Palenath: OPSEC & How to Secure Your Own Privacy in OSINT Investigations

A passionate professor with recognized expertise in OSINT, Jezer Ferreira has made significant contributions to the field. He was pivotal in the inception of the Cyber Hunter Group, which subsequently led to the founding of the Osintomático Conference, which is the largest OSINT and Social Engineering event in Europe. Recognizing the synergy between OSINT and social engineering, he underscores their combined potential. He serves as the Coordinator of Cyber Intelligence trainings at the Cyber Hunter Academy and is also a distinguished professor of OSINT and CySA in the Master of Cybersecurity and Cyber Defense program at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He was honored with "The Holy Guardian Angels - Friends of the National Police" medal in recognition of his collaborative efforts with the police to combat cyberterrorism. In this episode, we journey through Jezer's beginnings in the OSINT realm, discuss the dynamic evolution of the discipline and its interconnected fields, and examine the generational changes in social media engagement. Beyond insights for OSINT and cybersecurity professionals, Jezer also offers valuable advice on how everyone can confidently navigate the internet by building safe habits. 00:00 Introduction 05:22 How did your career in OSINT start? 16:08 How are the OSINT discipline and its related areas evolving? 33:15 What have been the changes in the use of social media by different generations? 40:30 What are your recommendations for someone starting in the sector? 50:48 What role does Maltego play as a community and development tool? ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify. You can also watch it all go down on ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠. Don't forget to subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠, and Mastodon to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, ⁠⁠⁠⁠visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Daniel is a seasoned technology and cybersecurity professional who has worked with organizations globally to help protect, detect, and respond to cyber threats. He is active in the UK cyber community, serving on the UK Government Cyber Security Advisory Board. You can usually find him online conducting innovative research and seeking new ways to combat cybercrime. In this episode, we draw upon Daniel's extensive experience and expertise as we delve into the world of cybersecurity together. We discuss some of the challenges posed by laws, the lack of understanding or misunderstanding from the public, as well as the collaboration between companies and cybersecurity professionals. During our conversation, Daniel also shares some commonly practiced security methodologies and examines the issues from personal, organizational, and global perspectives, calling for greater focus on global cyber defense. 0:00 Welcome! 01:15 How are you today? 03:15 What makes you come to the internet intelligence gathering mission? 08:24 Where do you get the list of websites to scan and what do you do with these websites? 14:45 How do you report the scanning results at such a broad scale? 16:48 Is it legal to scan domains in the UK? 24:07 The visibility gap from people's understanding of crime search 25:01 Security practice that most organizations overlook and the misunderstanding people have for cybersecurity 28:18 Tell us some commonly employed security methodologies within companies! 33:01 The lack of security practices and education on a personal level 42:18 Enabling humans to be the greatest strength for cybersecurity within companies and for society 51:33 The lack of focus on global cyber defense 59:17 Where did you start and how did you get into the cybersecurity world? 63:36 What are the three must-have attributes for people wanting to enter the industry? 67:44 The importance of asking questions in the field of cybersecurity 70:58 Looking at the attack from the national and worldwide perspective 75:55 Looking at the attack from the cybersecurity professional's perspective 79:42 Looking at the attack from the business side 87:40 The challenge cybersecurity professionals face when working with organizations 96:16 Closing ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify. You can also watch it all go down on ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠. Don't forget to subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, ⁠⁠⁠visit our website⁠⁠⁠.

Jane is a tech entrepreneur, book author, international speaker, and passionate women's change agent. She is the founder of the IN Security Movement and the author of In Security: Why a Failure to Attract and Retain Women in Cybersecurity is Making Us All Less Safe. With more than 25 years of experience in the field, Jane has built her own penetration company and held senior executive roles at information technology organizations. Today she is represented by The London Speaking Bureau and is committed to establishing women in security as a standard, not an exception, through her consulting services, training programs, media appearances, speaking engagements, and the Women in Cybersecurity Podcast. In this episode, Jane dives deep into the current landscape of the cyber world, elaborating on the challenges and presenting potential solutions. She discusses the 'enabler' knowledge gap between people in cybersecurity and company shareholders, the obstacles that women face when trying to get their foot in the door of the industry, and many more. 0:00 Welcome! 1:31 Tell us about yourself! 4:58 Tell us a bit about your work! 14:07 What got you into cyber world? 18:20 How to make the shareholders aware that people in cyber are 'enablers' in business? 24:19 The problem of the misleading and big requirements in the job specs 30:24 What is it like to expose and grow people in the industry? 38:22 What has it been like to empower women in cyber? 40:46 Why and how do women face more challenges in the industry? 49:34 Is woman empowerment in cyber more of a flipside analogy? 53:27 The importance of the diversity in workplace 56:05 Why do you think the gender risk analysis happens and how to fix it? 1:01:31 Tell us the top 3 attributes you would advise the newcomers to possess! ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify. You can also watch it all go down on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. Don't forget to subscribe to our ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, ⁠⁠visit our website⁠⁠.

Kevin Limonier is an expert in geopolitics. He holds the position of an associate professor in Geography and Slavic Studies at the French Institute of Geopolitics (Paris 8 University), serves as the deputy director of GEODE, and is a founding partner of Cassini, a company specializing in cartography and territorial intelligence. Previously, he worked as a lecturer at the Russian State University of Humanities (RGGU, Moscow) for several years. As a specialist in the Russian-speaking internet and territorial innovation policies in the USSR and contemporary Russia, Kevin's geopolitical research focuses on developing new methods of mapping cyberspace, particularly in the post-Soviet context. His research Beyond “hybrid warfare”: a digital exploration of Russia’s entrepreneurs of influence is available online and accessible to the public. He is also interested in the methodology and epistemology of geopolitics. In this episode, we delve into a variety of topics ranging from the meaning of OSINT within the field of geopolitics, the current limitations of OSINT, and some emerging challenges as the world and the internet rapidly evolve. We also discuss how authoritarian states, such as Russia, control their internet and its evolution over the years. 01:06 How do you envision OSINT in the context of geopolitics? 03:30 Tell us about your work and how you use OSINT! 07:11 How would the states employ and insert OSINT in a global geopolitical context 16:07 What are some of the limits of OSINT? 22:56 How does Russia control its internet and how has this control evolved over the years? 32:38 What's the difference between Russian Internet and Russian-speaking Internet? 38:09 What will happen to the countries using Russian internet services once Russia separates its internet from the world? 43:09 What is an entrepreneur of influence? 46:58 How does the system of entrepreneur of influence work? 55:51 What methodology did you use to track them down in Africa? ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify. You can also watch it all go down on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠. Don't forget to subscribe to our ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, ⁠⁠visit our website⁠⁠.

Henri Beek has more than 13 years of professional experience working in the Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) space. Within his career, he has used OSINT for different types of investigations, ranging from fraud and employment screening to family protection, red teaming and cyber threat intelligence. Henri currently works at a company where he provides OSINT training and consultancy to law enforcement and related entities throughout Europe. In this episode, we peek into OSINT investigations from back in 2008, when it was still called "desk research" and conducted with plenty of paperwork. Extending the topic, Henri also brings up the access problems such as the takedown of Facebook Graph. He also points out that investigators should be more mindful of the information they are sharing online and be keen on examining the source and reliability of the contents. 0:00 Welcome! 1:23 What got you into OSINT? 2:31 Where did you start doing OSINT? 6:36 Have you encountered access problems while researching? In which sphere? 17:18 What's the definition of Red Team and its exercises? 20:29 Tell us the hallmark investigation of yours! 25:01 What are the tools you use for investigations? 31:41 Do you think we are oversharing OSINT resources? 35:51 What is stifiling the access to the information? 48:09 How does one start off one of the OSINT branches? ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify. You can also watch it all go down on ⁠YouTube⁠. Don't forget to subscribe to our ⁠Twitter⁠ and ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, ⁠visit our website⁠.

Nico Dekens, known as the Dutch_OsintGuy online, is an All Source Analyst specializing in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), online Human Intelligence (HUMINT) and Online investigations. He has over 20 years of experience as an all source Intelligence Analyst at Dutch Law Enforcement. Nico eats, sleeps, and lives everything which has to do with OSINT, online investigations, Intelligence gathering and Analysis. He is very active within the OSINT community, being the Co-founder of the OSINTCurio.us project and a SANS Institute instructor. Currently, Nico is working as the Director of Intelligence, Collection Innovation at ShadowDragon. In this episode, Nico provides valuable insights into his investigations on the decentralized web, experiences of saving people from the ongoing Ukrainian war, as well as concerns for the polarized-bound world. He also touches a bit on Vicarious Trauma with himself as an example and offers a few prevention tips in the end. 0:00 Welcome! 01:08 Tell us a bit about yourself! 10:35 What was it like running threads of investigations years ago? 16:26 Have you done any investigations revolving around the DAO or decentralized web? 20:25 What are the tools you use for investigations? 26:14 Have you seen people hindered by only using specific tools? 30:05 As an investigator, what's your biggest concern with the world changing drastically now? 43:38 How does saving lives make you feel? 48:59 Where will people start if they want to do what you are doing now? 49:09 What are the three things you would say to someone getting into this field? 52:36 Tell us about Vicarious Trauma! 56:09 Does Vicarious Trauma also cover people being numb to horrific materials? ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify. You can also watch it all go down on ⁠YouTube⁠. Don't forget to subscribe to our ⁠Twitter⁠ and ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, ⁠visit our website⁠.

Hakan Tanriverdi is a reporter at the German public broadcaster, Bayerischer Rundfunk. He covers information and cybersecurity, mainly focusing on hacking groups and who they're working for. The investigations tend to be more on the technical side and are assisted by scripts, scrapers, and databases. He is also the producer of the podcast series, Der Mann in Merkels Rechner - Jagd auf Putins Hacker (The Man In Merkel’s Computer – Hunting Down Putin’s Hackers), uncovering the German parliament hack, which went viral later. In this episode, Hakan elaborates on how he unfolds the world of OSINT and hacking and his thoughts on how Snowden leaks and Panama Papers changed how reporters investigate. He also touches on the production of Der Mann in Merkels Rechner – Jagd auf Putins Hacker podcast series, explaining how he came to record the podcast and the whole story of the hack. 0:00 Welcome! 0:50 Tell us a bit about yourself! 4:08 What got you into OSINT? 12:11 Tell us about the exciting conferences you've attended! 15:17 What was the Snowden Leaks like for you as an experience? 17:26 How do you think the Snowden Leaks and Panama Papers were handled? 21:44 Tell us about the investigation of the German parliament hack! 32:26 What motivates you to dive into cybercrimes? 38:10 Tell us your passion projects other than hacking! 42:31 What are the three pieces of advice you would give to novices? ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more.

Zaid Sabih is an ethical hacker, a computer scientist, and the founder and CEO of zSecurity. He has valuable & tremendous experience in the field of ethical hacking. In 2013, he started teaching his first network hacking course, which led him to publish a number of online ethical hacking courses, each focusing on a specific topic, all of which are dominating ethical hacking. Now, Zaid has more than 800,000 students worldwide. In this episode, Zaid sits down with Maltego host Bradley Taylor, recalling what led him into cybersecurity and infosec, later establishing his own company, zSecurity. He also talks about his opinoin on the term "hacking" and CTF platforms, providing 3 tips for becoming a successful bug bounty hunter in the end. 0:00 Welcome! 0:40 How's everything in Dublin? 2:25 Tell us a bit about yourself! 4:06 What got you into cybersecurity and infosec? 9:28 How old were you when establishing zSecurity? 11:14 What is it like to be a full-scale pentest teacher? 13:15 Do you do motivation topics with your students? 14:59 Any hobbies besides hacking? 16:06 Tell us about your investigations with Maltego! 18:51 Tell us about zSecurity's bug bounty platform! 22:16 What are the specific scoping requirements? 23:55 What are your thoughts on the CTF platforms? 32:02 What are your thoughts on the term 'hacking'? 37:29 What is your opinion on live hacking interviews? 39:18 Share with us 3 tips to become a successful bug bounty hunter! ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. You can also watch it all go down on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe to our Twitter and LinkedIn to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, visit our website.

Palenath is an OSINT & hacking enthusiast and a speaker at Barbhack, UnlockYourBrain, Stack Overflow, Barbhack as well as Lehack. He coded several OSINT software and published them on GitHub. He also proactively participated in several OSINT CTFs, winning competitions held by Trace Labs, Maltego, and UnlockYourBrain.   In this episode, Palenath walks us through his journey on how he comes to program OSINT tools as well as his own experience of getting support from OSINT community, recommending websites and communities for beginners. He also shares with us his opinions on OPSEC and provides basic hygiene guidelines for researchers to protect their privacy while conducting investigations. 0:00 Welcome! 0:39 Tell us a bit about yourself! 1:11 Are there any particular fields you are interested in? 2:05 Tell us about the OSINT tools you program! 3:10 Do you have a GitHub? 4:16 Give us an example of the support from OSINT community! 6:11 Is it a good idea to make OSINT tools available to the public? 11:37 Have you ever worked with journalists? 14:36 How did you get started in OSINT? 17:26 Any recommendations for beginners, such as communities or websites? 19:06 What makes you cautious about privacy? 21:33 What are the basic hygiene OPSEC procedures for researchers? 26:08 Do you recommend using another phone to activate an account? 29:45 Share with us any OPSEC fails you've heard! 32:14 What is EPIEOS.com? 33:56 How you came to create OSINT tools? 37:49 Are there any OSINT tools you admire? 40:49 What do you think about tools like AI black box? 42:08 Any other communities you would like to mention? ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. You can also watch it all go down on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe to our Twitter and LinkedIn to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, visit our website.

Teresa Walsh leads the FS-ISAC’s Global Intelligence Office (GIO) to protect the financial sector against cyber threats by delivering actionable strategic, operational, and tactical intelligence products. Based in the United Kingdom, she oversees FS-ISAC’s global member-sharing operations and a team of regional intelligence officers and analysts who monitor emerging threats. Teresa began her career as a civilian intelligence analyst with the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and holds a master’s in political science with a focus on international relations from the University of Missouri-Columbia. In this interview, Teresa shares with us her work as a GIO and provides insights into the differences between traditional intelligence and cyber intelligence as well as which industry adjusts swiftly in alleviating risks than others. Last but not least, she also offers advice to those who would like to become an intelligence practitioner. 0:00 Welcome! 01:45 Tell us a bit about yourself! 02:54 What is it like to wake up with information coming from worldwide? 05:18 What is it like to work in the intelligence industry? 07:52 What is the biggest challenge for getting the traditional SOC team to think differently about the intelligence and use it versus jamming millions of IPs into a tip? 14:47 How much intelligence is derived/propagated from OSINT? 18:41 Are there any industries evolving faster in mitigating risks than the others? 20:51 Do you use any specific tools to gather intel? 23:03 Where to start in the intelligence industry? 31:40 Tell us about an unforgettable investigation! 37:31 How's the house renovation going? 45:49 Tell us 3 most important advice for intelligence partitioner wannabes! ■ About The Pivot Brought to you by Maltego, The Pivot deep dives into topics pivoting from information security to the criminal underground. Each episode features interviews with experts from the industry and research fields and explores how they connect the dots. ■ About Maltego Used by investigators worldwide, Maltego is a graphical link analysis tool that allows users to mine, merge, and map data from OSINT and third-party data integrations for all sorts of investigations—cybersecurity, person of interest, fraud, and more. The podcast streams free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. You can also watch it all go down on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe to our Twitter and LinkedIn to stay on top of our latest updates, tutorials, webinars, and deep dives. For more information about Maltego, visit our website.