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Foreknowledge #6

August 17, 2012

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In reaction to a question from one of the members of the Foreknowledge Group (an eclectic closed group of people who attended 4Knowledge's courses) on what exactly the 4x4 and 5x5 information evaluation systems are the following: The numbers refer to the different grading (1 to 4, 5 or 6) of a specific aspect of information and source evaluation. Usually we would talk about a 4x4 system, but it should actually be 2x4 - meaning we have 2 variables/dimensions that are graded by 4 weightings. Depending on organisational protocols, you would usually grade the: 1) The source's Reliability: the index of the consistent quality of the source reporting the information: Determining factors will be credibility of source, access, etc. The x5 in this case is 1 or A) always reliable, 2 or B) mostly reliable, 3 or C)sometimes reliable 4 or D) Not reliable 5 or E) new source. If you use the x4 system, it will be 1 or A)Reliable (meaning mostly reliable - leaving out the always reliable) 2 or

The evolution of OSINT

The International Relations and Security Network (ISN), ETH Zurich published an excellent report on the history and growth of OSINT late last year. It makes for some interesting reading to understand OSINT in historical context starting with the FBIS reports, I'm showing may age now, but as East Africa intel analyst way back in the late 1980's-early 1990's, the FBIS, EIU, ION in addition to Reuters/AFP and SAPA was our best OSINT! They go on to argue the importance of OSINT and how the discipline has grown. I'm cited as a source in the report, which is pretty cool... The jury is still out on the impact of the Wikileaks saga and more recently, the use of social media in the unrest in Tunisia on how intelligence professionals view open sources and how it can be used in the collection and analysis of intelligence, Those governments and companies that continue to shy away from, or are ignorant about OSINT, will have to face the consequences sooner rather than later.

Foreknowledge #1

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