So far we’ve used Google and DNS records to gather intel. Now let’s talk about the broader world of OSINT – Open Source Intelligence.

OSINT is exactly what it sounds like: intelligence gathered from publicly available sources. Social media, job postings, public records, breach databases, cached web pages – anything that’s out there for anyone to see. In cybersecurity, OSINT is a big deal because the amount of information people and organizations expose about themselves online is staggering.

Social Media Recon

Social media is one of the richest sources of OSINT. Think about what people post publicly – where they work, what technologies they use, their daily routines, even photos of their office badges. For a penetration tester, this is valuable intelligence.

Part of the free Intro to Cyber course by Cover6 Solutions.