Chris Pallaris: MindMap & Table of Indirect Open Sources

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Chris Pallaris

Taxonomy of OSINT Sources

A detailed index of sources and data types to support source awareness and intelligence collection.

What constitutes an open source of intelligence? How many of these sources do you consult in the course of your work? And what format do they take? i-intelligence has put together a Taxonomy of OSINT Sources to support source awareness, intelligence collection and general information literacy.

Aleksandra Bielska

i-intelligence, 7 December 2011

These questions are not without merit. They inevitably pop up in the course of a seminar or consulting assignment. To help answer them, the i-intelligence team has pulled together a “Taxonomy of OSINT Sources”. The taxonomy is intended to serve a number of purposes:

– As a teaching tool to support our students and seminar participants

– As a source guide for intelligence practitioners (whether publicly or privately employed)

– As an aid to the various OSINT-related research projects we are working on

In addition to the above, our objective is to grow the source awareness of intelligence practitioners. In any intelligence endeavour, source awareness is more than half the rent.  Knowing where to get the data from, and what format it takes, is critical to one’s success. If we fail to do so, it’s for one of a number of reasons:

1. We are unfamiliar with a source and therefore oblivious to its intelligence value

2. We are familiar with a sources but have never used it for intelligence purposes

3. We are familiar with a source and recognise its utility but have little or no experience or training in its effective exploitation

4. We are creatures of habit, relying on the same sources of data regardless of their utility or the opportunities offered by others.

If there’s one thing we can be certain of (and which we will do our level best to ignore), it’s that the variety of sources will continue to proliferate and will continue to remain underemployed. Indeed, the events of the past decade suggests that the intelligence potential of every new source of information is routinely ignored until  failure prompts us to re-evaluate our position (ref: YouTube and the Iraq insurgency, Twitter and the Arab Spring, etc.).

Familiarising ourselves with the many different sources and data types us (whether free or premium, on or offline, man or machine made) is much more than an academic exercise.

The Taxonomy of OSINT Sources lists as many types and sources of data as we could think of. It doesn’t claim to be exhaustive (no taxonomy ever is). Rather, it reflects those sources that we are either familiar with or use on behalf of our clients.

The document here is a first draft. We welcome your help in extending it further. If you know of any sources that could be added or further refined, or if you would like to propose structural changes to the document, do let us know. A second draft will be published in the new year based on your input and our continued research.

Table and MindMap Link

. Printed Sources
. Academic Research
. Abstracts
. Bibliographies
. Calls for Papers
. Calls for Research
. Casebooks
. Case Studies
. Comparative Studies
. Compendia
. Conference Papers
. Conference Proceedings
. Course Catalogues
. Curricula
. Discussion Papers
. Dissertations and Thesis
. Drafts
. Evaluation Studies
. Glossaries
. Graduate Theses and Disertations
. Grant Applications
. Grant Proposals
. Indexes
. Journal Articles
. Journals
. Manuscripts
. MBA Research Projects
. Meta-Analysis
. Multicenter Studies
. Outlines
. Preprints
. Progress Reports
. Reading Lists
. Research Memoranda
. Research Notes
. Research Papers
. Research Proposals
. Research Registers
. Research Reports
. Reviews
. Simple Bibliographies and Annotated Bibliographies
. Staff Profiles
. Student Profiles
. Teacher Profiles
. Undergraduate Research Essays
. Undergraduate Theses
. Advertisements
. Bakruptcy Announcements
. Billboards
. Booklets
. Brochures
. Flyers
. Trifolds
. Job Advertisements
. Kiosks
. Leaflets and Folders
. Newspaper Advertisements
. Magazine Adevrtisements
. Product and Services Catalogues
. Tender Announcements
. Tradeshow Materials
. Bibliographies and Library Catalogues
. Bills
. Books
. Almanacs
. Annals
. Anthologies
. Atlases
. Autobiographies
. Biographies
. Calendars
. Casebooks
. Chronicles
. Compendia
. Diaries
. Dictionaries
. Abbreviations Dictionaries
. Citation Dictionaries
. Collocations Dictionaries
. Constructions Dictionaries
. Dialect Dictionaries
. Dictionary of Jargon/Slang
. Dictionary of Neologisms
. Dictionary of Synonyms
. Dictionary of Word Families
. Frequency Dictionaries (textual frequencies of words)
. General Dictionaries
. Historical and Etymological Dictionaries
. Insult Dictionary
. Linguistic Dictionaries
. Bilingual Dictionaries
. Monolingual Dictionaries
. Multilingual Dictionaries
. Loan Word/Foreign Word Dictionary
. Mini Dictionaries
. Name Dictionary
. Orthographic Dictionaries
. Phraseological Dictionaries: phrases, idioms, familiar sayings
. Picture Dictionary
. Pocket Dictionaries
. Pronunciation Dictionaries
. Proverb Dictionaries
. Retrogade Dictionary
. Rhyming Dictionaries
. Sociolect dictionary (e.g. colloquial language, adolescent language …)
. Technical Dictionaries
. Encyclopedias
. Bibliographic Encyclopedias
. General Encyclopedias
. Subject-Specific Encyclopedias
. Festschrift
. Glossaries
. Histories
. Memoirs
. Non-fiction Books
. Novels
. Personal Narratives
. Reference Literature
. Style Manuals
. Textbooks
. Thesauruses
. Travel Guides
. Yearbooks
. Business Documents
. Annual Reports
. Booklets
. Brochures
. Business Cards
. Company Journals
. Competitor Assessments
. Contract Awards and Tender Descriptions
. Employee Agreements
. Evaluation Studies
. Grant Applications
. Grant Proposals
. Investor Newsletters
. Investor Reports
. Market Research
. Memos
. Mission and Value Statements
. Legal Documents
. Official Fillings
. Bankruptcy Fillings
. Company Reports
. Environmental Regulations-related Fillings
. Land Ownership Feelings
. Notary Fillings
. Press Releases
. Securities Fillings
. Tax Fillings
. Vessels and Aircraft Registries
. Position Papers
. Price Lists
. Product Catalogues
. Progress Reports
. Quaterly Reports
. Recommendations
. Research Reports
. Risk Analyses
. Startegy Outlines
. Surveys/Polls
. Charts
. Collected Correspondence
. Collected Works
. Directories
. Gazetteers
. Profession-specific Directories
. Sybject-specific Directories
. White Pages
. Who's Whos
. Yellow Pages
. Educational Materials
. Casebooks
. Educational Case Studies
. Examination Papers
. Examination Questions
. Fact Sheets
. Informational Leaflets and Folders
. Lecture Notes
. Lectures
. Problems and Exercises
. Student Papers/Essays
. Syllabuses
. Textbooks
. Electoral Registers
. Ephemera
. Essays
. Event Programs and Agendas
. Government Documents
. Acts
. Administrative Rules and Regulations
. Budget Documents
. Census Records
. Constitution
. Evaluation Studies
. Executive Orders
. Fact Sheets
. Government Gazette
. Grant Applications
. Grant Proposals
. Green Papers
. Handbooks and Manuals
. Hearings and Testimony Transcripts
. Investigation Reports
. Judicial Documents
. Legal Documents
. Legislation (bills, laws, statutes, ordinances, government regulations, etc.)
. Manuscripts
. Maps and Atlases
. Meeting Minutes
. Multicenter Studies
. Published Letters and Other Correspondence
. Organizational Statutes
. Pamphlets
. Parliamentary / Congressional Committee Findings and Reports
. Patents and Trademarks
. Periodical Reports
. Policy Briefs
. Policy Documents
. Political Manifestos
. Political Pamphlets
. Political Posters
. Policy Reports
. Policy Reviews
. Policy Statements
. Policy Strategies
. Press Briefs
. Press Releases
. Progress Reports
. Propaganda Materials
. Research Reports
. Speeches
. Standards, Norms and Specifications
. Statements
. Statistical Publications
. Statutes
. Tender Announcements
. Threat Assessments
. Treaties
. White Papers
. Voting Records
. Grey Literature
. Activity Reports
. Announcements
. Annals
. Annual Reports
. Annuals
. Bank Reports
. Business Reports
. Bibliographies
. Book Catalogues
. Booklets
. Brochures
. Bulletin Boards
. Bulletins
. Call for Papers
. Casebooks
. Case Studies
. Catalogues
. Chronicles
. Codebooks
. Conference Papers
. Conference Posters
. Conference Proceedings
. Committee Reports
. Company Journals
. Compliance Reports
. Country Profiles
. Course Materials
. Databases
. Datasheets
. Data Sets
. Deposited Papers
. Directories
. Discussion Papers
. Dispatches
. Dissertations and Thesis
. Draft Reports
. Government Legislation
. Government Reports
. E-Prints
. E-Texts
. Essays
. ETD (Electronic Theses and Dissertations)
. Exchange Agreements
. Fact Sheets
. Feasibility Studies
. Flyers
. Folders
. Glossaries
. Green Papers
. Guidebooks
. Handbooks
. House Journals
. Image Directories
. Inaugural Lectures
. Indexes
. Instruction Manuals
. Intelligence Reports
. Internal reports
. Internet Reviews
. Interviews
. Journals
. Leaflets
. Lectures
. Legal Documents
. Legislation
. Manuals
. Manuscripts
. Memoranda
. Meta-Analysis
. Military Reports
. Multicenter Studies
. Newsgroups
. Newsletters
. NGO Reports
. Notebooks
. Official Reports
. Pamphlets
. Patents
. Patent Applications
. Policy Briefs
. Policy Documents
. Policy Reports
. Policy Statements
. Posters
. Précis Articles
. Preprints
. Press Releases
. Proceedings
. Product Data
. Programs
. Progress Reports
. Project Deliverables
. Project Information Documents (PID)
. Project Proposals
. Project Work Packages
. Project Work Programmes
. Promotional Offers
. Questionnaires
. Readers
. Registres
. Regulatory Reports
. Reprints
. Research Memoranda
. Research Notes
. Research Proposals
. Research Registers
. Research Reports
. Reviews
. Product Reviews
. Service Reviews
. Risk Analyses
. Satellite Data
. Scientific Protocols
. Scientific Visualizations
. Show Cards
. Site Reports
. Software
. Specifications
. Speeches
. Standards
. State of the Art Reviews
. Statistical Surveys
. Statistics
. Stockbroker Reports
. Supplements
. Survey Results
. Syllabi
. Technical Reports
. Website Reviews
. White Books
. White Papers
. Working Documents
. Working Papers
. Vulnerability Studies
. Yearbooks
. Images
. Advertising Images
. Architectural Drawings
. Blueprints
. Book Illustrations
. Caricatures
. Cartoons/Comics
. Drawings
. Painitings
. Photos
. Pictorial Works
. Posters
. Schematics
. Journals
. Article Abstracts
. Journal Articles
. Company Internal Journals
. Grey Journals
. Industry Journals
. In-house Journals
. Journals of Opinion and Commentary
. Non-commercial Journals
. Professional Journals
. Scholarly Journals
. Synopsis Journals
. Legal Documents
. Legal Cases
. Legal Rulings / Judgements
. Legal Proceedings
. Legal Statements / Testimony / Affidavits
. Newsletters
. Promotional Newsletters
. Customer Newsletters
. Marketing Newsletters
. Relationship Newsletters
. Alumni Newsletters
. Church Newsletters
. Club Newsletters
. Employee Newsletters
. Expert Newsletters
. Military OSINT Resources
. Military histories / Regimental histories
. Orders of battles
. Unit citations / Individual citations
. Weapon features
. Periodicals
. Annals
. Journals
. Newspapers
. Daily
. Weekly
. Biweekly
. Monthly
. Local
. Regional
. National
. International
. Customized
. Tabloids
. Broadsheets
. Popular Magazines
. Analysis and Opinion Magazine
. Art Magazines
. Automotive Magazines
. Culinary Magazines
. DIY Magazines
. Fashion Magazines
. Financial/Business/Economic Magazines
. General Interest Magazines
. Hobby Magazines
. Home and Design Magazines
. Kids Magazine
. Man's Magazines
. Medicine, Health and Beauty Magazines
. News Magazines
. Political magazines
. Sensational Magazines
. Scholarly Magazines
. Sport Magazines
. Student Magazines
. Teen Magazines
. Travel Magazines
. Woman's Magazines
. Trade Magazines
. Personal Information Records
. Biobibliographies
. Biographies
. Birth, Death and Marriage Records
. Criminal Records
. CVs, Resumes
. Diplomas and Certificates
. Maps
. Concept Maps/Mind Maps
. Satellite Maps
. Political Maps
. Terrain Maps
. Oceanic Maps
. Street Maps
. Transport Maps (metro maps, etc)
. Microfiche
. Monographs
. Newspapers
. Advertisements
. Analysis & Opinion Articles
. Columns
. Commentary Articles
. Editorials
. General Newspaper Articles
. Interviews
. Letters to Editor
. News Articles
. Reviews
. Private Papers and Collections
. Product Packaging
. Prospectuses
. Religious Publications
. Handouts
. Informational Leaflets and Folders
. Religious Events Programs
. Sacred Texts
. Sermons
. Republished Papers, Articles, Books
. Reviews
. Self-Publications
. Surveys/Polls Results/Overviews
. Transcripts
. Court Cases
. Debates
. Hearings and Testimonies
. Meeting Minutes
. Press Conferences
. Speeches
. Treaties and Conventions
. Recorded Sources
. Audio Casettes
. Blue Ray
. CDs (Audio)
. CDs (Recorded Data)
. Cinema
. DVDs (Audio / Visual)
. DVDs (Recorded Data)
. Video Casettes
. Broadcast Sources
. Television Broadcasts (Analogue / Digital)
. Advertisements
. Documentary and Factual Films
. Firerside Chats
. Interviews
. Live Coverage
. News Magazines
. Online TV
. Other Non-Entertainment Programs
. Public-Service Announcements
. Talk Shows
. Television News
. Travel or Holiday Programs
. Weather Forecast
. Radio Broadcasts (Analgoue / Digital)
. Advertisements
. Amateur Radio Transmissions
. Call-in Radio Programs
. CB Radio
. Documentary and Factual Radio Programs
. Fireside Chats
. Interviews
. Live Coverage
. Online Radio
. Other Non-Entertainment Programs
. Public-Service Announcements
. Radio News
. Road Conditions News
. Shipping News
. Shortwave
. Talk Radio
. Unlicensed Radio Broadcasts
. Weather Forecast
. Online Sources
. Blogs
. Corporate Blogs
. Employee Blogs
. Expert Blogs
. Personal Blogs
. Private Blogs
. Organizational Blogs
. Cached Websites and Internet Archives
. Cyber threats
. Malware
. Spyware
. Virus
. Databases (open access/fee or subsrcription-based)
. Academic Archives
. Academic Databases
. Commercial Databases
. Government Archives
. Industry Databases
. International Organizations-owned Databases
. NGOs-owned Databases
. Privately-owned Databases
. DNS Data
. Document Hosting / Sharing Services
. Domain Registrar Records
. e-Books
. e-Learning / Educational Resources
. Courseware
. Educational Case Studies
. Examination Papers
. Examination Questions
. Fact Sheets
. Informational Leaflets and Folders
. Learning Modules
. Lecture Notes
. Lectures
. Online Study Guides
. Online Syllabuses
. Open Courseware
. Problems and Exercises
. Student Papers/Essays
. Syllabuses
. Textbooks
. File Sharing Services
. Torrent Files
. Forums
. Discussion Boards
. Online Group Forums
. Social Network Groups Forums
. Usenet and Newsgroups
. Frequently Asked Questions Sources (FAQs)
. Geospatial Data
. 3D Animations
. Aerial Imagery
. Aeronautical Data
. Aiborne Imagery
. Atlases
. Commercial Imagery
. Gazetteers
. Geodetic Data
. Geo-locational Data
. Geostatistics
. Gravity and Magnetic Data
. Hyper and Multi-Spectral Data
. Environnmental Data
. LIDAR
. Maps
. Navigational Data (e.g. GPS)
. Photo Taggs
. Raster Data Models
. Satellite Imagery
. Vector Data Models
. HTML Data
. Internet Chat
. Chart Transcripts
. Listservs
. Mailing Lists and Special Interest Groups
. Mashups
. Metadata
. Micro-Blogging
. News Wires / Services
. Online Archives
. Online Audio
. Sound Files (MP3, etc.)
. Audio Libraries and Reposutories
. Podcasts
. Online Radio
. Online Biobiographies
. Online Biographies
. Online Bookshops
. Online Data Sets
. Online Dictionaries, Language Tools, Glossaries and Thesauruses
. Online Directories
. Directories of Experts
. Gazetteers
. Profession-specific Directories
. Sybject-specific Directories
. Website Directories
. White Pages
. Yellow Pages
. Online Event Information (for example, conference, tradeshows, fairs, exhibitions-related websites)
. Online Games
. MMPGs / MMORPGs
. Online Images
. 3D Renders
. Animations
. Bitmaps
. Caricatures
. Cartoons / Comics
. Computer Generated Imagery (CGI)
. Data Visualisations
. Digitised Drawings
. Image Files
. Image Libraries
. Image Sharing
. Infographics
. Online Galleries
. Online Image Albums
. Photo Taggs
. Visualizations
. Online Journals
. Online Libraries
. Online Newsletters
. Electronic Newsletters
. Email Newsletters
. Online Magazines and Newspapers
. Online Maps
. Customized Maps
. Dynamic / Interactive Maps
. Multilayer Interactive Maps
. Online Personal Information Records
. Biobibliographies
. Biographies
. Birth, Death and Marriage Records
. Criminal Records
. CVs, Resumes
. Diplomas and Certificates
. Personal Profiles
. Online Prediction Markets
. Online Presentations
. Online Product Catalogues
. Online Research Publications
. Academic Research Papers
. Consultants Reports
. Country Profiles
. Futures Studies
. Government Research Papers
. Marketing Research Reports
. Monographs
. NGOs' Research Papers
. Policy Papers
. Research Papers
. Risk Assessments
. Working Papers
. Vulnerability Assessments
. Online Surveys / Polls
. Online Video
. Live Video Feeds
. Online Movie Databases
. Online Television
. Streaming Video Feeds
. Webcams
. Video Sharing Repositories
. Online Work Spaces
. Wikis
. People Search Engines and Tools
. Podcasts
. Audio
. Video
. RSS Feeds
. Search Engines
. Binary Search Engines
. Blog Search Engines
. Clustering/Visual Search Engines
. Customized Search Engines
. Data Correlation Engines
. Deep Web' Search Engines
. Document/File Search Engines
. General Search Engines
. Meta Search Engines
. People Search Engines
. Q&A Search Engines
. Real Time Search Engines
. Serial Search Engines
. Scientific Search Engines
. Specialized Search Engines
. Web 2.0 and Social Media Search Engines
. Social Bookmarking
. Social Networks
. Company Profiles
. Event Information
. Group Profiles
. Groups and Forums
. Individual Profiles
. Q & A Services
. Software
. Add-ons
. Applications
. Freeware
. Liteware
. Open Source Software
. Programs
. Software Updates
. Trial ware
. Statistical / Numerical Data
. Usenet Newsgroups
. Virtual Worlds
. Warning and Alert Systems
. Webinars
. Websites
. Brochure/Catalogue Style Websites
. Celebrity Websites
. City/Local/Regional Websites
. Community Websites
. Corporate Websites
. Educational Websites
. Entertainment Websites
. Government Websites
. Hybrid Websites
. Mobile Device Websites
. News Portals
. Online Shops and Auction Websites
. Organizational Websites
. Personal Websites
. Photo Sharing Websites
. Portals
. Private Websites
. Rating Websites
. Social Media and Networking Websites
. Special Interest Websites
. Subject-specific/Informational Websites
. Trade and Industry Websites
. Website Analytics
. Website Directories
. Website Reviews
. WHOIS Data
. Mobile Sources
. Mobile Applications
. Mobile Audio
. Mobile Gaming
. Mobile Imagery
. Mobile Messaging
. Mobile Monitoring
. Mobile Navigation
. Mobile Services
. Mobile Software
. Mobile Television
. Mobile Warning and Alert Systems
. Mobile Video
. Scientific / Technical Sources
. Abstracts
. Atlases
. Bibliographise
. Biographical Sources
. Biosequence Data
. Blueprints
. Booklets
. Brochures
. Casebooks
. Citation Indexes
. Conference Papers
. Conference Proceedings
. Diagnostic Reports
. Dictionaries
. Dissertations and Theses
. Encyclopedias
. Error Messages
. Feasibility Studies
. Grant Applications
. Grant Proposals
. Group Discussions, Forums, Chats
. Handbooks
. Handouts, Leaflets, Pamphlets, Folders, Fliers
. Indexes
. Journal Articles
. Journals
. Laboratory Manuals
. Laboratory Notebooks
. Letters
. Manuals of Instruction
. Manuscripts
. Meta-Analysis
. Multicenter Studies
. Patents
. Patent Applications
. Patient Education Handouts
. Pharmacopoeias
. Practice Guideline
. Preprints
. Progress Reports
. Reviews of the Literature
. Risk Analyses
. Schematics
. Scientific Integrity Reviews
. Scientific Protocols
. Scientific Visualizations
. Standards
. State of the Art Reviews
. Subject-matter Experts
. Technical Documentation
. Technical Notes
. Technical reports
. Technical standards
. Thesauri
. Treatises
. Validation Studies
. White papers
. Working Papers
. Human Sources
. Institutional Sources
. Archives
. Government Institutions
. Information Centers (for example, Tourist Information Centers)
. International Organisations
. Libraries
. National Libraries
. Private Libraries
. Public Libraries
. Special Libraries
. University Libraries
. Military
. Museums
. News Agencies
. NGOs / Civil Society Actors
. Professional Associations
. Publishers and Booksellers
. Research Institutes
. Think Tanks
. Universities / Academia
. Physical Objects
. Non-OSINT Sources
. Ambient Intelligence
. Biometric Data
. Classified Databases
. Closed-Circuit Television
. Instant Messaging
. Passenger Data
. Sensors / Sensor-Generated Data
. Smart Devices
. Telephone Communications
. Unpublished Emails
. VoIP Communications

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