A valuable and often underestimated component of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) is Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT). While OSINT refers to insights extracted from publicly available information across a multitude of sources, SOCMINT refers specifically to publicly available information on social media and online communications platforms.
With more people, companies, news sites, governments and politicians interacting on social media, SOCMINT is becoming increasingly valuable for a range of diverse use cases. Unlike OSINT data collected from sources such as news sites and websites, SOCMINT data can reveal entity-centric insights into sentiment and emotion, networks, relationships, real-time accounts of unfolding events and threats across huge volumes of multi-media content.
ACCESSING SOCMINT DATA
While SOCMINT data is infinitely valuable, access is not as straightforward as going to a website and viewing content. There are several key considerations required when accessing SOCMINT data:
WHICH PLATFORMS TO ACCESS & HOW
When beginning an investigation, either manually or through OSINT technologies, there are several questions to address:
- Where should I be looking for threat actors operating online?
- How do I keep up with new and emerging platforms?
- If I do find a threat actor, hashtag, or topic trending on one platform, is that the only platform?
Rapidly identifying accounts and topics of interest across a broad range of target platforms is integral to a successful investigation. Manual processes, while possible, require advanced skills and searching across the data tsunami – a mammoth task that drains valuable analyst resources.
FIVECAST EXPANDS SOCMINT CAPABILITIES
Fivecast’s premier OSINT solution, Fivecast ONYX enables analysts to search across a broad range of supported data sources to identify accounts and topics of interest in real-time for further investigation.
We are continually expanding and enhancing supported data sources in line with industry trends to support a variety of intelligence missions. Leveraging the industry expertise of our Product Development and Tradecraft teams who have years of experience across major intelligence, law enforcement, border security, security vetting and private industry agencies, Fivecast ONYX data sources have been curated to provide the broadest coverage across the Surface, Deep and Dark Web.
Fivecast recently launched a new data source line up, enhancing access to both major and niche platforms that host a large number of threat actors while also adding a number of new platforms which provide key sources of SOCMINT data to deliver actionable insights critical to the mission.
REQUEST OUR DATA SOURCES SOLUTION BRIEF TO LEARN MORE
SECURITY & OBFUSCATION CONSIDERATIONS FOR OSINT
While access may be possible with manual processes, secure access may not. In any investigation, protecting the identities of intelligence teams is critical.
Fivecast ONYX is designed to meet the most stringent compliance requirements, providing the highest level of security via:
- Secure & obfuscated browsing that protects user data & identities.
- Separation of customer applications with data & network segregation between servers.
- Security controls aligned to globally recognized specifications.
COLLECTION OF SOCMINT DATA
Once you’ve gained access to online platforms, the next challenge is collection and assessment. Ensuring mission-critical insights aren’t missed with manual collection and assessment of masses of unstructured multi-media data and meta-data is far beyond human scale. Effective collection for complex investigations requires a user-configurable, automated and persistent solution that quickly captures mission-specific data.
With Fivecast ONYX, proportionate collection enables customers to accurately target real-time data that is of direct relevance to their missions, without drawing in masses of unrelated ‘noise’ often associated with a “dragnet” approach. The integrity of investigations is assured with crucial data securely retained even if deleted by the subject of interest or disabled by the platform.
OSINT & SOCMINT DATA ASSESSMENT
Although the entity-centric nature of SOCMINT data holds real value, being able to assess this alongside OSINT data and internal holdings of classified or unclassified data is integral to understanding threats and connections between disparate data sources.
Fivecast ONYX enables a data fusion solution with users able to analyze SOCMINT data alongside OSINT data and import internal holdings for further analysis. This fusion of data delivers a rich intelligence picture with the ability to visualize connections and risks across multiple data sources. Further insights are surfaced via a powerful AI-enabled risk detection framework, empowering analysts to rapidly surface mission-specific threats hidden in masses of multi-media data.
Automated and ongoing OSINT and SOCMINT data collection capabilities combined with the power of AI and ML to rapidly filter data and uncover specific risks relevant to your mission is an increasingly important piece of the intelligence puzzle.
To understand Fivecast OSINT & SOCMINT data collection and analysis capabilities and how they can impact your missions, request a demo from our industry experienced Tradecraft team.
