OSINT For Good

I recently competed in the National Missing Person’s Hackathon (NMPH). The NMPH is a single-day non-theoretical Capture the Flag (CTF) event where hundreds of ethical hackers around the country compete for top place, awarded points for submissions made on information gathered based on real missing person cases.
The main goal is to utilize OSINT skills to build a profile on the assigned cases, finding background information on the missing person by searching the internet for their digital footprint. This could include social media accounts, email addresses, usernames, locations leading up to their disappearance, family, connections, etc.

This was my first ever Non-Theoretical CTF, where another team member and I competed against 212 other teams (800+ others). We were fortunate enough to find enough information regarding one of the missing persons (who has been missing for roughly 10 years), which included a mobile number, email address, different usernames, a business number, location, IP address, and even recent social media posts that could be traced back to them, indicating that they are in-fact alive and well.

https://youtu.be/Fdem9RkffGo?feature=shared

Our team placed 7th, which was better than I could have ever hoped for.
Once the event had finished, I was left eager for next year’s event. Now knowing what to expect, I immediately got to programming a curated toolkit I could now use for next time.

While OSINT skills are used to find leads on missing people, I can’t help but realize how much information the average person leaves on their digital footprint. Even though OSINT is used for good, it is important to note that the same information could easily be harnessed for bad. Everybody should be aware of how much information they leave behind online.

What is OSINT?

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) refers to the process of collecting and analyzing publicly available information from various sources to produce actionable intelligence. This can include data from:

1. Public Records: Government documents, court records, and other official filings.

2. Social Media: Posts, profiles, and interactions on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

3. Websites: Information on company websites, blogs, forums, and news articles.

4. Databases: Online databases and repositories that provide structured data.

5. News Media: Articles, reports, and broadcasts from news organizations.

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