OSINT Academy Week 2

This week, we learned about the term "Managed Attribution," which is defined as " the ability to remain cloaked, anonymous, unnoticed, while conducting online investigations."

Virtual Machines

We learned about the different host software used to manage virtual machines. The two most popular are Virtualbox and VMWare. We learned how to properly configure our VM hosts, and the system requirements needed for them to perform properly.

We learned how to properly manage virtual machines to ensure we have a clean and isolated platform for our investigations. We learned about good "Operational Security" and the importance of encrypting our communication with our clients.

Protecting Myself and My Computer

These are some of the other topics I learned about this week:

• Monitoring the exposure of myself, my family and my company
• Importance of updating anti-virus/anti-malware software
• Importance of keeping web browsers and other software up-to-date
• How to ensure all cache is properly cleared on web browsers
• The need for a secondary phone (burner) for the creation of "research accounts"

We learned how to properly protect our company by keeping legal obligations in mind and knowing when to reach out for additional clarity. We also learned how to adjust the threshold of security for various types of cases, and the importance of good note-taking and documentation practices.

It was a very informative week!