collecting-open-source-intelligence

name	collecting-open-source-intelligence
description	Collects and synthesizes open-source intelligence (OSINT) about threat actors, malicious infrastructure, and attack campaigns using publicly available data sources, passive reconnaissance tools, and dark web monitoring. Use when investigating external threat actor infrastructure, performing pre-engagement reconnaissance for authorized red team assessments, or enriching CTI reports with publicly available adversary context. Activates for requests involving Maltego, Shodan, OSINT framework, SpiderFoot, or infrastructure reconnaissance.
domain	cybersecurity
subdomain	threat-intelligence
tags	["OSINT","Maltego","Shodan","Recon-ng","SpiderFoot","threat-intelligence","ATT&CK-T1591","NIST-CSF"]
version	1.0.0
author	mahipal
license	Apache-2.0

Collecting Open-Source Intelligence

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Investigating external infrastructure associated with a phishing campaign targeting your organization
• Enriching threat actor profiles with publicly observable indicators (WHOIS, ASN data, SSL certificates)
• Conducting authorized attack surface discovery to understand your organization's external exposure

Do not use this skill for active scanning against targets without explicit written authorization — OSINT collection must remain passive (no packets sent to target systems) unless scope permits active recon.

Prerequisites

• Maltego CE or commercial license for graph-based link analysis
• Shodan API key (https://shodan.io) for internet-wide device/service discovery
• OSINT Framework familiarity (https://osintframework.com) for tool selection
• SpiderFoot HX or open-source SpiderFoot for automated OSINT correlation

Workflow

Step 1: Define Collection Requirements

Establish the intelligence requirement (IR) before collecting. Document:

• Target: threat actor group, malicious domain, IP range, or organization
• Priority Intelligence Requirements (PIRs): What specific questions need answering?
• Legal authority: Passive OSINT is legal; active probing requires authorization
• Data handling: TLP classification for collected intelligence

Step 2: Passive DNS and WHOIS Investigation

# Passive DNS via SecurityTrails API
curl "https://api.securitytrails.com/v1/domain/evil-domain.com/dns/a" \
  -H "apikey: YOUR_KEY"

# WHOIS history via ARIN / RIPE
whois -h whois.arin.net evil-domain.com

# Certificate transparency logs (no API key required)
curl "https://crt.sh/?q=%.evil-domain.com&output=json" | jq '.[].name_value'

Certificate transparency logs reveal all subdomains for a target domain, often exposing staging, VPN, or internal infrastructure inadvertently made public.

Step 3: Shodan Infrastructure Mapping

import shodan

api = shodan.Shodan("YOUR_SHODAN_API_KEY")

# Search for specific C2 framework signatures (Cobalt Strike beacon)
results = api.search()
 r  results[]:
    (r[], r[], r[], r.get(, {}).get(, {}).get(, ))


results = api.search()