| 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
curl "https://api.securitytrails.com/v1/domain/evil-domain.com/dns/a" \
-H "apikey: YOUR_KEY"
whois -h whois.arin.net evil-domain.com
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")
results = api.search()
r results[]:
(r[], r[], r[], r.get(, {}).get(, {}).get(, ))
results = api.search()
