation and fake news, OSINT has become more important than ever in ensuring that journalists can provide accurate, reliable reporting.

How do journalists work with OSINT?

Traditionally, journalists work with a variety of sources, including interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, public records, and confidential sources. However, these methods are often time-consuming and may not always provide valuable and reliable information. 

This is where OSINT comes in. By using online databases, social media, and other publicly available information, journalists can gather information that can help to corroborate or debunk a story much faster. The more skilled data specialist may even analyse satellite imagery and track flights. 

Perhaps one of the most powerful uses of OSINT is its ability to uncover hidden connections and patterns. By tracing connections between individuals, organizations, and events, journalists can build a more accurate and nuanced understanding of complex issues. This is particularly useful in areas such as politics or finance, where the relationships between different actors can be deliberately hidden.

SOCMINT and OSINT are great tools to help verify information. For example, 

• by using tools like Google Maps and Google Earth, it is possible to verify visual information to determine the location or details in a photo. This data can also help in verifying the accuracy of audio and video files.

• In addition, OSINT tools can help journalists identify emerging trends, monitor public sentiment, and track the movements of influential individuals or organizations. This can be particularly useful for investigative reporting, as well as for tracking developments in areas such as politics, business, and social justice.

• It can also help to fill gaps in traditional reporting, particularly in cases where access to official sources is restricted or denied. Moreover, OSINT can help journalists to track criminal or extremist activities and to monitor the actions of government agencies or corporations. This can be particularly valuable in investigations into corruption, human rights violations, and other forms of abuse of power.

Overall, while OSINT presents a number of challenges for journalists, it also offers significant benefits, particularly in the areas of accuracy, speed, and cost-effectiveness. It is likely to become a more important tool for journalists in the coming years.

Case studies

The Panama Papers

At the beginning of 2016, a leak of more than 11.5 million (around 2.6 terabytes of data) of financial and legal records by a law firm “Mossack Fonseca” in Panama was made public. These documents exposed a system that enabled crime and corruption to be hidden by secret offshore accounts. In total, this leak reported on more than 214,000 tax havens involving high-profile government officials and entities from 200 different countries. 

The source of this leak is unknown. The whistleblower used the pseudonym John Doe, claiming his life was in danger by doing this. The records of this leak were received by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which then shared it with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Ever since this information was made public, every big news agency, outlet, and independent journalist has picked up on these documents. ICIJ reports that more than 100 media partners around the globe were involved in publishing this investigation. 

The initial investigation took more than a year of analysis. The first stories went public on April 3, 2016. 

It has been 7 years since the leak was made public. However, the investigation and reporting by journalists is still ongoing, and it keeps revealing more secrets and exposing more people to their wrongdoings. 

Some examples of the criminal acts uncovered and people exposed by the Panama Papers:

• Malta – Keith Schembri, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff, was charged by authorities with money laundering and fraud as a result of an investigation sparked by Panama Papers. The court also heard testimony about the car-bomb assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana, who used evidence from the leak of documents in her exposés of high-ranking government officials.

• Russia – President's best friend, cellist Sergei Roldugin, is at the centre of a scheme to help hide money from Russia’s state banks in offshore accounts. And this money trail indirectly leads back to the Russian President.

• United Kingdom – offshore investment fund run by the father of former British prime minister David Cameron to avoid paying taxes in Britain. 

• Uruguay –  five people have been arrested and charged with money laundering through Mossack Fonseca shell companies for a Mexican drug cartel. 

It is important also to mention the tools and techniques used to work with such a volume of documents. Journalists used open software packages like Apache Soir and Apache Tika (both are written in Java) to index the documents. Nuix, a software used in investigative analytics and intelligence, was used to perform optical character recognition (OCR), which turns printed documents into digital ones by scanning the paperwork and then converting the data. 

All the data was stored in a room with limited access to computers that were never connected to the internet. This helped to ensure that it would be harder to sabotage the work and that data was safe.

Monitoring and documenting the war in Ukraine

Ever since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military, every second of the conflict has been documented by the people on both sides. This has helped to understand and keep up to date with the situation in Ukraine and document evidence of crimes committed by the Russian military.

Organisations like “OSINT for Ukraine”, an independent non-profit, document war crimes in Ukraine through Project Mariupol. They focus on crimes and violations happening in Ukraine. They have created a database and a map of crimes and atrocities happening in Ukraine for research and legal proceedings, as well as to educate an average person about the situation in Ukraine. 

Furthermore, they use publicly available audio or video recordings, photographs, eyewitness accounts, news stories, and official documents to keep up with the developments in Ukraine. 

The use of OSINT is constant because the available data is up-to-date and often received in “real-time”.

Another example is the New York Times visual investigation of the massacre in Bucha, Ukraine, by the Russian military. It is where OSINT was used to expose the military unit behind the killings. Journalists used interviews, phone recordings, documents and hours of video footage to gain information about the sequence of events in Bucha and the people responsible for these crimes.

Bellingcat

An investigative collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists working with open-source intelligence to research, investigate and fact-check a variety of topics for the interest of the public. Subjects of reporting include the shooting down of Flight MH17 over Ukraine, police violence in Colombia, illegal wildlife trade in the UAE, tracking war crimes in Ukraine, and exposing criminal networks.

Bellingcat investigates crimes not only happening now but also how they are often linked to past crimes and illegal activities. Their work is broad and looks at a wide range of topics. Some investigations include geolocating people wanted by Interpol, analysis of satellite images of the destruction of Ukraine, and even spies and covert security groups. And all of that comes from OSINT and great investigative work.

Do you want to know more about OSINT? Please visit our YouControl Academy educational platform!