Benjamin Strick Profile picture
Apr 24, 2023 24 tweets 21 min read Read on X
Last week I spoke at @journalismfest on how open-source intelligence is used to combat propaganda and uncover new information during Russia's war on Ukraine. Thank you for having me.

I promised to share a list of links to tools and sources. Here it is (I hope it helps) 👇 Image
I often share digital investigation skills, cases and sources at events to help remotely answer core questions such as:
WHERE & WHEN did it happen?
WHAT happened?
WHO is responsible?
And HOW can it be visualised?

So let's start with the case studies.
1: EyesonRussia.org - our community effort to document, verify and map Russia's invasion of Ukraine and share this info with the world.

Collaboration is key for this, from @Cen4infoRes @bellingcat @C4ADS incl volunteer groups @GeoConfirmed, GeoMouse and more.
2. Disinformation & Denial: Russia’s attempts to discredit open source evidence of Bucha.

The Russian Govt and its proxies tried to discredit important satellite imagery using public tools, but they were wrong. info-res.org/post/disinform…
3. Finding the Russian general who oversaw atrocities in Syria led cluster bomb attacks on civilians in Ukraine.

Our collab with @CNN identifying the general who oversaw cluster bomb attacks in Kharkiv. Big H/T to @GianlucaMezzo & @katie_polglase edition.cnn.com/2022/05/12/wor…
4. Killer Coordinates: How a Russian missile hit Kyiv with the help of online sleuths.

This piece was an OSINT community effort involving @amra_dorjbayar @ArchitMeta @AlbertoOlivie13 @brechtcastel @akhmxt @Techjournalisto & @GeoConfirmed info-res.org/post/killer-co…
What are some data and tools that are helpful to use?

Here's a non-exhaustive list of a few OSINT tools, sources of data and specialists 👇
1. @ACLEDINFO - disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project. acleddata.com

Great for mapping media reports of specific instances, trends, statistics and a general geographical awareness. Especially useful when combined with other datasets.
2. The @bellingcat autoarchiver - automatically archives social media posts, videos, and images from a Google Sheets document. github.com/bellingcat/aut…

This has enabled us to easily archive thousands of grim videos and photos that could be used by researchers in the future.
3. Telegram export channel history - automatically export an entire channel in Telegram, choose date, file types. Available in the Telegram desktop.

Very helpful if you don't want to flick through traumatic imagery. You can also convert the chat file into a spreadsheet. ImageImage
4. @oryxspioenkop tracker of military vehicles during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Great to see #OSINT work like this getting recognition, even from @DefenceHQ. oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack…
5. @flightradar24 - shows real-time aircraft flight tracking information on a map. flightradar24.com

Hit up @Gerjon_ for help on flights. Image
6. @MarineTraffic - maritime analytics provider, providing real-time info on the current location and movements of ships. marinetraffic.com

Hit up @YorukIsik for anything that floats. Image
7. Overpass Turbo - web based data mining tool for OpenStreetMap. overpass-turbo.eu

(Image below is a map of power plants/stations made with Overpass Turbo) Image
8. Map of Russian fortifications - the map shows Russia’s field fortifications in (and around) Ukraine as viewed via satellite imagery. (by @bradyafr)
google.com/maps/d/u/0/vie…

read.bradyafrick.com/p/russian-fiel…
9. NASA FIRMS - near real-time active fire data. This tool has been core to work across Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan, Ethiopia and many others.
firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map Image
10. @googleearth (desktop) - program using 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. google.com/intl/en_uk/ear…

Here's a video on five useful cool features: . Example below is a geolocation from Mariupol using Google Earth ImageImage
11. @sentinel_hub - a platform to browse, query and analyse satellite data. apps.sentinel-hub.com/sentinel-playg…

Example below is smoke rising from Mariupol, with banding to bring out active fires. Image
12. Pinpoint by Google - research tool to help journalists and academics explore and analyse large collections of documents. journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/about

Very useful to dump a heap of PDFs in there, it then scrapes them for words, and lists names, organisations and more. Image
13. @OpenAI ChatGPT - chatbot trained to follow instructions and provide a detailed response. chat.openai.com

Great prompt from @TomTomjarvis (text in alt) to extract names and entities from a report into a csv.

Don't use this as a fact-finder, but as an assistant. Extract all names from the ...Extract all names from the ...
You can watch the full session of the presentation from Perugia, Italy at the @journalismfest #ijf23 here: journalismfestival.com/programme/2023….

You can also find tutorials on digital investigative skills on my YouTube: youtube.com/@Bendobrown Image
For satellite and remote sensing nerds, @wammezz and @oballinger did a great of a session at @journalismfest showcasing remote sensing in environmental cases. journalismfestival.com/programme/2023…

The session includes a helpful remote sensing OSINT guide: bellingcat.github.io/RS4OSINT/ Image
Two other great sessions involving remote sensing at @journalismfest were from @AI_Micah on satellite imagery for crisis reporting (journalismfestival.com/programme/2023…), & environmental geospatial forensic work with Kuek Ser Kuang Keng @nandawenzel @gufalei (journalismfestival.com/programme/2023…) Image

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More from @BenDoBrown

Dec 18
I have received a number of messages asking about the location of this IL-76 (RA-76502) from Russian Aviacon Zitotrans (usually responsible for arms cargo).

It is not landing in Sudan (alleged in the comments), but is landing in Faya-Largeau in northern Chad. More in thread 👇 Image
I identified an original and more clear version on TikTok (not hard if you want to find it). In it, we can see the registration number of the plane much more clearly, as well as the dune and cliffs in the background.
The registration, RA-76502 that had been owned by JSC Aviacon Zitotrans, named by US as "a Russian cargo airline that has handled cargo shipments for sanctioned Russian Federation defense entities". Image
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Read 4 tweets
Dec 1
This festive season I’m sharing a video every day for the next 24 days showing useful OSINT tools & techniques. Creating this OSINT Advent Series has been a lot of fun and I hope it’s helpful for the ever-growing OSINT community! 🎄👇
1. Searching Facebook with WhoPostedWhat.
2. Using AI to identify a car model in an image with Carnet.
Read 13 tweets
Oct 10
Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay. As digital investigators we're often not experiencing what we see online, in real life, but it can still affect many.

So to keep doing the important documentation and investigative work online, here's a few practical steps you can take.👇
1. When sharing graphic content with colleagues and friends, remove those previews and give a little graphic warning indicator. There's always a little 'X' in the corner to remove preview. Image
2. Consider changing the settings on your social media platforms so you're not absorbing horrific content while doomscrolling. You don't have to filter it out, but at least stop the autoplay. Image
Read 10 tweets
Sep 18
I was recently on a flight across Australia when I spotted this massive figure on the ground. It led me on a digital journey to find out what it was, how it got there and who made it.

I'm going to explain a bit more about what it is in this thread, and how I found out. 👇🧵
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Without internet on the plane, I made a screenshot on my phone of the location (yes it was on flight mode) and later used flight tracking to pinpoint exactly where I saw it.

Using @flightradar24, I traced the path my plane took and found the spot!
Image
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Next stop: @googleearth 🗺️

I zoomed into the area and there it was — this huge humanoid figure etched in the Australian outback. Measuring 2.7km tall and covering an area of more than 1.7 square kilometres, it's a sight to behold.

Here's the location: -29.527084, 137.465400
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Read 8 tweets
Sep 2
Despite our reporting last week on the fake network of pro-Trump MAGA accounts, there appears to be many more accounts actively posting the exact same content. This one, @brenda_otto_ with 18k+ followers, is stealing photos from an Australian Instagram model in Queensland.

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Here's another fake MAGA account, @Tracy_Miller044, stealing images from a fashion blogger (a popular one too).

@Tracy_Miller044 - if you want to reach out and talk about your work, why you're running these campaigns etc, I'm open.
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Here is @Sarah_Hickey__

Sarah is stealing the photos of a Czech Instagram influencer to create a persona claiming to be a MAGA republican conservative with 40k+ followers and a blue tick (which means it's apparently not misleading).

@Safety @GlobalAffairs @elonmusk
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Read 4 tweets
Aug 28
A network of fake accounts are posing as young American women, posting pro-Trump content and disinformation, but they’re hiding behind, and manipulating, the images of European fashion influencers.

Our latest investigation at @Cen4infoRes. Details in this thread 🧵👇 Image
Our full analysis can be seen at @Cen4infoRes here: . We also collaborated with @CNN to dig out the human stories behind those who had their photos stolen

Let's look at the some details below 👇info-res.org/post/unmasking…
edition.cnn.com/2024/08/28/eur…
One of the accounts is Eva. She lives in the US, and likes hanging out at the beach and posting to her 5000+ followers on X. Eva posts strong opinions against LGBTQ people and the US Democratic party and is a loyal supporter of former US president Donald Trump. Image
Read 21 tweets

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