OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE 
TOOLS AND RESOURCES HANDBOOK 
0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aleksandra Bielska 
Natalie Anderson, Vytenis Benetis, Cristina Viehman 
 
OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE  
TOOLS AND RESOURCES HANDBOOK 
 
 
2018 
 
 
 
 
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Foreword 
 
I am delighted to share the latest version of our OSINT Tools and Resources Handbook. This 
version is almost three times the size of the last public release in 2016. It reflects the changing 
intelligence needs of our clients in both the public and private sector, as well as the many 
areas we have been active in over the past two years.  
 
No list of OSINT tools is perfect, nor is it likely to be complete. Indeed, such is the pace of 
change that by the time you read this document some of our suggestions may have been 
surpassed  or  have  ceased  to  exist.  Regrettably,  today's  tool  might  also  be  tomorrow's 
vulnerability. 
 
To counter the first problem, we have included a list of toolkits provided by other OSINT 
practitioners  working  to  improve  the  state-of-the-art.  To  manage  the  second,  we 
recommend that all tools be tested in a secure computing environment whenever possible.  
 
Work on the next iteration of the Handbook has already begun. For now, I hope this version 
contributes  to  improving  your  efficiency  and  effectiveness  as  a  researcher,  analyst, 
investigator or general OSINT practitioner. Please feel free to share it with your colleagues. 
To encourage its broadest possible dissemination, we are publishing the Handbook under a 
Creative Commons CC BY License. 
 
I would like to end by thanking my colleagues at i-intelligence for their efforts in compiling 
the Handbook. Particular credit is due to Aleksandra Bielska who led the project and has 
coordinated the inputs from different contributors. I am also indebted to Natalie Anderson 
of Mercyhurst University for her excellent research and for the time spent checking these 
links. Kris Wheaton and Brad Gleason from Mercyhurst’s Department of Intelligence Studies 
are also thanked for their support.  
 
Finally,  I  would  like  to  thank  our  community  of  followers  on  Twitter  for  sharing  their 
recommendations with us, as well as the many practitioners who have suggested new tools 
to us while participating in our courses.   
 
Chris Pallaris 
Director, i-intelligence GmbH 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Table of Contents 
 
Foreword .............................................................................................................................. 2 
Search ................................................................................................................................... 9 
General Search.................................................................................................................. 9 
Meta Search .................................................................................................................... 11 
Visual Search and Clustering Search Engines .................................................................. 12 
National Search Engines ................................................................................................. 13 
Code Search ................................................................................................................... 16 
FTP Search ...................................................................................................................... 17 
Similar Sites Search ......................................................................................................... 18 
IoT Search Engines .......................................................................................................... 19 
Kids-Friendly Search Engines .......................................................................................... 20 
Other Specialty Search Engines ...................................................................................... 21 
Other Search Engines and Tools ..................................................................................... 23 
Social Media ....................................................................................................................... 25 
Major Social Networks .................................................................................................... 25 
Real-Time Search, Social Media Search, and General Social Media Tools ...................... 27 
Social Media Tools: Twitter ............................................................................................. 30 
Social Media Tools: Facebook ........................................................................................ 35 
Social Media Tools: Google+ .......................................................................................... 37 
Social Media Tools: Instagram ........................................................................................ 38 
Social Media Tools: Pinterest .......................................................................................... 40 
Social Media Tools: Reddit ............................................................................................. 41 
Social Media Tools: VKontakte ....................................................................................... 43 
Social Media Tools: Tumblr ............................................................................................. 44 
Social Media Tools: LinkedIn ........................................................................................... 45 
Social Media Tools: Snapchat ......................................................................................... 46 
Social Media Tools: WhatsApp ....................................................................................... 47 
Social Media Tools: Skype .............................................................................................. 48 
Social Media Tools: Telegram ......................................................................................... 49 
Other Instant Messaging and Chat Tools ........................................................................ 50 
Dating Apps .................................................................................................................... 51 
Blogs, Forums, Discussion Boards, and Q&A Sites ............................................................. 52 
Blog Search ..................................................................................................................... 52 
 
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Forums and Discussion Boards Search ............................................................................ 53 
Q&A Sites ....................................................................................................................... 54 
People Investigations ......................................................................................................... 55 
Main People Search Tools and Engines .......................................................................... 55 
Address & Contact Information Search ........................................................................... 58 
Public Records ................................................................................................................ 60 
Ancestry Research ........................................................................................................... 62 
Phone Search .................................................................................................................. 63 
E-mail Search / E-mail Check .......................................................................................... 66 
Username Check ............................................................................................................. 70 
CV and Resume Search ................................................................................................... 71 
Expert Search .................................................................................................................. 72 
Salary Search ................................................................................................................... 74 
Creating a Sock Puppet .................................................................................................. 76 
Company Research ............................................................................................................. 77 
Main Company Search Tools and Engines ...................................................................... 77 
Company Research (EU) .................................................................................................. 80 
Company Research (UK).................................................................................................. 81 
Company Research (US) .................................................................................................. 84 
Company Research (Switzerland) .................................................................................... 86 
Company Research (Middle East) ................................................................................... 87 
Company Research (Africa) ............................................................................................. 88 
Company Research (China) ............................................................................................. 90 
Business Registers (EU + EFTA) ...................................................................................... 91 
Business Registers (US) ................................................................................................... 93 
Business Registers (Other) .............................................................................................. 95 
Business Registers Lists and Directories .......................................................................... 97 
Job Search Resources ..................................................................................................... 99 
Company Reviews ......................................................................................................... 101 
Patent Research ............................................................................................................ 102 
Tenders ......................................................................................................................... 104 
Charity, NGO, and Nonprofit Research ........................................................................ 106 
Real Estate Research ........................................................................................................ 108 
Real Estate Research ..................................................................................................... 108 
Online Marketplaces......................................................................................................... 111 
Classifieds and Online Marketplaces ............................................................................ 111 
Cryptocurrencies and Financial Information ..................................................................... 114 
Cryptocurrencies ........................................................................................................... 114 
 
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Financial Information ..................................................................................................... 115 
Legal Research ................................................................................................................. 116 
Legal Research Reources and Tools .............................................................................. 116 
Researching Countries ...................................................................................................... 119 
Country Profiles ............................................................................................................ 119 
Researching Terrorism, Crime, and Cybersecurity ............................................................ 120 
Researching Terrorism .................................................................................................. 120 
Researching Crime ........................................................................................................ 122 
Researching Cybersecurity ............................................................................................ 123 
Researching Stolen Items ................................................................................................. 125 
Researching Stolen Items .............................................................................................. 125 
Researching Human Trafficking ........................................................................................ 127 
Researching Human Trafficking ..................................................................................... 127 
Transportation .................................................................................................................. 131 
Airplanes ....................................................................................................................... 131 
Drones .......................................................................................................................... 133 
Cars ............................................................................................................................... 135 
Railways ........................................................................................................................ 137 
Public Transport ............................................................................................................ 141 
Ships ............................................................................................................................. 144 
Container and Cargo Tracking ...................................................................................... 146 
Web Intelligence .............................................................................................................. 147 
Domain and IP Research, Websites Analysis ................................................................. 147 
Web History and Website Capture ............................................................................... 155 
Wifi Search .................................................................................................................... 157 
Researching Dark Web ..................................................................................................... 158 
Researching Dark Web.................................................................................................. 158 
Events Search ................................................................................................................... 160 
Events Search ................................................................................................................ 160 
Working with Images ........................................................................................................ 161 
Image Search and Reverse Image Search ..................................................................... 161 
Image Analysis .............................................................................................................. 164 
Stock Images ................................................................................................................. 167 
Image and Photo Editing .............................................................................................. 169 
OCR Tools ..................................................................................................................... 171 
Working with Videos ........................................................................................................ 172 
 
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Video Search and Reverse Video Search ....................................................................... 172 
Live Streaming and Webcams ....................................................................................... 174 
Other Video Tools ......................................................................................................... 176 
Video Editors ................................................................................................................ 179 
Working with Audio .......................................................................................................... 181 
Radio ............................................................................................................................. 181 
Podcasts ........................................................................................................................ 183 
Other Audio Tools ........................................................................................................ 185 
Working with Documents ................................................................................................. 186 
Documents and Slides Search ....................................................................................... 186 
Pastebins ....................................................................................................................... 188 
Document and Reference Management ....................................................................... 189 
PDF Management ......................................................................................................... 190 
Working with Document Metadata ............................................................................... 191 
Academic Resources and Grey Literature ......................................................................... 192 
Academic and Grey Literature Research Tools ............................................................. 192 
Lectures, Talks, Conference Presentations, Speeches ...................................................... 196 
Lectures, Talks, Conference Presentations, Speeches ................................................... 196 
Books and Reading ........................................................................................................... 198 
Books Search and Reading Tools .................................................................................. 198 
Working with Data and Statistics ...................................................................................... 201 
Data and Statistics ........................................................................................................ 201 
Infographics and Data Visualization .............................................................................. 206 
Dashboard Tools ........................................................................................................... 209 
Data Analysis................................................................................................................. 210 
Data Scrapers ................................................................................................................ 212 
Working with News .......................................................................................................... 214 
News Sources ............................................................................................................... 214 
News Digest and Discovery Tools ................................................................................. 216 
Fact Checking ............................................................................................................... 217 
Working with Foreign Language Content ........................................................................ 219 
Translation Tools ........................................................................................................... 219 
Web Monitoring ............................................................................................................... 222 
RSS Readers .................................................................................................................. 222 
Other RSS Tools ............................................................................................................ 224 
Website Monitoring ...................................................................................................... 225 
Social Media Monitoring ............................................................................................... 226 
 
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Other Monitoring Tools ................................................................................................ 227 
Data Collation................................................................................................................... 228 
Bookmarking ................................................................................................................. 228 
Notetaking .................................................................................................................... 231 
Annotation and Highlighting......................................................................................... 233 
Screenshot and Screen Capture Tools .......................................................................... 234 
Browsing and Browsers .................................................................................................... 236 
Browsers ....................................................................................................................... 236 
Startpages ..................................................................................................................... 238 
Customising New Tab ................................................................................................... 239 
Tab Management .......................................................................................................... 241 
Extension Managers ...................................................................................................... 243 
Offline Browsing ........................................................................................................... 244 
Browsing History ........................................................................................................... 245 
Other Browsing Tools ................................................................................................... 246 
Writing and Dissemination ............................................................................................... 247 
Writing and Office Tools ............................................................................................... 247 
Slideshow and Presentation Tools ................................................................................ 249 
Digital Publishing .......................................................................................................... 251 
Newsletter Tools ........................................................................................................... 252 
Digital Storytelling ........................................................................................................ 253 
Wikis, Websites, and Web Apps ....................................................................................... 255 
Wikis ............................................................................................................................. 255 
Website Builders ........................................................................................................... 256 
App Builders ................................................................................................................. 258 
Mind Mapping, Concept Mapping and Idea Generation ................................................. 259 
Mind Mapping, Concept Mapping and Idea Generation Tools .................................... 259 
Productivity and File Management ................................................................................... 261 
Main Work Management and Productivity Tools .......................................................... 261 
E-mail Management ...................................................................................................... 264 
Cloud Storage and File Sharing .................................................................................... 266 
Web Automation .......................................................................................................... 268 
Collaboration and Communication ................................................................................... 269 
Collaboration and Project Management ....................................................................... 269 
Communication Tools ................................................................................................... 273 
Other Utility Tools ............................................................................................................ 276 
File Converters .............................................................................................................. 276 
 
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