A Note From Our President & Founder Jim Garrettson
Open source intelligence (OSINT), as described in a previous Weekly Round Up column, is an incredibly powerful research methodology that is already being used by forward looking companies and agencies. In the last column I examined the opportunities presented by utilizing OSINT gathering techniques, as well as the potential roadblocks, such as irrelevant information being captured, one may experience when gathering open source intelligence. This week, I would like to expand on the benefits and opportunities provided by utilizing OSINT.
As a recap, OSINT is a term used to refer to data or information that is overtly gathered from publicly available sources and used in an intelligence context. Publicly available information can be anything ranging from academic journals and newspapers to blogs and social media posts. When these publicly available pieces of information are used in an intelligence gathering context, it is considered OSINT.
OSINT is not a new concept, but recent advances in information technology have enabled more organizations, agencies and individuals to project their voices, creating a spike in the amount of open source information available. The increased amount of information and perspectives shared is strengthening OSINT’s capability to address new and more complex intelligence-related questions.
OSINT provides an opportunity to discover unvarnished truths within a sea of big data. However, finding those truths is no simple undertaking, especially given the explosive rate of growth in data produced each day. Yet, the ever-growing amount of data can be turned into an advantage for the OSINT practitioner. With the exponential increase in data comes a myriad of different perspectives on just about any topic, which can be used to obtain a bird’s eye view.
For the GovCon industry, this means that OSINT can greatly assist organizations, companies and government agencies in creating holistic projections of the current and future initiatives and policies. Instead of being constrained by a single narrative, OSINT practitioners are able to distill the information into actionable intelligence and make timely decisions based on the vast mosaic of differing perceptions that open source intelligence provides. Furthermore, the all-encompassing net cast by OSINT can be used as a means of monitoring trends and forecasting where those trends may lead.
The profound capabilities of OSINT are built upon the foundations of its highly versatile nature: OSINT is not limited to a single industry, field or subject; it can be integrated into any type of organization and can be adapted to capture any type of information.
If your organization is interested in learning more about OSINT and leveraging its capabilities, consider the ArchIntel Daily Intelligence Briefing. The ArchIntel Daily Intelligence Briefing is a completely customized, human-intelligence powered daily briefing service built upon a sophisticated open source information gathering platform. Delivering only the most relevant and actionable intelligence to you and your team, the ArchIntel Daily Intelligence Briefing can be customized to deliver everything from industry trend monitoring to competitive intelligence and situational awareness.
THIS WEEK’S TOP NEWS STORIES
Weekly Contract Awards This week’s top GovCon contract awards. Cyber Apex Solutions, BAE, DynCorp International, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, HII-Honeywell, Jacobs Engineering Group & more.
Hortonworks Makes New Leadership Appointments in Line With Growth Strategy
Hortonworks has appointed Chief Financial Officer Scott Davidson and Senior Vice President Scott Reasoner as well as hired Hewlett Packard Enterprise software business Chief Operating Officer Alan Fudge to assume new leadership roles.
NASA Issues RFP for $145M HQ IT Support Services III Contract
NASA has released a request for proposals for a potential five-year, $145 million contract to provide information technology services to all mission directorates and support offices at the agency’s headquarters.
7 Firms Land Spots on $115M EPA IT Solutions-Business Info Strategic Support III IDIQ
The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded seven companies positions on a potential five-year, $115 million contract that covers information technology support services to EPA’s environmental information, national program, administrative, field and regional offices.
Flashpoint has purchased open-source intelligence provider Echosec Systems for an undisclosed sum to broaden its OSINT capabilities to deliver geopolitical risk assessments, situational awareness, misinformation identification, counterterrorism and crisis response support to national security, public safety and commercial safety customers. Echosec is headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, and provides OSINT and publicly available information, including
TYSONS CORNER, VA, Dec. 1, 2021 — BlueHalo seeks to grow its cyber and signal intelligence portfolio and provide intelligence community customers with open-source intelligence offerings through its acquisition of Asymmetrik, a Maryland-based software and technology developer, ExecutiveBiz reported Nov. 23. “The combination of Asymmetrik’s and BlueHalo’s deep technical capabilities, cultures of excellence, and focus
Parsons (NYSE: PSN) has received a $618 million task order from the General Services Administration to provide system engineering, research and development, prototyping, training and open-source intelligence capabilities needed for enhancing the cyber and intelligence technologies of the intelligence community. The professional services are in support of IC systems used for command, control, computers, communications,
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