Eliot Higgins
I think there will be a continued interest from justice and accountability organisations in the use of open source evidence in their work...
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What was your OSINT highlight of 2020?
My highlight of 2020 was getting to broaden my skillset outside of crypto, especially with python work.
What emerging (good or bad) trends did you notice over the past year?
I’ve noticed that OSINT is actually a skillset many people have and use daily. In my opinion, that’s a great thing and should be humbling for the space. I think many of us consider OSINT to be a small group of experts, but there are so many other people out there doing great open-source research who just don’t know about the community or identify with the label.
For example, a huge amount of Gen Zero’s are EXPERT social media sleuths, especially on TikTok, but they wouldn’t necessarily identify as open-source researchers.
Point being, we’re in this small bubble with fancy names like OSINT and SOCINT, but really, we’re not as special as we think. And that’s a good thing. It will make us expand more as a community and grow as researchers.
Any favorite tool or technique that you tried in 2020?
Blockchain is my new favorite blockchain tool. I also finally invested in Hunchly which made my life much easier. On Github, there are so many goodies. The Sherlock Project, Recon-ng, buster. Oh, and tweetdeck, always tweetdeck.
How do you see the OSINT landscape changing in 2021?
I think OSINT is going to continue to further mesh with journalism in a big way. Eventually, I predict the skillset will be compulsory for any reporter.
Anything else you’d like to add about The State of OSINT?
Y’all rock! Keep up the good work.
