Open source intelligence investigation of Pinterest

Pinterest is an American social networking site with millions of users worldwide. The company, which was founded in 2010 and is listed on the stock exchange, is known for its digital bulletin board function: users can pin images online (“pins”) on their own bulletin boards (“boards”). The purpose of this is that users can view these pins again at a later time. Users can also pin pins from each other or work together on a pin board.

What information can you get from Pinterest?

A Pinterest account may contain the following information, among other things:

Users can enter a name and username on Pinterest. Unlike the account name, a username on Pinterest is unique. Account names and especially usernames can be very valuable points for open source intelligence investigations. For example, usernames often contain interesting data such as birth data, full names or middle names or even a place of residence or place of birth.

In addition, usernames can be useful for mapping other accounts: many people also use a username for other websites and social media platforms. Of course, the more unique a user name is, the more likely it is that the same user name on another platform belongs to the same person.