For anyone using open source information to conduct an investigation, a balance between powerful tools and privacy controls are a must. Buscador is a virtual machine packed full of useful OSINT tools and streamlined for online research. This program can easily be set up in VirtualBox, and once that's done, we'll walk you through some of the most useful tools included in it.
Need a hand? In this video walkthrough, we learn how to defeat the DataDyne Investigation level of Perfect Dark for the Xbox 360. For all of the details, and to get started beating this Perfect Dark level yourself, watch this gamer's guide.
When Floyd Landis accused competitor Lance Armstrong of doping last May, I dismissed it as just an instance of Landis' lashing out.
Calculus can be a bit tricky, but don't worry, Watch Math is here to help you out. Watch this math video lesson to learn how to solve quadratic inequalities in calculus. There's no better way to learn mathematics than from an advanced mathematician, like this PhD.
Smash glow? What the heck is that? That's exactly what you'll find out… watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make smash-glow crystals (triboluminescent crystals) with Dr. Lithium.
Dutch police are using a system very similar to Pokémon GO on smartphones, but they aren't walking around trying to catch little pocket monsters. The purpose of this system is to give augmented reality help to first responders who may be less qualified to work a fresh crime scene. If successful, the idea of a contaminated crime scene could be a thing of the past.
Tim Derr from the East Coast Trans-communication Organization shows how to properly use dowsing rods during an investigation. Dowsing rods help pick up spirit communication and is a great way to back up other paranormal research. They take a lot of practice and a little bit of technique. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to use dowsing rods while ghost-hunting, communing with spirits or the dead, or any other paranormal investigation.
So much information exists online that it's easy to get lost in data while researching. Understanding the bigger picture can take a lot of time and energy, but narrowing the question to one that's easy to answer is the first step of any investigation. That's why analysts use open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools like Maltego — to help refine raw data into a complete understanding of a situation.
The one man Sam Fisher trusts, Victor Coste, has some information for him. To find out the intelligence, Sam has agreed to meet in person. Find out what the important intel is in this walkthrough for the Washington Monument (Mission 5), and where that lead Sam next.
Take a trip into the past as Sam Fisher gets captured by terrorists in the Iraq War. Instead of playing as Sam, you'll be playing the part of Victor Coste — the only man Sam trusts. Find out how Coste saved Fisher's life in this walkthrough for the Diwaniya, Iraq (Mission 4). What happens that day in Diwaniyah? Find out.
Thanks to the Freedom of Information and Privacy acts, we’re all entitled to see what the FBI has on us. Learn how to get your hands on your FBI file.
In the realm of internet security, it's becoming clear that augmented reality is not immune to the increasing wave data breaches plaguing users.
Open-source intelligence researchers and hackers alike love social media for reconnaissance. Websites like Twitter offer vast, searchable databases updated in real time by millions of users, but it can be incredibly time-consuming to sift through manually. Thankfully, tools like Twint can crawl through years of Twitter data to dig up any information with a single terminal command.
The easiest way around a security policy is to find users who don't follow it. The Have I Been Pwned database identifies accounts with information breached by major third parties like Yahoo and LinkedIn. With Maltego, hackers can locate breached accounts created using company email addresses, potentially giving attackers access to a company account if the employee reuses a compromised password.
The Operative Framework is a powerful Python-based open-source intelligence (OSINT) tool that can be used to find domains registered by the same email address, as well as many other investigative functions. This reconnaissance tool provides insight about your target through examining relationships in the domains they own.
The increasingly important world of white hat or "ethical" hacking is getting competitive. Thanks to growing salaries and opportunities for talented and trained coding pros who can infiltrate servers and safeguard networks against digital threats, demand for intrepid cyber warriors is through the roof, and it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Most of us have conducted an investigatory science project without even knowing it, or at least without knowing that's what it was called. Most science experiments performed, from elementary to high school students and all the way up to professional scientists, are investigatory projects.
Dovid Krafchow, the author of Kabbalistic Tarot, explains the meaning behind the Mayan calendar according to Jewish knowledge and scientific investigation. Check out this video to learn how to understand the Mayan calendar.
While conducting an OSINT investigation, it's important to be able to pull in information based on any clue you uncover. In particular, license plate information can turn up everywhere, from photos to live data to on your own street. You could use that data to find the VIN, see if a Tinder date has hit anyone, find out who's blocking your driveway, and so on. Skiptracer can help get the ball rolling.
An older man dies of Zika. A younger man who cares for him catches Zika — but doctors cannot pinpoint how the disease was transmitted. While proximity to the patient is sufficient explanation for the rest of us, for microbe hunters, it is a medical mystery. Why? Zika is not known to transmit from person-to-person casually.
On June 11, 2016, an Arizona woman died from what appeared to be several infections, including pneumonia. She likely caught at least one of these from her dog.
Uber has lost market share to Lyft, its main competitor. Uber's US market share dropped from 84% to 77% between January and the end of May this year, and the ride-sharing company has continued to run into legal, public-image, and internal trouble. Lyft, on the other hand, has been growing.
In March, we wrote about the growing threat of yellow fever in Brazil. At the time, the disease had killed just over a 100 people. Unfortunately, the disease has only spread since then with many more people infected and more killed.
The Note7 fireworks bonanza was unprecedented in scope. A recent report suggests that Samsung could lose upwards of $20 billion in lost profit due to this fiasco.
Hackers rely on good data to be able to pull off an attack, and reconnaissance is the stage of the hack in which they must learn as much as they can to devise a plan of action. Technical details are a critical component of this picture, and with OSINT tools like Maltego, a single domain name is everything you need to fingerprint the tech details of an organization from IP address to AS number.
More bad news for patients who have undergone heart surgery in the past five years. A new study suggests about one-third of heater-cooler units used in cardiac procedures remain contaminated with a slow-growing, potentially fatal bacteria.
We've worked hard to reduce the flow of toxic chemicals into our waterways, which means no more DDT and other bad actors to pollute or destroy wildlife and our health. But one observation has been plaguing scientists for decades: Why are large quantities of one toxic chemical still found in the world's oceans?
Welcome back, my aspiring hackers! As I mentioned in earlier posts, the best hackers (or at least those not behind bars) have a keen understanding of digital forensics. If I am tasked to intrude upon an enemy's file server to retrieve war plans, such as in this tutorial, it is essential to my country's (and my own) well-being that it not be traced back to me. Understanding digital forensics helps us to leave without a trace and never have a trail back to us or our employer.
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! In continuing my series on digital forensics using Kali, I want to introduce you to two complementary tools, both built right into Kali Linux. These are Brian Carrier's tools Autopsy and Sleuth Kit.
When researching a person using open source intelligence, the goal is to find clues that tie information about a target into a bigger picture. Screen names are perfect for this because they are unique and link data together, as people often reuse them in accounts across the internet. With Sherlock, we can instantly hunt down social media accounts created with a unique screen name on many online platforms simultaneously.
Phone numbers often contain clues to the owner's identity and can bring up a lot of data during an OSINT investigation. Starting with a phone number, we can search through a large number of online databases with only a few clicks to discover information about a phone number. It can include the carrier, the owner's name and address, and even connected online accounts.
| Update: ZTE's issues with the US government have finally been resolved. Check out the details below.
Whether or not a microbe is successful at establishing an infection depends both on the microbe and the host. Scientists from Duke found that a single DNA change can allow Salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid fever, to invade cells. That single genetic variation increased the amount of cholesterol on cell membranes that Salmonella and other bacteria use as a docking station to attach to a cell to invade it. They also found that common cholesterol-lowering drugs protected zebrafi...
Seldom in recent history has a cyber security event caused so much media stir (maybe because it happened to a media company?) and international relations upheaval. Cyber security breaches seem to take place daily of major corporations, but the Sony hack seems to have captured the American imagination and, for that matter, the whole world's attention.
Welcome back, my aspiring hackers and those who want to catch my aspiring hackers! As most of you know, this series on digital forensics is inspired by the motivation to keep all of you all out of custody. The more you know about the techniques used by law enforcement and forensic investigators, the better you can evade them.
While modern browsers are robust and provide a lot of functionality, they can be unlocked to do some pretty spectacular things with browser extensions. For hackers and OSINT researchers, these tools can be used to defeat online tracking, log in to SSH devices, and search the internet for clues during an investigation. These are a list of my top ten favorite browser extensions for hackers — and how to use them.
According to security firm Kaspersky Lab, CoinVault and Bitcryptor ransomware are officially dead.
One more business has decided that rewarding hackers to find flaws in their computer systems is a wise investment! As you know, a number of software companies offer bug bounties, and some of these can be quite lucrative. Google, for instance, offers a bounty of $150,000 for anyone who can hack their Chrome operating system, and many other companies are offering similar bounties, although, not quite as lucrative. Now, United Airlines has decided to offer frequent flyer miles to hackers who fin...
In recent light of Obama's assertion of executive privilege over important documents concerning the Fast and Furious operation, here's a brief article concerning this controversial power.
