OSINT and Social Media
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is an extremely interesting topic with regards to unstructured data analytics. Specifically, how does intelligence from social media fit in the context of OSINT? Government agencies have been slow to embrace social media as a significant source of intelligence. In fact, there seems to be a clear delineation between OSINT and social media information. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the slow adoption and utilization of social media. But why is public domain social media not considered OSINT?
One must acknowledge there are a few impediments to analyzing open social media. First, the amount of data available is enormous - hence the term "twitter fire hose". Given this reality, technology must be able to account for the exponentially growing amount of data, and be able to visually present the data in a meaningful way to the analyst to add value. The second potential reason is that social media is considered differently than OSINT may have to do with privacy concerns, particularly here in the US. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) must be protected. DHS has been fairly transparent in their approach to protecting PII. Although one could argue public domain information is open to anyone regardless if the source is a news reporter or twitter. The end result is the same.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly is the perception that social media is unreliable due to examples of deliberate misinformation. Therefore, the existence of misinformation is often seen as a reason not to consider social media for credible intelligence. However, one must ask if misinformation is valuable in analyzing trends and patterns? Here at IKANOW, the answer is an emphatic YES! Remember, unstructured research-driven analytics does not provide an answer, per se, but presents the analyst with the necessary queues and information in order to make a decision and act.
The Arab Spring is an example of "missing it" with social media. According to a recent conference speaker, a highly experienced analyst never saw the Libya uprising coming. This is profound! Would fusing social media, such as twitter, with traditional OSINT data have helped?
Getting back to the original question of how social media fits in the context of OSINT? Social media should be considered a type of OSINT, and then addressed appropriately and ethically through technology, process, training, etc. to ensure PII is protected. By solving the social media intel problem, a level of predictability can be realized by the analyst in deciding when and how to take action. It is the fusion of this real-time information with other unstructured and structure data that creates a more complete situational awareness allowing analysts to anticipate future events.
-DS