SOCMINT – Social Media Intelligence Gathering
[ What is SOCMINT? ] [ Social Media Monitoring ] [ Information Extraction ] [ Social Media Investigation ]
[ Psychological Analysis ] [ ProcessReport ]
Social Media
SOCMINT
Investigations
What is SOCMINT?
Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) consists of a set of search methods and technologies. These forensic techniques aim to monitor social media networking platforms and users.
Many people connected their smartphones (cellphone numbers) and computer systems to social media systems. Moreover, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instant Messaging (IM) chat systems WhatsApp, FB Messenger, and WeChat can map your social networks (friends and contacts). In fact, their artificial intelligence algorithms are masters in profiling and data collection.
Monitoring of Social Media
What is being monitored? Social Media Intelligence is related to intelligence gathering, open-source intelligence (OSINT), and other surveillance activities. SOCMINT is conducted either overtly or covertly.
Take note that OSINT sources are different from other intelligence sources. The season for this is that they are legally accessible by the public without breaching any copyrights, patents, or privacy laws.
- published content
- messages
- images
- comments
- social media identities and associated data
- individual users
- groups
- person-to-person, person-to-group, group-to-group interactions
- content in public or private groups or pages
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) collects data from publicly, available, open/overt sources. We use this intelligence in a given context.
Consequently, Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT) is a type of OSINT where data is obtained from social media networks & sites:
- published content
- linked metadata (extra info)
Many times people use the same username on different social media platforms. This name is in many cases linked to the same email address or cellphone number. Consequently, once the main identifier is clear, then the search expands to different social media channels – using the same or similar usernames.
How to use SOCMINT? Methods of information extraction.
- content is extracted and replicated into offline and other online database systems (easy to search)
- collection, retention + analysis of social media data
- what are people saying about your product or service?
- what are people saying about your company?
Social Media Investigation. Which types of intelligence do we gather?
You will find here a short overview of what type of information can be gathered via social media channels.
Specific data is collected and processed for future analysis. These data points & personal information (PID) of a registered person. We can find this data on Facebook & other social media platforms & communication systems such as Pinterest, Instagram, Whatsapp, Telegram, TikTok, and many more.
- political views
- religion
- ethnicity/race
- country of origin
- personal images and videos
- spouse name (or marital status)
- home and work addresses
- locations visited
- social activities
- sports activities
- restaurant visits
- work history
- educational info
- employment history
- residential address
- social connections
- places visited
- habits
- likes and dislikes
- family members
- spouse
- important event dates & birthdays
- graduation days
- relationship updates
- dates leaving or starting a new job
- social interactions
- date/time of posts
- geo-location info
- checking publicly available information on social media
- gather relevant social media intelligence
- analysis of main social media ID and metadata
- video content on sharing platforms (e.g. Youtube, Vimeo)
- content on blogs, forums
- presence on social gaming platforms
- social bookmarking (Pinterest)
What can be found about you on social media? What is being uploaded without you actively being aware about it? What happens to the information you upload? Who can see this? Who can use this information?
Social Media Psychological Analysis
An important element of the analysis of all these data points is the Psychological Analysis of what users have published online.
- performing linguistic analysis on the target account
- tone and content of the post (photos, videos, text messages, status messages)
- verify the true identity of an anonymous account
- monitor the times/date of posts or comments
- location of the subject – geolocation data
- linguistic analysis to detect human feelings
What are people publishing online about you, your company, your customers?
Social Media Investigation – Process & Report
The uncontrolled growth of social media and how the social media companies connected themselves to organizations, society & corporations, has created huge IT security challenges & cyber security issues.
Clearly, this justifies a serious effort into how social media penetrated your environment, and how the influencers or hackers got past the firewalls. This requires a deeper analysis of the risks & benefits of connecting to social media networks.
How do you manage this type of activity and get some feeling of control? Who will audit online activities? Is your company properly represented online? How to mitigate social media risk? What do you do when a bad thing happens?
Our AR INTELL SOCMINT Specialized team can advise you on these matters. Contact us today.
