OSINT: Foundations (Virtual Course)

Open enrolment and in-house options available

This course lays the foundations for effective open source research and investigations. You will learn how to identify and manage your intelligence needs and translate these into a rigorous collection plan. From there you will be shown how to automate the collection of intelligence from web and social media sources, and how to employ a broad range of search strategies to find the information you need. You will also be shown how to organise this information to support subsequent analytic tasks. Finally, you will be given guidance on how to improve your online security, protect your privacy and manage your digital footprint.

The course will be delivered live over five, 3.5 hour sessions. There will be separate iterations of the course for Asian, European and North American audiences. Please select the start time (SGT, CET or EST) that suits you best.

View Dates and Register Request in-house course

Course Outline

Understanding Open Source Intelligence

Introduction to Intelligence and Open Source Intelligence

  • Course definitions
  • The varieties of OSINT
  • Legal constraints to OSINT work
  • Ethical guidelines and best practices
  • OSINT governance in the organisation

Effective OSINT Processes

  • Common OSINT myths and misconceptions
  • The role of structure and rigour
  • Measuring the success of your OSINT efforts
  • The Lean Intelligence Model

From Requirements to Collection Planning

  • Defining clear goals and objectives
  • Implementing structured requirements planning
  • The Key Intelligence Topics (KIT) Framework
  • AI tools for requirements planning
  • Tools and frameworks for collection planning
  • Building your keyword index

Automating OSINT Collection I

Prepping Your Browser

  • Choosing the right browser
  • Configuring your privacy settings
  • Optimising your search settings
  • Essential OSINT tools and extensions
  • Effective tool management strategies

Introduction to OPSEC

  • OPSEC: Principles and priorities
  • OPSEC as an analytic exercise
  • Understanding the threat landscape
  • Managing your digital footprint
  • Understanding layered security
  • Choosing the appropriate level of security
  • Managing privacy and security-related trade-offs

Automating Data Collection from the Web

  • Introduction to “push” intelligence
  • Working with RSS feeds
  • Working with data aggregators
  • Automating OSINT collection
    • Source-based data collection
    • Keyword-based data automation

Automating OSINT Collection II

Automating SOCMINT Collection

  • Generating data from social media platforms
  • Monitoring multimedia content

Optimising Web Monitoring Workflows

  • Best practices for expanding your source base
  • Effective feed management strategies
  • Managing “information overload”
  • Indexing and sharing your OSINT sources and data
  • Individual vs. collaborative monitoring approaches

Searching the Web I

Introduction to Web Search

  • The current state of web search
  • How to search effectively despite obstacles
  • The future of search and how to adapt

Essential Search Skills

  • Foundational and advanced search strategies
  • Working with search operators
  • Retrieving content in various formats
  • Techniques for refining search results
  • Indexing and managing search queries
  • Traditional vs. AI-based search tools and strategies

Searching the Web II

Managing the Search Process

  • Building a portfolio of search tools
  • Enhancing productivity through search extensions
  • Working with in-built search for Chrome
  • Working with foreign language content
  • Automating search queries

Data Management

  • Data management tools
  • Working with data collation tables
  • The pre-analysis checklist
View Dates and Register Request in-house course

Course Details

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?

This course is intended for anyone engaged in online research, including intelligence, security and law enforcement personnel, journalists, investigators, cybersecurity practitioners, business analysts and staff involved in social listening and media monitoring.

HOW YOU BENEFIT

On completion of this course, you will have the ability to:

  • Identify and manage your intelligence needs
  • Use the Lean Intelligence model to boost your efficiency
  • Automate the collection of open source information
  • Improve the quality and relevance of your search results
  • Organise data to support effective collection and analysis
  • Maintain a high degree of privacy and security online
  • Practice OSINT legally and ethically

WHAT YOU RECEIVE

  • A certificate of completion
  • A full set of course slides / user guides in PDF
  • Templates to support requirements planning
  • Templates to support data collation
  • Tip sheets and cheat sheets to enable rapid learning
  • An index of recommended OSINT tools as bookmarks
  • A set of recommended readings
  • Six months of post-course support

Course Fee

EUR 1,000

Prerequisites

No prior knowledge of open source research or open source intelligence is needed to take this course. We recommend this course as an essential starting point for all our research skills courses.

Technical Requirements

Please observe the following requirements:

  • You will need a Windows or Mac laptop (tablet computers are not recommended)
  • Install Google Chrome. You will be required to install a range of browser extensions, so it is important that you have administrative rights to your laptop
  • Install Microsoft Office
  • Install Zoom
  • Set up a Google account to facilitate the use of different tools
  • A second monitor is recommended but not essential
Additional software requirements will be sent prior to the start of the course.