Application Programming Interface - A set of protocols and tools for building software applications. Often exposes data that can be used in OSINT.

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act - A United States cybersecurity bill that was enacted in 1986 as an amendment to existing computer fraud law.

Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures - A list of publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

The part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible through special software, configurations, or authorization.

The part of the web not indexed by standard search engines. Includes databases, private networks, and password-protected sites.

Domain Name System - A hierarchical decentralized naming system for computers, services, or other resources connected to the Internet.

The practice of researching and broadcasting private or identifying information about an individual or organization.

Exchangeable Image File Format - A standard that specifies formats for images, sound, and tags used by digital cameras and other systems.

A legal doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders.

The technique of gathering information about computer systems and the entities they belong to.

General Data Protection Regulation - A regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area.

Geospatial Intelligence - Intelligence about human activity on Earth derived from imagery and geospatial information.

An advanced Google search query that uses special operators to find specific information that is not easily accessible through normal search.

Human Intelligence - Intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to technical means.

Indicator of Compromise - Pieces of forensic data that identify potentially malicious activity on a system or network.

An interactive data mining tool that renders directed graphs for link analysis. Used extensively in OSINT investigations.

Data that provides information about other data. In OSINT, often refers to hidden information in files like EXIF data in images.

Operations Security - A process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by enemy intelligence.

Open Source Intelligence - Intelligence collected from publicly available sources to be used in an intelligence context.

Personally Identifiable Information - Information that can be used to identify, contact, or locate a single person.

The act of gathering information about a target system, network, or organization before launching an attack or investigation.

A text file webmasters create to instruct web robots how to crawl pages on their website. Often reveals hidden directories.

A search engine that lets users find specific types of computers (webcams, routers, servers, etc.) connected to the internet using a variety of filters.

Signals Intelligence - Intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether communications or electronic signals.

The psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information.

The legal agreements between a service provider and a person who wants to use that service, outlining rules and restrictions.

An OSINT tool used to gather emails, names, subdomains, IPs, and URLs using multiple public data sources.

The Onion Router - Free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication using onion routing.

Virtual Private Network - Extends a private network across a public network, enabling users to send and receive data securely.

A digital archive of the World Wide Web maintained by the Internet Archive, allowing users to see archived versions of web pages.

The process of automatically collecting information from websites using software or scripts.

A query and response protocol used for querying databases that store registered users or assignees of an Internet resource.