OSINT, also known as ‘Open Source INTelligence,’ is a government term which refers to all the public information that can be found in the media. This includes everything from newspapers, TV and especially the world wide web.
OSINT: Strategic tool for business
Osint has become a strategic tool since it helps a company recognize the solution they need before they can even identify that a crisis exists that requires this solution, thus providing bigger business opportunities and giving them an ample global perspective that can drive them to excel in performance, productivity, and customer satisfaction across previously unidentified (and unknown) consumer demographics.
Expertsystems.com is a great example of a major and valuable resource that can provide you with the right tools needed to implement Osint technology for your business solutions, as it is important to understand why many more companies are turning to such prestigious professional sites for advice and consultation and to acquire their software services.
Not only businesses – Government agencies, too
Osint comprises the same IT technologies and web applications that are employed by the general public when searching for something on Google. In fact, government agencies also use the Google search engine, as well as YouTube and other social media (Twitter and Facebook especially; much to the detriment of personal security as demonstrated by the NSA permission to monitor and access any individual’s data for reasons of national security) to search for, analyse, process and filter vital information on security and policy issues.
Every department from the FBI and the CIA to the pentagon, NASA and the NSA under the umbrella of homeland security, and every other affiliated intelligence service use Osint as a strategic tool to condense vital information and analyse and process text language (of any format) in real time through A.I. technology. The tech filters through and streamlines key data that accelerates the decision/policy-making process, reducing bureaucracy, empowering collaboration between and among all company levels, while employing much of the semantic technology that has been made available to the public and that is used by the general user.
The broadening of security concerns among Intel agencies worldwide has led to an increasing use of Osint due to the number of global crises we face in the modern day, which require gathering data across all levels of the social strata; from inter-state conflicts, terror threats, organized crime, to international and domestic collaboration on policies including the monitoring of transport, food, water, the environment, and energy resources.
We also know that cyberhacking has made it possible for private users in the general public to acquire even more advanced software technologies—previously inaccessible to the general user—that can compete or are on a par with those of the government, thanks to the P2P (Peer-to-Peer) community and populist watchdog hacker groups like Anonymous, 4chan, and many others. This also makes Osint extremely valuable as instrument to promote inter-connectedness on a global scale, and to educate the public on the most varied issues.
Why OSINT is important for businesses
The main reason for its importance in business is that Osint can resolve the main issue that troubles both consumers and providers in a market that is so highly saturated with vendors and competitors. It is a buyer’s market simply because, due to the enormous amount of much data on the web, many people do not even know that a specific solution may exist for their queries. Not only that, they don’t even know that such a solution may be needed for their business goals or structural organization.
