OSINT: Who's watching you?

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) has been receiving a lot of press lately. There is so much data freely accessible online today that many experts say spy agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) should focus their research efforts on OSINT sources first, long before employing covert techniques like wiretapping or reading an adversary's mail.

In other words, OSINT isn't just about stalkers and other bad actors using publicly-available information on you to do you harm. Today, OSINT is used by corporations and governments to track people and even predict the future.

In this episode of Privacy Files, Brian Tillman (aka Mr. Metaverse) fills in for Sarah as co-host to help Rich make sense of the rapid rise of OSINT. Given the voluminous amounts of information the public is routinely sharing, how can corporations and governments leverage that data to make critical decisions?

Rich kicks off the episode by briefly defining what OSINT really means and how your day-to-day online activities are leaving a data trail that feeds the OSINT machine.

From predicting crime in America's largest cities to analyzing consumer app data to locate secret American military bases around the world, the power that OSINT harbors for society's future is just now being discovered.

While OSINT has been around for decades, it really took off with the advent of the internet. And now with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) making giant leaps in recent years, the ability to make sense of unimaginable amounts of data in minutes instead of days, weeks or months is altering the way militaries, governments and corporations solve problems.

Just some examples of vectors where your personal data may be acquired include: facial recognition cameras, license plate readers, social media usage, cell phone location data sharing, and anytime you provide someone your email or phone number.

Links Referenced:

https://hai.stanford.edu/news/re-imagining-espionage-era-artificial-intelligence

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/industries/information-technology/grocery-chains-surveillance-tech-auror/

https://scitechdaily.com/ai-algorithm-predicts-future-crimes-one-week-in-advance-with-90-accuracy/

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3445357/what-is-osint-top-open-source-intelligence-tools.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/25/technology/china-surveillance-police.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-uses-ai-software-improve-its-surveillance-capabilities-2022-04-08/

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