Welcome to Week 1 of CTRL ALT ACT
This week is about the basics of OSINT (Open Source Intelligence). You can skip this intro—but you might miss something surprising and useful. So let’s begin from scratch.
🔍 What is OSINT?
OSINT stands for Open Source Intelligence. It's the process of collecting and analyzing publicly available data to produce actionable insights. Think of it as modern-day digital detective work—completely legal and often shockingly effective.
Example: Say you have a photo of a suspected scammer or drug dealer, but no address or location. Using Yandex Reverse Image Search or TinEye, you might find the same image used elsewhere—possibly revealing more about the person or place.
💡 More on OSINT:
🧪 Task 1: Observe Miscreant Behavior on Social Media
Let’s start by simply watching. This task will train you pattern recognition.
- Open any public social media post, preferably one posted by a female influencer or creator.
- Scroll through the comment section.
- Identify comments that are vulgar, harassing, threatening, or disrespectful.
- Repeat this on 2–3 different accounts/posts to look for patterns.
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Write down observations such as:
- What kind of post attracted the most negative comments?
- What phrases or emojis were repeatedly used?
- What type of accounts posted them? (Anonymous? Meme pages? Fake profiles?)
Save your notes—we’ll use them later in the course.
🔎 Task 2: Your First OSINT Investigation
This is your first taste of doing actual digital reconnaissance. Take it slow. Follow each step:
- Identify one miscreant account from the previous task that made a harmful comment.
- Copy their username.
- Go to What's My Name Tool and paste the username. This tool checks if that same username exists across dozens of platforms (e.g., Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, forums).
- Take note if you find matching usernames elsewhere—it's often the same person.
- Optional: Right-click their profile picture, save it, then upload it to Yandex Reverse Image Search.
- Check results: Does the image appear anywhere else? On other accounts or websites?
This is your first real OSINT mission. Just from a username and a photo, you’re now seeing how much someone unknowingly exposes online.
🛠️ Free Practice Exercises
Want more practice before moving to Week 2?
- Gralhix OSINT Exercise List – Dozens of challenges to sharpen your skills
- Using OSINT to Solve a Real Case (YouTube)
- 10 Free OSINT Tools with Demo (YouTube)
📓 Your OSINT Diary
This form is just for your personal use and won’t be saved anywhere. Use it each week to record your OSINT observations and insights.
✅ Week 1 Summary
- Learned what OSINT is and where it's used
- Practiced identifying harmful behavior on social media
- Performed your first investigation using usernames and images
- Set up your own OSINT Diary to track learning
🚀 Ready for Week 2?
In the next module, we’ll dive deeper into tracking activity across groups, forums, pages, and begin spotting patterns across networks.
Previous: Introduction Next: Week 2: Dummy Accounts & Targeting Miscreant Profiles