OSINT (open-source intelligence)

Open sources include news media, official registers and public records, court and corporate databases, professional and academic publications, websites and social media, satellite and other geospatial data, and technical data about networks and infrastructure. OSINT stands alongside disciplines such as human intelligence (HUMINT) and signals intelligence (SIGINT); what distinguishes it is the type of source, not the level of rigor or precision.

What separates OSINT from ordinary web searching is process. Work follows the intelligence cycle: defining the requirement, collection, processing, analysis and production, then dissemination and feedback. Each source is graded for reliability and its content for credibility, and findings are corroborated across mutually independent sources. Analysts apply structured analytic techniques to limit confirmation bias and to recognize deliberately planted or manipulated material.

Publicly available does not mean freely usable. Where OSINT involves personal data, the same data protection rules apply as to any other processing: a lawful basis is required, and the processing must be proportionate and tied to a clearly defined purpose. There is also a hard line between open sources and unauthorized access — using stolen credentials, breaking into a system or circumventing technical protection is no longer OSINT but unlawful conduct.

In practice OSINT supports due diligence on business partners, threat assessment for people and facilities, mapping an organization's external attack surface, and investigations. Because online material is ephemeral, findings are documented and preserved as they are gathered — with timestamps, captures and hash values — so they can be verified later or relied on as evidence.