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Using Reverse Image in Your OSINT Research

When conducting OSINT research, don’t forget image searches, as they can reveal quite a bit. We have all heard the saying, ” A picture is worth a thousand words.” We understand its meaning and know it to be very true. However, when it comes to OSINT research, sometimes what is in the background of a picture is worth a million words!

A recent Netflix show comes to mind as I write this blog post. Have you seen The Tiger King yet? Some people can watch it, while others I have heard just can’t get through the series. At any rate, one thing I recall very well is how several social media posts worked in the favor of an investigation to find the fugitives who were on the run. The main character (who was on the run) and his husband posted many social media photos trying to make it look like they were in Mexico. Upon further attention, it was noticed that the background of the images made it very clear that they were indeed in Florida. Certain identifying clues led law enforcement to their exact location.

The more photos found when using OSINT research the better. Bing has an excellent built in option.

Bing’s Reverse Images

Bing: Bing search engine has an image search that allows an upload of an image in the same way Google Image Search does. Below you will see what is produced when we uploaded the image on the left. All the images on the right are instantly populated.

Bing Reverse Image how to — Normal image search reveals a good amount of results.

If nothing comes up, try the cropping the image using the “visual search”. Let’s say we want to focus on one area of the image. The visual search allows you to crop the image in a way that may reveal different results.

Bing Visual Image as an additional search method. — Visual Image

You can see the difference between the two. This can be very helpful when you have a picture of someone in a public place. You may not be able to pinpoint exactly where they are. Using this Bing feature may produce more photos with an exact location.

Pinterest Image Search

Log into your Pinterest account.
Click on any pin in your home feed (or on any profile or board).
Click the icon in the bottom-right corner of the pinned image.

How Pinterest does search of photos — From Search Engine Journal

Simply click on the visual search icon, you can see everything else in Pinterest that is similar.

Instagram Has Over 95 Million Photos Uploaded Daily.

One of our recent blog posts discussed just how many photos are in the social media platform and how it can be used in investigation. In fact, we were recently able to help a client by identifying a person was at Walt Disney when they were trying to locate him to serve papers. It can be quite valuable!

Facial Recognition Apps

In the near future, facial recognition apps may be more readily available. Especially if companies like Clear AI has anything to say about it. An app that lets you identify anyone from a photo, and it is currently being used by law enforcement. Their mission, as stated on their website is:

Clearview AI is a new research tool used by law enforcement agencies to identify perpetrators and victims of crimes.

Clearview AI’s technology has helped law enforcement track down hundreds of at-large criminals, including pedophiles, terrorists and sex traffickers. It is also used to help exonerate the innocent and identify the victims of crimes including child sex abuse and financial fraud.

Using Clearview AI, law enforcement is able to catch the most dangerous criminals, solve the toughest cold cases and make communities safer, especially the most vulnerable among us.

What trick of the trade do you use?

If it Can Happen to Amazon, it Can Happen To You

Social Media: The Industry Disrupter

Social media continues to be a major business disrupter. For the last decade most companies and brands have been working like crazy to figure it all out. From social media marketing to social hiring reports. How does it all work?

Which platform should we use to market? What is the ROI? How can we keep track of our online reputation? The waters get murky when it comes to hiring employees and screening their social accounts. Yet, so many HR professionals continue to conduct unethical searches and find themselves in compromising situations. Should we screen employees social media prior to hiring? How is that different from the background checks were already conducting?

Just last week it was reported that an Amazon employee was fired for reporting that her supervisor instructed her to “scour social media on applicants to determine race and gender. ” She did not feel this was the correct way to do this, and notified management. She was terminated. The ex-employee has since then filed a lawsuit against Amazon for wrongful termination among other things.

Many times we hear HR executives say that they do check social media on applicants and don’t give it too much thought as to the legality of it all. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), HR execs recruit candidates for specific jobs using social media, up from 56 percent in 2011 and 34 percent in 2008. Using this as a recruitment strategy is different than using it to determine employment, however.

The Right Way to Conduct Social Media Background Checks

This varies from state to state, however for the most part be aware of the following red flags that are allowed under FCRA compliance:

Racist, Sexist, or Discriminatory Behavior
Sexually Explicit Material
Threats or Acts of Violence
Potentially Illegal Activity

Developing a social media policy for your company is a great first step. This way everyone is on the same page when it comes to remaining fair to all applicants.

Never ask for passwords.

Include this as part of your background check policy and clearly state it for all applicants to see and agree to.

Use an outside agency.

Reputation management and workplace safety are just two of the three top reasons companies seek out social media background checks.

At eChatter we use software that is FCRA compliant. Results generated by our staff are in line with federal and state specific laws. However, we don’t stop there. Avoid a PR nightmare by monitoring social media once employees are hired, to protect employees from toxic behavior in the workplace. What starts at the office, sometimes spills into social media and vise versa.
Human Resource Social Media Hiring Scan

OSINT Research: The Devil’s in the Details

For those unfamiliar with the term OSINT Research, it is explained this way by Wikipedia

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of information that is gathered from public, or open, sources.^[2] OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforcement, and business intelligence functions and is of value to analysts who use non-sensitive intelligence in answering classified, unclassified, or proprietary intelligence requirements across the previous intelligence disciplines.

OSINT sources can be divided up into six different categories of information flow

Media, print newspapers, magazines, radio, and television from across and between countries.
Internet, online publications, blogs, discussion groups, citizen media (i.e. – cell phone videos, and user created content), YouTube, and other social media websites (i.e. – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). This source also outpaces a variety of other sources due to its timeliness and ease of access.
Public Government Data, public government reports, budgets, hearings, telephone directories, press conferences, websites, and speeches. Although this source comes from an official source they are publicly accessible and may be used openly and freely.
Professional and Academic Publications, information acquired from journals, conferences, symposia, academic papers, dissertations, and theses.
Commercial Data, commercial imagery, financial and industrial assessments, and databases.
Grey literature, technical reports, preprints, patents, working papers, business documents, unpublished works, and newsletters.

OSINT Resources Reveal the Details From the Deep Web

Many times our clients want to better understand the difference between a social media scan and a deep web scan. Taking a close look at the image above explains a lot and kind of surprises most people in terms of the data on the web that is openly available.

eChatter Case Study Examples of Deep Web Details

Recently, we were trying to find out whether a POI (person of interest) was married. He had no Facebook clues other than he was in a relationship. After conducting a deep web scan we found a local newspaper article in which he was named along with “his wife”. The wife chose to keep her maiden name.
A deep scan was ordered by a client to determine what happened to a deceased person’s body. We found an association letter that was published online indicating the person was cremated and buried at sea.
A client needed to know if their POI had any business affiliations that wasn’t disclosed in a divorce settlement. After a deep scan was conducted, we located quite a few businesses tied to the POI.

Does it always work out this way? Not at all. Mainly because some people are much better at hiding this than others or because they were advised to delete everything online by advice of counsel. However, these are the kind of details OSINT research is all about. You will not find this in a Google search.

Online Protection for Small Businesses

Do you think cybercriminals are too busy targeting big businesses like Home Depot, Marriott and Google to bother with your small company? Think again.

Cyber attacks are a growing threat for small businesses and the U.S. economy. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report, the cost of cybercrimes reached $2.7 billion in 2018 alone. Small businesses are attractive to cybercriminals because they typically lack the security infrastructure of larger corporations and by accessing a small business’s computer network, typically this opens up the client and vendor networks, too. According to a recent SBA survey, 88% of small business owners felt their business was vulnerable to a cyber attack. And since 71% of cyberattacks occur at businesses with fewer than 100 employees, small companies should be concerned.

For a small business, the cost of a data breach can be devastating. The average cyberattack costs a small business $34,604. Since it takes an average of 191 days for a small business to become aware of a cyberattack, companies that are attacked once are often hit again. No surprise that nearly 60% of companies go out of business within six months of a cyberattack.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect your business, clients, and vendors.

1) Train your employees

Employees and emails are the leading cause of data breaches for small businesses because they are a direct path into your systems. Training employees on basic internet best practices can go a long way in preventing cyber attacks. Make sure your employees know how to spot a phishing email, best web browsing practices, how to avoid suspicious downloads, the importance of creating strong passwords, and most importantly, how to protect sensitive customer and vendor information. Monitoring online mentions of your business name and variations of it is also very helpful and hiring a firm to do a Dark Web check up a few times a year is a good idea.

2) Use antivirus software and keep it updated
Each of your business’s computers should be equipped with antivirus software, antispyware, and updated regularly. You can easily find this online from a variety of vendors. All software vendors regularly provide patches and updates to their products to correct security problems and improve functionality. Configure all software to install updates automatically.

3) Secure your networks
Safeguard your Internet connection by using a firewall and encrypting information. If you have a Wi-Fi network, make sure it is secure and hidden. To hide your Wi-Fi network, set up your wireless access point or router so it does not broadcast the network name, known as the Service Set Identifier (SSID). And always password protect access to the router.

4) Multifactor authentication
Multifactor authentication requires additional information (e.g., a security code sent to your phone) to log in. Check with your vendors that handle sensitive data, especially financial institutions, to see if they offer multifactor authentication for your account.

5) Back up your data
Regularly back up data on every computer. Critical information electronic spreadsheets, client and vendor databases, financial files, human resources files, and accounts receivable/payable files.

6) Secure payment processing
Work with your banks or card processors to ensure the most validated tools and anti-fraud services are being used. Take it a step further by isolating payment systems from other, less secure programs and do not use the same computer to process payments and surf the Internet.

7) Control physical access
Prevent access or use of business computers by unauthorized individuals. Laptops can be particularly easy targets for theft or can be lost, so lock them up when unattended. Make sure a separate user account is created for each employee. And ensure that administrative privileges are only given to trusted IT staff and key personnel.

8) Get strong non-disclosure agreements

If applicable for your business, create well-written non-disclosure agreements. Also, look at any other agreements you use in your business to make sure they cover your intellectual property. These could include employment agreements, licenses, and sales contracts.

Social Media Crime Stoppers

Nextdoor, Citizen, and Amazon Ring…these are the apps responsible for what used to be called “citizen’s arrest”. These apps, which allow users to view local crime in real time and discuss it with people nearby, are some of the most downloaded social and news apps in the US, according to rankings from the App Store and Google Play.

While it’s important to know what is going on in your community, and more specifically, your neighborhood, has it made us paranoid that everyone is out to get us?

Before you download these apps, let’s look at the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Nextdoor

According to the website, Nextdoor is “the best way to stay in the know about what’s going on in your neighborhood—whether it’s finding a last-minute babysitter, learning about an upcoming block party, or hearing about a rash of car break-ins. There are so many ways our neighbors can help us. We just need an easier way to connect with them.”

When I first learned about Nextdoor, I thought, all I need is another app on my phone. And I actually avoided it for a while. But after seeing multiple neighbors post comments, questions, and suggestions, I decided I might as well give it a try.

Most of the posts involve recommendations for lawn care, home maintenance or repair, local hotspots, missing pets, and the like. But more recently there have been a string of posts regarding robberies, break-ins, and more alarming incidents such as lurkers at a local playground.

While I appreciate being kept abreast of everything going on in our community, is it making us so leery and suspicious that we assume everyone has negative intentions?

In the US, Nextdoor has worryingly been accused of being a hotbed of racial profiling and bigotry, having been called out by the black news and opinion site The Root for the way users report people of color in their neighborhood as being suspicious.

But there is a silver lining in all of this…Nextdoor residents are quick to help one another in times of need. During the recent Hurricane Dorian event, one post from the Nextdoor app by a resident of the “Cork Vicinity” of Central Florida reads—“Anybody know where there’s water?” In less than 23 hours more than 50 helpful neighbors recommended 28 nearby neighborhoods where water might be found and encouraged other creative solutions like filling up five gallon buckets with tap water, and even catching and purifying rainwater.

Citizen

Citizen, which was previously titled Vigilante, encourages users to stop crimes in action…by sending 9-1-1 alerts for crimes happening nearby. It also allows users to livestream footage they record of the crime scene, “chat with other Citizen users as situations develop” and “build out your Inner Circle of family and friends to create your own personal safety network, and receive alerts whenever they’re close to danger.”

According to their website…”Our mission is to keep people safe and informed. We believe everyone has the right to know what’s happening inside their communities in real time, and that transparency can drive change for the better. Citizen users are empowering the city of the future, building new ways to bring people together, creating a safer world, and democratizing 911.”

Amazon Ring

Amazon has recently thrown its hat in the ring — with Ring. It recently advertised an editorial position that would coordinate news coverage on crime, specifically based around its Ring video doorbell and Neighbors, its attendant social media app. Neighbors alerts users to local crime news from “unconfirmed sources” and is full of Amazon Ring videos of people stealing Amazon packages and “suspicious” brown people on porches. “Neighbors is more than an app, it’s the power of your community coming together to keep you safe and informed,” it boasts.

New Found Fear

It’s natural for people to want to know more about the world around them in order to decrease their uncertainty and increase their ability to cope with danger,” says David Ewoldsen, Professor of media and information at Michigan State University. “You go on because you’re afraid and you want to feel more competent, but now you’re seeing crime you didn’t know about,” Ewoldsen said. “The long-term implication is heightened fear and less of a sense of competence. … It’s a negative spiral.”

“Focusing on these things you’re interpreting as danger can change your perception of your overall safety,” Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, told Recode. “Essentially you’re elevating your stress level. There’s buckets of research that talks about the dangers of stress, from high blood pressure to decreased mental health.”

These apps are particularly scary since they’re discussing crime nearby, within your neighborhood or Zip code. And the issues are compounded by the media, Ewoldsen says. “If you see more coverage of crime you think it’s more of an issue, even if real-world statistics say it isn’t,” Ewoldsen said.

What do we do about it?

[ctt template=”4″ link=”fnfg3″ via=”no” ]“We need to pay attention and to be more mindful in our consumption of the news,” he said. Turn off notifications for crime that’s not happening around you. Research or read respected sources of news before jumping to conclusions. Be aware of how other people’s biases and those of their fellow app users could skew reporting and the reaction to that reporting.[/ctt]

“It would help if they eliminated all unverified reports,” Rutledge said. In practice, however, this would mean having to verify crimes before they could be posted, which would be very difficult if not impossible.