Mastering the Wayback Machine: A Practical OSINT Playbook
How past intelligence, new AI tools, and evolving influence ops are reshaping today’s OSINT landscape.
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This week, we look at how the past, present, and future of OSINT collide in surprising ways. A newly resurfaced Soviet-era article suggests the USSR valued open source intelligence far more than many assumed, while a five-year German project against disinformation was just wrapped up, leaving behind a full suite of AI-powered verification tools now open to the public. We also examine fresh reporting on coordinated influence efforts targeting Eastern Europe, showing how information operations continue to adapt across platforms.
On the OSINT Tips side, we highlight new guides, tools, and training resources to help sharpen your investigative workflow, from archival techniques to practical learning modules and new ideas circulating in the community.
Let’s get into it!
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OSINT researcher Ludo Block dug up a 1970 Soviet article that teaches a lot about how the USSR viewed OSINT. The author, almost certainly writing under a pseudonym, argues that careful reading of public material can reveal political, economic, and military trends with surprising accuracy. That alone challenges the long-standing belief that the Soviets saw open sources as worthless for real intelligence work.
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