Recently I started down a rabbit hole learning more about OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) gathering. As a student in cyber-security, I am always learning and wanting to learn more about privacy and protecting our identity online. During my search, I stumbled upon a couple of podcasts one of them was Smashing Security (https://www.smashingsecurity.com/) and the other was The Privacy, Security, & OSINT Show (https://soundcloud.com/user-98066669). The second one got me into learning more about OSINT while I am between classes and transferring schools.
There are a lot of things and ways you can search online, one of the most popular search engines is Google, there are others out there like Bing, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, and several others. During my learning I came across a couple of other guides to searching, I will include the links to those at the bottom of the page.
Everyone has searched Google or one of the other engines for information, lets’s explain and learn some of the options available to narrow down your search.
- Search term, while you can search for things like Steve Jobs; your normal results treat each word as its own. Your results will not only return sites with the phrase Steve Jobs but also sites with Steve or Jobs. By putting quotes around it like “Steve Jobs” has Google or your search engine of choice search it as a phrase. Not separate words; this can come in handy filtering out sites that just have the name Steve on them.
- The use of “or” and “|” (the pipe operator); using this in a search like “Steve or Jobs” will return results with either word on the site but not always both words on the site. This is similar to the next one in line.
- Using the “and”; for example “Steve and Jobs” will return results not necessarily the phrase but with the words “Steve and Jobs” anywhere together or separate on the page. And along with or can be used separately or together while searching.
- Steve and Jobs: return sites with both but not always together.
- Steve or Jobs: Returns sites with but not always both.
- Steve and Jobs or Apple: Returns sites with Steve and Jobs both or Apple.
While search engines remove and add different operators all the time; I can not be responsible if one of these doesn’t work after a while. You’re welcome to comment on the post and let me know so I can update them.
Along with these, there are hundreds more options out there. I have included some of the links to other sites below, one of the guys I have been watching lessons from is Heath Adams; he has some very good content online and while some are paid; others are free. Do your due diligence and verify who’s teaching any courses you’re taking or videos you’re watching. There is a ton of information out there; while some are from less creditable sources, others are from very creditable sources.
DuckDuckGo-Search-Guide
https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/syntax/
Google-Search-Guide
http://www.googleguide.com/print/adv_op_ref.pdf
Author: Traver Yates 8/13/2022; as always, you can find more information about me here: https://www.wickedyoda.com/about/