OSINT Mastery: Digital Intelligence & Investigations in
Practice
Duration: 7 Weeks | Level: Beginner to Intermediate
By: Fortress Path Academy
🏁 Course Objectives
● Master practical OSINT skills from multiple domains (people, companies, crimes,
social media, etc.)
● Conduct lawful investigations using free and ethical tools
● Analyze and document findings for reports, cases, and operations
● Leverage AI to speed up, structure, and enhance your OSINT workflow
📚 Week OSINT Course Outline
🗂️ OSINT Foundations & Operational Security (OPSEC)
Objectives: Set up secure investigative environments and understand OSINT ethics.
🔹 What is OSINT? Why it matters (journalism, fraud, crime, vetting)
🔹 Setting up your investigation environment: browsers, VMs, VPNs, burner accounts
🔹 The Intelligence Cycle: Direction → Collection → Processing → Analysis
🔹 OPSEC & privacy: How to investigate without being traced
🔹 Laws & ethical boundaries: Data privacy, legality of scraping, jurisdictional issues
🔹 Tools: Tails OS, Brave Browser, Privacy Badger, Google Dorks, OSINT Framework
Hands-on:
● Simulate secure investigation setup
● Practice search operators & dorking
🧑💻 People Search & Digital Footprint Tracing
Objectives: Find people, analyze online traces, and understand digital behavior.
🔹 Username & email footprinting
🔹 Phone number tracing
🔹 Image clues, timestamps, bios, location hints
🔹 Tracking aliases & cross-platform identity matching
🔹 Data breaches, pastebins, and leaks
🔹 Tools: WhatsMyName, Sherlock, Dehashed, Social Mapper, Pipl alt, IntelX
Hands-on:
● Profile a target with minimal data
● Discover their linked accounts using OSINT tools
🌐 SOCMINT - Social Media Intelligence & Disinformation Tracking
Objectives: Analyze social media behavior, influence campaigns & digital threats.
🔹 Social platforms analysis: X, Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, Threads
🔹 Detecting disinformation, sock puppets & fake profiles
🔹 Video/image verification (deepfakes, fake timestamps)
🔹 Bot detection & behavioral patterns
🔹 Tools: InVID, Botometer, Followerwonk, IGlookup, Bellingcat Toolkit, Maltego
Hands-on:
● Analyze disinformation campaign or fake profile
● Verify authenticity of viral video/image
🏢 Company Investigations & Due Diligence
Objectives: Vet businesses, directors, vendors, and track shell operations.
🔹 Corporate ownership tracing (NGOs, foreign companies, contractors)
🔹 Cross-checking names with sanctions lists, blacklists
🔹 Business registration & open company data
🔹 KYC/AML basics for OSINT
🔹 Tools: OpenCorporates, Orbis alt, ImportGenius, CAC (Nigeria), Charity Check, OCCRP
Aleph, and many more.
Hands-on:
● Investigate a suspicious company or NGO
● Create a basic due diligence profile
📸 Geolocation, Image & Video Verification (GeoOSINT)
Objectives: Verify where an image or video was taken and detect manipulation.
🔹 Satellite mapping, terrain clues, weather, shadows, signage
🔹 Tracking from architecture, languages, uniforms, license plates
🔹 Reverse image search & EXIF metadata
🔹 Tools: SunCalc, Google Earth, EXIFTool, StreetView, Mapillary, TinEye, and many more.
Hands-on:
● Geolocate 3 real-world protest/crime images
● Extract and analyze metadata
🕵️ Crime & Threat Intelligence (OSINT for LEA & Journalists)
Objectives: Trace criminal networks, incidents, and detect threat indicators.
🔹 Tracking violent groups, threat actors, or fraudsters
🔹 Tracing crypto wallets and ransom notes
🔹 Dark web basics & breach lookups
🔹 Monitoring keyword patterns, hashtags, forums
🔹 Tools: Wayback Machine, OnionSearch, Chainabuse, GraphSense, LittleSis, Flashpoint
alt
Hands-on:
● Simulate threat actor profile from online traces
● Follow clues on a digital crime case (missing person, fraud, protest)
🤖 AI-Powered OSINT + Final Capstone Investigation
Objectives: Automate and speed up investigations using AI + complete real case.
🔹 Using AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) for OSINT
🔹 Building investigation prompts & intelligence summaries
🔹 Automating scraping, keyword monitoring
🔹 Visualizing intelligence (Maltego, Obsidian, Mind Mapping)
🔹 Final Capstone:
● Pick a case (fraud, protest, NGO, disinfo, crime)
● Document your entire workflow and findings
● Present as a real-world report
🔧 Tools You'll Learn
● 📌 Discovery: Google Dorks, WhatsMyName, Sherlock, Recon-ng, Maltego
● 👥 People Search: Social Analyzer, OSINTCombine, Skiptracer
● 🏢 Business Check: OpenCorporates, OCCRP Aleph, ImportGenius
● 🌍 Geolocation: SunCalc, Mapillary, Google Earth, EXIFTool
● 📷 Verification: InVID, TinEye, FotoForensics
● 💬 SOCMINT: Followerwonk, IGLookup, Telegram Web, BotSentinel
● 💰 Crypto/Dark Web: GraphSense, Chainabuse, OnionSearch
● 🤖 AI: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Whisper + prompt templates
● 📊 Visualization: Maltego, Obsidian, Lucidchart, Miro, Notion
🎯Target Audience
● OSINT Analysts, Journalists, Cybersecurity Pros
● Compliance & Due Diligence Officers
● Private Investigators, Human Rights Researchers
● Intelligence & Security Agencies
● Digital Forensics and Crime Analysts
🏅 Certificate + Capstone Badge
Get your official Certificate of Completion + Capstone Badge after submitting your final
investigative project.
