// Prerequisites

What to read before OSINT Techniques

If OSINT Techniques feels too steep at intermediate level, here is what to read first. Lighter books in the same topics that build the prerequisites this one assumes.

  1. 01 · 2018

    Open Source Intelligence Techniques and Tools

    Hassan and Hijazi's pedagogical introduction to OSINT framed inside the broader intelligence cycle (collection → processing → analysis → dissemination) rather than around a specific toolchain.

    Beginner
    3/5Nihad A. Hassan, Rami Hijazi
  2. 02 · 2024

    Hacks, Leaks, and Revelations

    Micah Lee on the operational craft of working with leaked datasets: authentication, OPSEC for sources and journalists, and the Python tooling to actually parse what arrives in your dropbox.

    Beginner
    4/5Micah Lee
  3. 03 · 2017

    The Art of Invisibility

    Mitnick's accessible tour of personal privacy and anonymity, from passwords and Wi-Fi to layered operational tradecraft, told through anecdotes and step-by-step advice.

    Beginner
    3/5Kevin Mitnick, Robert Vamosi
  4. 04 · 2014

    Anonymat sur Internet

    A practical French guide to online anonymity and privacy — proxies, VPNs, Tor, secure messaging and mobile — by a Le Monde cybersecurity journalist (later one of the Pegasus reporters).

    Beginner
    3/5Martin Untersinger
  5. 05 · 2024

    Extreme Privacy

    Michael Bazzell's defender-side companion to OSINT Techniques: a step-by-step program for removing yourself from data brokers, public records, and the everyday surveillance economy without going off-grid.

    Intermediate
    5/5Michael Bazzell
  6. 06 · 2017

    American Kingpin

    A propulsive account of how Ross Ulbricht built the Silk Road dark-web drug empire as Dread Pirate Roberts, and how a handful of investigators across rival agencies finally unmasked him.

    Beginner
    5/5Nick Bilton
  7. 07 · 2022

    Tracers in the Dark

    Andy Greenberg's investigative narrative of how Bitcoin's allegedly-anonymous public ledger became, in the hands of researchers and federal investigators, the most powerful OSINT tool of the last decade.

    Beginner
    5/5Andy Greenberg
  8. 08 · 2020

    À la trace

    An investigative map of modern surveillance — from data brokers and facial recognition to contact-tracing — charting how continuous digital tracking became normal, by a French tech journalist.

    Beginner
    4/5Olivier Tesquet
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