You can often hear about OSINT – a method of intelligence gathering from open sources. We wrote about it here and here before.
OSINT is an abbreviation, and the outer letters – INT – are an abbreviation for the word “Intelligence” – intelligence. And there is a version that there are a lot of these “INTS”:
🪙BLOCKINT (blockchain intelligence) – data on cryptocurrency transactions.
📞COMINT (communications intelligence) – data collected by intercepting signals between people.
⚔️CRIMINT (criminal intelligence) – data on criminal activity.
💻CYBINT (cyber intelligence) – data obtained from computer systems and networks.
🥷DARKINT (darknet intelligence) – data collected in Tor, I2P, Freenet networks, etc.
💳FININT (financial intelligence) – data about financial activity, often obtained from financial institutions.
🗺️GEOINT (geospatial intelligence) – geographic data, usually obtained from satellites.
🚀IMINT (photographic intelligence) – data from photographs or other images.
📲SOCMINT (social media intelligence).
📡TECHINT (technical intelligence) – data about equipment, technology.
🙈🙉🙊SIGINT (signals intelligence) – data collected by intercepting signals between people or electronic systems. An example of SIGINT in the Avdiivka area.
SIGINT is divided into two parts COMINT and ELINT.
📠COMINT – communications intelligence, consists of intercepting signals emitted by communication systems in order to obtain semantic information (voice, text). That is, when it comes to intercepting Baofeng signals, it is COMINT.
🗿ELINT – electronic intelligence, consists of intercepting and analyzing signals in order to determine the location of their sources and their identification. ELINT includes the area of electronic intelligence, which is not included in COMINT. That is, it was not possible to extract semantic information from the Baofeng signal, but it was possible to classify a means like Baofeng, then this is ELINT, not COMINT.
ELINT is divided into TechELINT, OpELINT.
TechELINT – technical electronic intelligence, consists of revealing operating modes, identification, recording and obtaining other important information from any signals. It is the basis for the development of electronic warfare tools
OpELINT – operational electronic intelligence, consists of searching, identifying, and locating electronic equipment in the interests of the tactical level. If the information obtained as a result of OpELINT is superimposed on the operational situation, threat model and decision support for tactical commanders, then this is called tactical ELINT.
FISINT (former TelELINT) – foreign instrumental signal intelligence, a separate class of electronic warfare, consisting of intercepting telemetric information (information about various objects and processes transmitted at a distance, for example, from a launch vehicle or satellites) from foreign objects.
• HUMINT (collection and analysis of information obtained from people), for example, through contacts with agents, informants or other sources inside or near the target organization. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH AGENT INTELLIGENCE (Humint is a broader concept of technology in Social Engineering for corporate, financial and business intelligence).
However, there is another version that there is only OSINT, and the rest of the division is quite artificial. Moreover, OSINT is first and foremost a way of thinking, and only then everything else.
Usually, the specified types of intelligence are used in combination by different private intelligence companies and agencies (for example, in the USA there are 18 of them), often under the general supervision of special services.
AI is used for automation, but AI is not yet capable of handling all tasks. The US Armed Forces already have a manual on OSINT and GEOINT.
Something similar is in Ukraine – here is a full course (even open your own TsIPSO). In Russia, there are private companies that do the same thing (numerous hacker groups do not appear out of nowhere), but how their developments are applied in the military sphere, alas, I cannot say, since I do not have a full command of the subject.
