In this blog, learn about the Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) capabilities that are key to overcoming big data volume and accessibility challenges faced by analysts and intelligence organizations.
There are some key big data challenges that law enforcement, national security, defense, and intelligence organizations face as they strive to identify risks and protect communities. One of these is the sheer volume of data available – we are all aware of the amount of data we as individuals have access to in our daily lives – this data volume is exponentially higher for analysts who are conducting complex investigations across open-source platforms. Another key challenge is data accessibility – particularly data on the Dark Web which is an increasingly essential data source for a broad cross-section of intelligence initiatives. The complexity, diversity, and anonymity of Dark Web data makes it particularly difficult for law enforcement to uncover and analyze relevant data points. A recent RAND Corporation Research Report highlighted the specific needs law enforcement has for conducting criminal investigations involving evidence on the Dark Web.
*“When crime moves online, agencies need to be able to follow leads and conduct investigations seamlessly between the physical and digital worlds.”
RAND Corporation
Challenge to Opportunity
Data volume and data accessibility challenges make it difficult for analysts to zero in on the critical data insights they need to efficiently initiate and progress investigations. However, specific open-source intelligence capabilities that support both breadth in terms of data collection and deep analytical capabilities is a means to achieve this. The latest release of Fivecast ONYX includes both automated account discovery and Dark Web monitoring to help intelligence organizations identify and analyze threats faster across an increasingly diverse data landscape.
Fivecast ONYX is a world-leading digital intelligence solution, delivering national security and law enforcement agencies with the capability to discover, analyze and investigate masses of digital data, gaining critical insights that are used to protect our communities.
Read more here.
Automated Account Discovery
Automated account discovery enables broad data collection across the Surface Web, facilitating fast identification of targets or persons of interest (POI) to quickly kick off investigations. Integration to market-leading people search engines complements an advanced Google search feature to eliminate the manual effort of searching for account handles across a huge range of data sources. Analyst resources are freed up and the overall efficiency and speed of investigations is improved dramatically. Delivering both broad discovery and targeted data collection across the Surface, Deep, and Dark Web gives intelligence organizations a broad data set which, when combined with AI-enabled risk analysis capabilities, delivers valuable and actionable insights for analysts.
Dark Web Monitoring
Dark Web monitoring enables analysts to gain visibility into areas not previously accessible without time-consuming manual interventions and specialist training. With an API integration to a broad cross-section of Dark Web data sources and a common search interface, the process of searching Dark Web data is simplified and avoids the cost of specialist training. AI-enabled risk analysis can then be deployed to extract meaningful information from the Dark Web data, uncovering networks, relationships, trends, and progressions in threats. The targeted data collection of Fivecast ONYX enables the Dark Web data to be correlated with other data sources from the Surface and Deep Web to paint a more complete picture of any potential threats.
Going Broad and Deep
Automated account discovery and Dark Web monitoring are just two ways of helping analysts overcome the data volume and data accessibility challenges to uncover those critical insights that can be key to investigations. An important benefit is increasing the intelligence picture by enabling automated, continuous, and repeatable risk assessments while reducing the analyst resources required to conduct and conclude intelligence investigations successfully.
Stay tuned to our blog for more news on upcoming releases and new features in Fivecast ONYX.
* Goodison, Sean E., Dulani Woods, Jeremy D. Barnum, Adam R. Kemerer, and Brian A. Jackson, Identifying Law Enforcement Needs for Conducting Criminal Intelligence Investigations Involving Evidence on the Dark Web. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2019.
