Open source intelligence and cybersecurity

There are generally two common use cases for how open source intelligence is used for cybersecurity.

1. Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing

Security professionals use open source intelligence to identify potential weaknesses in friendly networks so they can be remediated before they are exploited by threat actors. Common weaknesses include:

a. Accidental disclosure of sensitive information, for example via social media

b. Open ports or insecure internet connection devices

c. Unpatched software, such as sites running older versions of common CMS products

d. Leaked or exposed assets, such as proprietary code on a paster

2. Identify External Threats

The Internet is an excellent source of insight into an organization's most pressing threats. From identifying which new vulnerabilities are being actively exploited to intercepting the "chatter" of threat actors about upcoming attacks, open source intelligence enables security professionals to prioritize their time and resources to address the most important threats of today.

The dark side of open source intelligence

If certain intelligence is readily available to intelligence analysts, it is also available to threat actors.

Threat actors use open source intelligence tools and techniques to identify potential targets and exploit weaknesses in targeted networks. Once a vulnerability is identified, exploiting it and achieving various malicious goals is usually a very quick and easy process. This is also the main reason why so many companies are hacked every year. This is not because threat groups are particularly interested in them, but because vulnerabilities in their network or website architecture can be found using simple open source intelligence techniques. In short, they are easy targets.

Open source intelligence is not only capable of technical attacks on IT systems and networks. Threat actors also seek information about individuals and organizations that can be used to inform sophisticated social engineering campaigns using phishing (email, phone, or voicemail) and SMiShing (SMS). Often, seemingly innocuous information shared via social media can be used to develop highly convincing social engineering campaigns that are used to trick well-intentioned users into damaging their organization's network or assets.

This is why using open source intelligence for security purposes is so important. It gives you an opportunity to discover and fix weaknesses in your organization's network and remove sensitive information before threat actors use the same tools and techniques to exploit them.