open source intelligence

About this Episode Hosts: Daniel Clemens, ShadowDragon CEO Elliott Anderson, ShadowDragon CTO Nico Dekens, ShadowDragon Director of Intelligence and Innovation Collection (aka Dutch_OSINTguy) David Cook, ShadowDragon Director of National Security In this podcast episode, the hosts and guests delve into various topics, from the importance of rest and mindfulness to the challenges of investigative work and the impact of technology on attention spans. Through personal anecdotes and professional experiences, they highlight the need for patience, methodical workflow, and critical thinking in investigative processes, emphasizing the value of asking the right questions rather than seeking immediate answers. They also discuss the evolving nature of technology and its effects on human cognition, cautioning against the pitfalls of constant stimulation and advocating for a balance between productivity and mental well-being. Furthermore, they draw parallels between investigative work and historical societal shifts, reflecting on the tension between industrialism and agrarian workflows and the implications for modern-day practices. Ultimately, the episode offers valuable insights into navigating the complexities of investigative work in an increasingly fast-paced and technology-driven world, emphasizing the importance of rest, reflection, and methodical inquiry.

About this Episode Hosts: Daniel Clemens, ShadowDragon CEO Elliott Anderson, ShadowDragon CTO Nico Dekens, ShadowDragon Director of Intelligence and Innovation Collection (aka Dutch_OSINTguy) David Cook, ShadowDragon Director of National Security In our last podcast of 2023, the ShadowDragon crew talked about the importance of veterans’ service, disinformation, and gave some of our best predictions for 2024. One of ShadowDragon’s newest employees, David Cook, talks about running a non-profit focused on Special Operations Forces (SOF) advocacy: • The Special Operations Association of America (SOAA.org) is a veteran service organization that advocates for the past, present and future SOF community. • David first found SOAA during the Afghanistan withdrawal and has been involved ever since. • SOAA, Congress, and several other organizations’ use of open-source information during the withdrawal to help Americans and our Afghan allies. • Bringing service to veterans everywhere we go – ShadowDragon included. • Launching a SkillBridge partnership to assist active-duty service members transitioning to the civilian world. • OSINT use in the Afghanistan withdrawal • Injection of false information into crisis situations and how to triage fact from fiction. Automation in OSINT, according to Nico, the Dutch OSINT Guy: • OSINT is an arduous process – automation can be a powerful tool in highlighting what’s important. • Utilizing ChatGPT to ‘stress-test’ narratives and large amounts of content to narrow down actor motives. • Automated image searches are best used in open-source investigations where the margin for human error is high. • Automation allows investigators and analysts to scale with the amount and volume of information and data that is ubiquitous today. Dependency of Large-Language Models (LLMs), and other tech: • Utilizing LLMs for analysis must be used with caution – there are AI ‘hallucinations’ that return false information. • Remember: the models are trained using data from humans, so it still has a margin of error. • Investigators and analysts should be aware of AI ‘hallucinations’ within their OSINT tools they use. • Small cognitive conditioning happens with the dependency of technology and devices – we’re in for an interesting year with external catalysts (election, emerging LLMs/deepfake tech, etc.). “2024 is gonna be…crazy”, Daniel Clemens, CEO of ShadowDragon • People are not going to be able to trust what hear and see at the end of 2024 due to deepfake technology advances, segregation in the digital world manifesting itself in the physical world. • Regulation for ‘disinformation’ will not go anywhere, but there will be broad discussion and public discourse surrounding automated information – videos, audio recordings, and images. • Disinformation needs to be re-branded and specifically defined in contrast to foreign malign influence operations. Elliott’s OSINT recommendations: • The popularity of OSINT will spurn regulatory action and we’ll see laws made and legal decisions on OSINT. Daniel’s OSINT recommendations: • The value of discernment will be ‘gold’ and being able to deconstruct what information is in front of them will need to be developed and honed. • The ‘AI’ buzzword in OSINT will start to collapse – but some capabilities will get better because of automation, especially Geo-Spatial Intelligence (GEOINT), geo-political use-cases, and supply chain risk management. David’s OSINT recommendations: • More people will find they’ve been utilizing open-source information and creating subsequent intelligence than previously thought, re-valuing OSINT as a sector to the upside, broadening and expanding what OSINT is. • OSINT as an intelligence discipline will take share from GEOINT and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT). • AI and automation will create an ‘information inequality’ where a premium is placed on the truth. Nico’s OSINT recommendations: • More and more people will understand that tradecraft in OSINT is so important. • Understanding, or the lack of understanding, the tradecraft, will dictate how good or how bad any regulation or legislation will be surrounding OSINT. • There will be more charlatans in the OSINT space. Listen to the full podcast for all the guys’ book and podcast recommendations. This podcast is available in video and audio versions at your favorite podcast outlet, popular video platforms, and the ShadowDragon website. Subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date on the latest. Thank you for listening.

About this Episode Hosts: Daniel Clemens, ShadowDragon CEO Elliott Anderson, ShadowDragon CTO Nico Dekens, ShadowDragon Director of Intelligence and Innovation Collection (aka Dutch_OSINTguy) This time around the guys get together and talk about breaking down systems, especially as it relates to online data. You might be surprised to discover how social media algorithms are self-radicalizing people, computer experts are not what they used to be, and artificial intelligence could be headed down a destructive path. They visit the past with a look at what open source intelligence was like ten years ago and glimpse what the future might look like with artificial intelligence and Apple Vision Pro goggles. It is all here as three old school open source intelligence investigators once again look at the world through the perspective of analytical intelligence. Reasons we are seeing a recent increase in hacker and breach data activity, likely due to: • School summer break gives kids more free time • Ukraine war personnel returning to computers from battle lines • Hacker message boards feuding and hacking each other Here is what we are seeing when we interview computer job candidates: • Many claim to be an “expert of experts” without the underlying basic knowledge • These days people rarely build computers from parts – Apple security may be part of that • Programmers throw around the term API and then cannot explain an API Nico gives us a glimpse of the evolution of his OSINT work: • Used to manually log into various accounts to make them look active daily • Over time the rise of hundreds of viable platforms required scaling account activity • Now finds that AI and ML results are outdated, biased, or untrue and does not use them for OSINT The guys discuss modern day pros and cons of OSINT data collection: • Elliott finds people trust their niche communities and reveal more in those platforms • Content is moving from text to photos, moving images, and multiple languages, creating challenges • Analysts need to understand various AI programming languages and methodologies to vet the assumptions that produced the results • OSINT data collection processed through artificial intelligence is being questioned and invalidated in courts Social media continues to influence society in unchecked ways: • Social media algorithms have become quicker and more comprehensive in showing content that feeds your interests • People are essentially becoming self-radicalized online through constant reinforcement of their beliefs • Terrorist groups are getting better at planting seeds pushed by algorithms The potential for chaos and societal disruption is increasing: • Overloading systems and organizations are old concepts being applied in new ways through technology • Immigration policies need to address feelings of displacement, accelerated by slow processes and online radicalization • The creation of fake AI-generated content has the potential to push unstable people into violent action The guys continue the in-depth discussion, further exploring challenges and scenarios brought on by technology, especially that crossing into the world of OSINT. This podcast is available in video and audio versions at your favorite podcast outlet, popular video platforms, and the ShadowDragon website. Subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date on the latest. Thank you for listening.

We all have seen a dozen of Spies movies, movies about intelligence, we read books about it, we knew who is James Bond, Mission Impossible and all. 

But the question is still out there, what are spies? What are the intelligence agencies? What are the covert intelligence agencies?

In this episode, I am joined by Amy Zegart, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a professor of political science, past co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, to talk about her new book, Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence.

That book is like the textbook for spies and intelligence 101! Conversation with Amy was so fascinating as we touched upon the topics like, why do we need spies and intelligence, cyber security, cyber-warfare, which apparently we are at war all year round, and we even talked about how a commercial company like Google, Facebook, and others might have more data on us than the government agencies!

Listen to the episode, and tweet at me @jaltucher if you like this episodes!

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Phillip Tarrant is the SOC Technical Manager at Compuquip Cybersecurity who is passionate about many things in life, including his pet chickens, building things both with and without a keyboard, disconnecting in nature, and welcoming people into the field of cybersecurity. In this episode, Phillip joins the No Password Required team to talk about his unique journey into the field of cybersecurity, why chicken diapers are crossing the line, why the Empire is in serious need of some data protection policies, and more. Ernie, Clabby, and Pablo discuss the presidential administration’s new cybersecurity initiatives in response to the SolarWinds attack and what they mean for the future. In the “Positively Cyber” segment, Pablo compares two members of the Mystery Incorporated gang and analyzes whether Scooby-Doo or Velma would be the better fit for our fictitious cybersecurity organization. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn | @NoPasswordPod

In Episode 6, we had an interesting discussion with Aki Peritz, former CIA Analyst. We discussed current events, his experiences, and open source intelligence examples applied by US Intelligence agencies in Iraq and other conflict zones, and how these techniques can be applied to assist US businesses in identifying cyber risks.