Open-source intelligence, or OSINT, is information anyone can lawfully access: public social media, news archives, court and property records, business filings, forums and images. In legal work it is used to locate people, verify or challenge timelines, and document what someone has said in public.
Capture it properly
Online content disappears. Posts are deleted, accounts go private and pages change. A screenshot alone is weak evidence. Professional tools such as Hunchly and X1 Social Discovery record the page, the URL, the time of capture and supporting data, so the investigator can later show what was online and when.
Verify before you rely on it
Names repeat, photos get reused and accounts get impersonated. Before anything goes in a report, it needs corroboration: matching details across sources, consistent timelines, and metadata where it is available. Analysis tools such as i2 Analyst Notebook help map how people, accounts and events connect.
Know the ethical lines
Public means public. Using deception to get into private accounts, such as fake friend requests or pretexting someone into accepting a follower, can create serious ethical and evidentiary problems, and lawyers are generally responsible for the conduct of investigators working at their direction. When in doubt, the investigator should raise it with counsel before acting.
Report it plainly
A useful OSINT report says what was found, where, when it was captured and how it was verified, and separates confirmed facts from leads. That lets the attorney judge its weight quickly.
Craig’s background includes formal intelligence training at Mercyhurst University and work as an open-source intelligence analyst, including 5,000+ pages of digital footprint analysis.
General information only. This is not legal advice and does not describe any specific client matter.