Nico Dekens — better known online as the Dutch OSINT Guy — has spent decades at the cutting edge of open-source intelligence.
With a background in Dutch law enforcement and roles at Bellingcat, the SANS Institute, and ShadowDragon, Nico brings a rare mix of operational expertise, tool development, and community leadership.
In this episode, we talk about why good digital hygiene is essential, how staying curious (and a little nerdy) can supercharge your investigations, and how he uses OSINT to fuel his retro sneaker addiction.
Below, you’ll find highlights from our conversation, lightly edited for clarity and length.
On the evolution of intelligence gathering:
I can honestly say I'm no longer in government, but I can probably still see the same amount of information, sometimes even more than I was capable of seeing with internal government databases just because people share so much information.
On his favorite OSINT tools:
When it comes to free tools, I really like whatsmynames.app built by Micah Hoffman, also supported by the folks from OSINT Combined from Australia. And it's a free tool where you can input someone's username and it will basically cross-reference that name across hundreds and hundreds of sites.
And when it comes to paid tools, well, I'm biased. I work for one of the largest companies, so ShadowDragon’s tool, Horizon, is what I think is currently the best in the market, because it's easy to use and it works anywhere, everywhere, on your mobile phone.
On staying safe online:
I’m very aware of not oversharing where I am continuously. I travel the world a lot for my work, and I don't feel a need to show where I'm having dinner or where I'm working out or something like that.
Just having that awareness is very important, but also for the people around you, your loved ones. You want to protect them as well because they can be targeted through you.
On his secret to staying sharp:
I literally reserve every week what I like to call NERD time, and NERD stands for “never-ending research and development,” which means that I will have at least half a day or a day per week where I spend time just learning. Learning about new technologies, learning about the pros and cons, trying to test them, trying to apply them.
And that's what I think that a lot of people who are aspiring OSINT analysts underestimate. You need to be teaching yourself every week something new, because every week there's a new platform with new opportunities, but also new risks. So you need to understand both sides of that.
And if you have a group of friends that all have a couple of hours of NERD times, and you combine that, well, now all the sudden, you have a great repository of knowledge.
On sneakerhead OSINT:
I'm a collector of specific Nike Air Max 1 models. That's my jam. So I scour the Internet by maybe doing a reverse image search or looking for — every Nike has their own unique number. If you search for that, you may end up on these sites where they are on offer.
There are so many Craigslist-orientated pages around the world where you can find them, because not everybody knows that their secondhand sneakers can be worth gold, or are just very wanted.
I definitely apply my super secret sauce to finding my very wanted sneakers.
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