Week in OSINT #2024-31

This week I have a small update from the world of OSINT for you, and am taking a small break for a few weeks!

It is time for me to take a little break again, like I usually do every year around July or August, and it comes at a great time. The last few weeks I have sometimes struggled to find suitable topics, sometimes due to being too busy myself, but there were also times I had trouble finding interesting content. But I also really need some time for myself, to relax and work on some other things that need my attention. So here it is, the last episode before my personal summer break!

• My OSINT Tools
• Opt-Out Podcast
• OSINTlytics
• Phone Numbers

Tool: My OSINT Tools

I received a tip from Micah Hoffman [ ] that he and Griffin Glynn [ ] have been creating some really handy bookmarklets. Whether it is metadata in Instagram a hidden search option on a Facebook profile, or metadata within TikTok, they created a bookmarklet for it and it's free! No need to find hidden information by using some expensive tool, but straight within your own browser in your favourite VM!

Link: https://tools.myosint.training/

Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmG-OQMyDtQ

Media: Opt-Out Podcast

This podcast isn't so much about OSINT, but it is about privacy, but contains some interesting topics. The latest episode is about the Proton Wallet, but I was especially interested in older episodes. Topics on privacy minded chat apps like SimpleX or Session, anonymous SIM cards, the i2p network or the search engine Startpage. They not only give ideas on new apps to discover and dive into, but also ideas to extend your searches during investigations. As we all know, within the digital realm people try to be invisible, or hard to find, so one needs to know what options are out there when we are looking for people. And a podcast that explain things about apps that are aimed at privacy, is a great way to learn more about exactly that!

Link: https://pod.link/1572450110

Website: https://optoutpod.com/

Tool: OSINTlytics

During my adventures on the internet, I discovered a new Chrome extension called 'OSINTlytics'. It adds a small context menu to your browser, that detects several different things, like:

• IP addresses
• MD5, SHA1, SHA256 hashes
• Domain names and URLs
• Windows error codes

Most investigators won't have a need to dive into Windows error codes, but to have a small context menu pop-up when you simply select an IP address or domain name, and it gives you a range of options to search on, is a welcome help. Sites like VirusTotal, VPNcheck or urlScan, and a collection of others lesser known sites from Thalos, Sucuri and Norton, will give a researcher a nice advantage to quickly dive into details.

Link: Chrome extension

Links: Phone Numbers

Via a tweet by Cyb_detective [ ] I discovered a page over on the web site of OH SHINT! []. The page is dedicated to phone numbers, reverse searches, general phone books, and even has a few country phone books listed already. It is a work in progress, and this is something I have been wanting to do myself too some time ago. But when I still had my links on this website (no worries, they will come back!) I never was able to actually finish that section, dus to the sheer amount of online phone registers put there! Well done so far, and I am surely going to bookmark this link!

Link: https://ohshint.gitbook.io/...

FUNINT: This Week's Meme

You know it is time for a holiday when you start making obvious mistakes! No, not talking from personal experiences, but hey! I needed a meme

Have a good week and have a good search!