OSINT Field Manual - eirenicon/Ardens GitHub Wiki

OSINT Field Manual

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the practice of collecting, analyzing, and using publicly available information to produce actionable intelligence. The Ardens OSINT Field Manual provides guidelines, best practices, and ethical considerations to help practitioners navigate the complexity of modern open-source research.

1. Principles of OSINT in Ardens

  • Transparency: Ensure sources are publicly accessible and verifiable.
  • Ethics: Avoid harm, respect privacy, and follow legal frameworks.
  • Signal Integrity: Prioritize credible and corroborated information.
  • Iterative Verification: Continually re-check sources and hypotheses.
  • Context Awareness: Consider the geopolitical, cultural, and temporal context of data.

2. Safe Collection Practices

  • Use privacy-respecting tools (e.g., VPNs, anonymizing browsers).
  • Avoid leaving digital footprints that could compromise investigations.
  • Document collection methods for reproducibility and audit trails.

3. Key Tools & Techniques

  • Search Engines & Advanced Queries: Google Dorks, specialized databases.
  • Social Media Monitoring: Tracking accounts, hashtags, trends.
  • Geospatial Analysis: OpenMap, satellite imagery interpretation.
  • Metadata Extraction: Analyzing file and image metadata.
  • Data Visualization: Tools for mapping connections and timelines.

4. Analytical Approaches

  • Triangulation: Cross-verifying information from multiple sources.
  • Timeline Construction: Establishing chronology to identify causality.
  • Link Analysis: Mapping relationships between actors and events.
  • Anomaly Detection: Spotting inconsistencies or unusual patterns.

5. AI Integration in OSINT

  • Use AI-assisted tools to speed data triage and initial synthesis.
  • Maintain human oversight to validate AI-generated hypotheses.
  • Employ vector search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) for targeted queries.

6. Ethical Considerations

  • Respect for human rights and dignity.
  • Avoid contributing to disinformation or amplification of harm.
  • Balance transparency with operational security when sharing findings.

Summary

The Ardens OSINT Field Manual equips practitioners to collect, analyze, and act on open-source data with rigor, ethics, and adaptability. It embraces the evolving challenges of digital environments by combining human judgment with AI assistance to maintain signal integrity and strategic insight.

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