X. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
The widespread use of forums, social networks, or the media,
as well as the large amount of existing data, turn Open
Source Intelligence (OSINT) into the next Internet goldmine.
The extraction of knowledge from public sources represents
a way of resolving existing problems from a different and
innovative perspective. Specifically, cybersecurity and cy-
berdefense can be greatly benefited by the results that this
type of intelligence can offer. Therefore, automated OSINT
processes should be implemented, capable of taking inves-
tigations to all parts of the Internet and extending our mind
through the web.
This paper described the status of OSINT today. It revealed
that the effectiveness of current works is questionable due
mainly to their poor application in real scenarios. In fact,
there is a lack of serious approaches for transforming OSINT
into a robust and self-managed solution. Nevertheless, we
suggest the integration of OSINT into existing cyberdefence
mechanisms to move from the atomic technical trails of a
cyber incident to the profile of the culprit or the identity of the
suspect. The article also presented some OSINT techniques
for basic searches and described the most sophisticated OS-
INT tools nowadays for advanced investigations. Depending
on the data available and on the ultimate goal, a proper selec-
tion of the most appropriate tool would mark the difference.
However, a varied combination of them is actually the key to
achieve plausible results.
In the context of Spain, we pointed out some indications
which might confirm that Spanish Law Enforcement Agen-
cies and Intelligence Services employ OSINT in their internal
procedures. Despite being a confidential aspect of their func-
tioning, OSINT is a crucial element in the context of their
investigations. It is worth pointing out that Spain would be
a large territory where to research, develop and apply this
methodology due to its Open Data maturity. Actually, it is
one of the most transparent countries of Europe, according to
the European Data Portal.
As future research directions, the article outlined some
open challenges related to gathering, analyzing and extract-
ing real knowledge from the immersion of the Internet.
Aspects such as misinformation, privacy, and legality will be
prominent in the future of OSINT. There is still a long way to
go in this area, and to that end the community should address
the discussed challenges by including advanced techniques
and improving the current performance. The OSINT ultimate
goal is to be able to ensure the desired finding for a certain
purpose, in an automated and a self-driven way.
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