OSINT for beginners | Bellingcat | Page 1

lone otter Mar 16, 2026, 10:43 AM

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Does anyone have any suggestions for resources to learn OSINT? Can be books, online tools, courses, etc.

buoyant geyser Mar 16, 2026, 11:16 AM

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Yes please

sonic ember Mar 16, 2026, 12:08 PM

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Everything here is still true except for the part about Twitter

https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2021/11/09/first-steps-to-getting-started-in-open-source-research/

bellingcat

First Steps to Getting Started in Open Source Research - bellingcat

If you’ve an internet connection, free time, and a stubborn commitment to getting the facts right, then you too, can be an open source researcher.

primal dune Mar 16, 2026, 12:40 PM

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The OSINT Curious Project, mentioned in this article, is no longer active but they left all their videos up on YouTube. This is where I got my start in digital OSINT and geolocation. I highly recommend them

rain willow Mar 16, 2026, 5:53 PM

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Oh hell yea

mental forge Mar 16, 2026, 10:33 PM

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I took an OSINT course in college, and our textbook was OSINT Techniques by Michael Bazzell. The first few chapters were on setting up your VM environment for OSINT, which I do not hear discussed that much, but the remaining chapters are tool-related to help you figure out what might be helpful to get your results. It has a few exercises in the book that are mainly focused on people. It might be getting a bit dated in OSINT terms, but it is still valuable for a beginner to spend some time with.

sonic ember Mar 16, 2026, 10:37 PM

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I don't recommend it unless you're doing something very specific (i..e, you're doing cyber threat intel and you're doing forensic analysis on files or somtehing like that)

if you're a beginner and you're just doing geolocations and live event monitoring, you dont need it

mental forge Mar 16, 2026, 10:44 PM

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sonic ember I don't recommend it unless you're doing something very specific (i..e, you're d...

True story. The need for the VM seemed to be to provide the court with a copy so they have something clean to use as evidence, and for anonymity if you were digging around in questionable places, looking into dangerous people, or getting on the dark web for information. Beginners do not need it, but it is there in case anyone wants to check it out.

sonic ember Mar 16, 2026, 10:45 PM

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mental forge True story. The need for the VM seemed to be to provide the court with a copy so...

Exactly

ruby loom Mar 27, 2026, 11:44 PM

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I am currently reading Deep Dive by Rae Baker. I am finding it to be informative and guides you along the process. I have not implemented anything from it however, but have taken copious amounts of notes and ideas from it.

#OSINT for beginners