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This week in open-source intelligence (OSINT) news: Popular license plate readers are streaming data onto unsecured internet, surveillance technologies reshape modern battlefield and how OSINT is becoming a go-to tactic for bad actors. This is the OSINT news of the week:
A security advocate exposes a critical vulnerability in automated license plate readers, sounds privacy alarm
Many of the popular Motorola automated license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance cameras are live-streaming video and car data to the unsecured internet where anyone can watch and scrape them. In a proof-of-concept exercise, Will Freeman, security researcher and creator of DeFlock — an open-source map of ALPRs in the United States — developed a tool that automatically scans the exposed footage for license plates, and dumps that information into a spreadsheet, allowing anyone to track the movements of others in real time.
This is not the first time that ALPRs have been found to be streaming directly to the unsecured internet. And while manufacturers, including Motorola, insist that using their devices according to recommended configurations poses no risk to the public, security advocates are sounding an alarm about potential attacks on vulnerable devices that are widely deployed across the U.S. Experts like Freeman warn of the ease of obtaining sensitive vehicle data that law enforcement collects on regular citizens: “When a police department says there’s nothing to worry about unless you’re a criminal, there definitely is.”
“Freeman built a proof-of-concept script that takes data from unencrypted Motorola ALPR streams, decodes that data, and adds timestamped information about specific car movements into a spreadsheet, which shows a car’s make, model, color, and license plate number associated with the specific time that they drove past an unencrypted ALPR near Chicago. So far, roughly 170 unencrypted ALPR streams have been found.”
Jason Koebler, Co-founder of 404 Media
New way of doing business… on the battlefield
Reconnaissance, surveillance, intelligence gathering — the strategies that used to be the exclusive domain of secretive government agencies are rapidly attracting private technology companies who see opportunities for profit and disruption. Today, multiple companies —SpaceX being the most well-known—own thousands of satellites, rendering space-based reconnaissance a common source of public information.
This creates both opportunities and challenges: on the one hand, more satellites equals more collection. But at the same time, this imposes a challenge often found in contemporary intelligence analysis: data overload. Being able to scan and monitor every square inch of the globe doesn’t mean that we can effectively process the information and successfully use it to make strategic decisions. In his “Transparency Trap: Risks of Deception in the Age of OSINT” article, Lieutenant Nicholas Romanow calls the transformed information landscape a “chaotic ocean of potential indicators”, suggesting that access to more data does not mean possession of greater knowledge and warning of analytical biases that can yield faulty conclusions and give the enemy more opportunities for strategic deception.
“While intelligence officers and analysts will need new skills to make full use of revolutionary new open-source intelligence tools, the fundamentals of analyzing intelligence and communicating it to decision-makers remain the same. Intelligence professionals will need to be more transparent with their commanders and each other about how they conduct their analysis.”
Lieutenant Nicholas Romanow (U.S. Navy)
OSINT for the bad guys: How scammers and cybercriminals are taking advantage of publicly available data
OSINT has earned its place as a powerful tool for cyber defenders. Security teams traditionally use it to monitor and research publicly available information to help thwart threat actors by preempting their moves. On the flip side, new studies have revealed that bad actors too have been leveraging OSINT – to collect insights on people and organizations to identify vulnerabilities and reveal potential targets. What might seem like harmless information such as a job change, a location-tagged photograph, stories in media, or online interests and affiliations can be pieced together to build a comprehensive profile of a target, helping criminals launch full-scale social engineering attacks. And now, with advancement of AI technologies, the job of sorting through massive amounts of information has become even easier, helping malicious actors step up the volume and intensity of their crimes.
SecurityWeek’s “The Intersection of AI and OSINT: Advanced Threats on The Horizon
offers a good collection of use cases to help” article offers a good collection of use cases to demonstrate how bad actors can use AI to weaponize OSINT – from infrastructure attacks to using deepfakes for advanced social engineering. The story also provides practical suggestions on how companies can improve their defenses in the face of AI-powered OSINT.
“As AI technologies mature, threat actor OSINT tactics and techniques will certainly advance. Security teams and organizations will also be empowered by AI-based OSINT tools. By implementing proactive measures such as regular OSINT audits, employee training, and thorough reviews of supply chain partners, defenders can effectively prepare themselves for these impending challenges.”
Stu Sjouwerman, founder and CEO of KnowBe4, Inc.
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