10 - October 2023
Last updated
Last updated
Welcome to the October issue of the OSINT eZine (#32), this number includes topics such as Ethereum Account Abstraction explained; how ChatGPT can see and hear; reports on Quantum computing and Cyber Threats; how to perform email investigations; a generator of fake messages for social media platforms; a 101 on Tornado Cash; a tool to analyse TikTok’s hashtags... and much more!
Hey Ho, Lets Go!:
This configuration file provides a lot of different tweaks and security modifications in order to improve Firefox's privacy and anti-tracking capabilities.
OpenAI is starting to roll out new voice and image capabilities in ChatGPT. They offer a new, more intuitive type of interface by allowing you to have a voice conversation or show ChatGPT what you are talking about. Voice and image give you more ways to use ChatGPT in your life. Snap a picture of a landmark while traveling and have a live conversation about what is interesting about it. When you are home, snap pictures of your fridge and pantry to figure out what is for dinner (and ask follow up questions for a step-by-step recipe). After dinner, help your child with a math problem by taking a photo, circling the problem set, and having it share hints with both of you... Black Mirror anyone?
Account Abstraction in Ethereum was one of the most awaited functionalities and we are starting to see a lot of different use cases for it, such as recovering your wallet using social media accounts or an email, helping projects, with third-parties paying for fees and much more. Account Abstraction is a complex topic but the following post tries to shine a light on it:
The decentralized nature of blockchain technologies makes it very difficult, almost impossible, to stop some mechanisms. Even after some legal actions, the smart contract for using Tornado Cash will always be in the Ethereum blockchain. The author of the following post shares their opinion regarding freedom of speech and how the Tornado Cash case was conducted. The reason of having on the eZine it is because it explains very well how Tornado Cash works.
ENISA, the EU Agency for Cybersecurity, published a report (seems to be the month of the reports xD) that analyses emerging trends in cyber threats, threat actors, vulnerabilities, and incidents. The report aims to inform decisions, priorities, and recommendations in the field of cybersecurity. It highlights key threats such as ransomware (many successful operations were carried out this year), malware, social engineering, threats against data and availability, information manipulation, and supply chain attacks. The report underscores the rise in cyberattacks, professionalization of threat actors, and the prominence of information manipulation due to the Ukraine conflict. It is important to remark how one of the current and future trends, in the criminal space, relates to disinformation campaigns and the potential of AI-based applications such as Deepfakes and generative images.
Another engaging report from my colleagues at Europol's Innovation Lab. The report, "The Second Quantum Revolution," explores the potential applications of quantum technology in law enforcement, highlighting its benefits and risks. It emphasizes the need for proactive monitoring, research, and adaptation to ensure a safe transition to quantum computing and technologies. The report offers recommendations to inform decision-makers and practitioners, with a focus on preparing for the future, particularly in the area of post-quantum cryptography.
Domains Project, the world's largest Internet domains dataset, is processing petabytes of open source information regarding domains. It can be used in many different ways, from tracing back malicious domains to analyse trends or modus-operandi of known criminal actors. It can also help to create new detection mechanisms or watch lists.
A comprehensive guide on how to investigate email addresses by using different online services, tools and techniques. I enjoy investigating emails a lot, like when I have cases that involve deciphering email headers but when it is time to do some OSINT on emails, I follow a similar methodology to the one shared in the following post:
It seems that one of my passions is to reinvent the wheel... I was faking Telegram messages for one of my trainings and I designed everything in Adobe Photoshop from scratch. Once I had done all that, this website appears in front of me, full of resources to generate fake images for the most common social media platforms such as WhatsApp; Facebook; Instagram; X and so on...
A compilation of different tips and techniques to bypass the login wall of X. It is very challenging to make the login box disappear to have free access to accounts without having a profile logged in. The technique that I mostly use is accessing from different user-agents such as bots or mobile devices ;) .
Watchdogs Against Hate: A Reporter’s Toolbox for Tracking Political Extremism is an article from the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) that provides some insights and techniques on how to investigate hate campaigns. Some of the different resources provided relate to open source tools or OPSEC (Operations/Operational Security).
Cybersquatting is the practice of registering, using or profiting from domain names that are intentionally similar to, or closely mimic, the trademarks or brand names of established organizations or individuals without their permission. It is a practice often used for illegal activities such as phishing campaigns. openSquat is an open source Intelligence (OSINT) security tool to identify cybersquatting threats to specific companies or domains.
It is hard to recommend tools for Telegram because you either build one for your specific case or you deal with partial ones that lack functionalities or are very difficult to use. Telerecon is a tool for Telegram that I personally liked because it presents a lot of different modules and an integrated social network analyser (SNA) from the results obtained.
The tool helps to download posts and videos from TikTok over a specific period for a given set of hahstags. Users can create a growing database of posts for specific hashtags, which can then be used for further hashtag analysis. It uses the TikTokApi Python package to download the posts and uses yt-dlp to download the videos.
Contrary to popular belief, the best way to climb to the top of the ladder is to take others up there with you.
~Maria Eitel, Journalist.
