OSINT Cowboys Ride Again: From Chaos to Standards in Intelligence Gathering:

The Next Chapter in the Professionalisation of Open-Source Intelligence

Introduction: From "Doing it Wrong" to Getting it Right

In OSINT Cowboys: A Beginner's Guide (To Doing it Wrong!), we examined the dangers of open-source intelligence (OSINT) in the hands of individuals who lack proper training or believe they are already suitably skilled. The article looked at a group of novice investigators - "the OSINT cowboys" - who gravitate toward using more gut feelings than investigative procedure and more glitzy tools than robust processes. Their mistakes were technical errors, legal faux pas, and shortcuts in analysis, all of which led to the risk that OSINT as a professional discipline could come under intense scrutiny and be discredited.

However, detecting these shortcomings is only the starting point. The real objective has to be to transform OSINT from a wild-west free-for-all into a respectable, credible, and professional discipline. As digital forensics has in the past, OSINT must adopt common standards, with input from both private and public sectors, in order to maintain its value in investigative and legal contexts.

This next chapter in the OSINT cowboys' story explains the building blocks that are required to begin the process of standardising OSINT methodologies and creating an environment where wild-west antics become outlawed.

Just as the old six-shooter revolver symbolised the OSINT cowboy’s tendency to shoot all six bullets in the chamber and ask questions later, today’s OSINT professional must operate to a new standard - a 12-round magazine that represents not only greater capacity, but also reliability and integrity.

Standardisation will mean that OSINT practitioners can operate with greater confidence, and with a more robust, defensible, and ethical approach.

In the following section, we’ll load up our 12-round magazine with the essential topics that will help transform the OSINT cowboy into a true professional, producing results that would withstand the scrutiny of any formal proceeding.

From Six-Shooter to 12-Round Magazine: 12 Building Blocks of Professional OSINT

1. Technical Infrastructure and Tool Selection: From Convenience to Competence

Cowboy investigators primarily employ consumer-level tools that are not made for professional-grade investigations. The issue is not just in the bad selection of tools but also in their unfamiliarity with their limitations and forensic integrity. Many continue to employ outdated, unsupported, or even compromised platforms without realising the risks these pose, both to the integrity of their investigations and the legality of their findings.

Choosing the right tool starts with a clearly stated investigation goal. After that, how well a tool integrates into the overall workflow, substitutes for or complements the current infrastructure, and works within budget constraints are all important factors which must be considered. All of this, though, is for nothing if the tool compromises security or raises ethical issues. Security audits, open vendor accountability, and extensive documentation are paramount.

In particular, professional-grade OSINT activity must include some form of two-tool validation, similar to digital forensics. This involves correlating results on independent tools to ensure consistency and reliability. Tools must be updated with periodic updates, backups, and maintenance. Developers and maintainers must be prepared to justify their work under public interrogation, before courts of law, or during formal proceedings or internal audits.

2. Browser and Device Hygiene: Your Tools Are Watching You

A less noticeable but still hazardous issue is how the investigators use their equipment. Cowboys routinely perform their investigations using browsers with stored passwords, history, and cookies, leaving behind a forensic trace that hampers their anonymity and data integrity. As Casey notes, “Forensic tools and investigators themselves can leave traces of their activity on the target system... Such artefacts can compromise the integrity of the investigation, reveal investigative techniques, or even expose the investigator’s identity.” (Casey, 2011)

Professional investigators should isolate working environments using sandboxed browsers or virtual machines. They should be aware that cookies, browser fingerprinting, and tracking pixels can secretly indicate their presence to the targets they are tracking. OSINT practitioners must shift their mindset by considering the investigation environment a crime scene, where anything might be used against them or for them.

3. Legal and Compliance Frameworks: The Rules of Engagement

The virtual world is borderless, but the law is not. OSINT researchers working in different domains who are unaware of the applicable laws put themselves at risk of harsh punishments. Non-compliance with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, or computer abuse laws in a nation can attract civil fines and criminal charges.

An advanced OSINT programme also includes a jurisdictional awareness step in the planning phase. This involves examining the legislation that governs public vs. semi-private access to information and applying evidentiary admissibility requirements across geographies. In addition, investigators must create extensive contemporaneous documentation of their activity. This creates an audit trail for legal discovery, ensures evidence integrity, and protects the organisation from failing to deal effectively with legal scrutiny.

4. Human Factors and Bias: Fallibility in the Field

OSINT failures are not always technical. Psychology is often the weakest link. New investigators inadvertently disclose their presence to targets, especially when they do not understand how social media algorithms maximise visibility. A click here, a follow there, and the case is blown.

Moreover, investigators may also succumb to cognitive traps. Confirmation bias causes them to rely on evidence selectively in favour of assumptions, and tunnel vision prevents examination of other hypotheses. Without the safety net of systematic analytical techniques or reasonable peer review procedures, the result is biased, incomplete, or dangerously misleading.

Professional development should include training in cognitive bias mitigation, operational compartmentalisation, and regular, structured peer review. OSINT research is more an intellectual activity than a technical one, requiring rigour, scepticism, and ongoing self-awareness.

5. Team Coordination: Intelligence Is a Team Sport

Cowboy-style operators generally work alone and share sensitive information on insecure media like WhatsApp or Slack. This produces enormous operational security (OPSEC) risks and undermines team coordination, making it volatile and unpredictable.

Teams need briefing and debriefing procedures, secure communication facilities, and role-based access controls to operate effectively as a cohesive unit. Documentation and preservation of transferred investigations between parties should follow standardised reporting templates. Insufficient preparation by team members and poor quality assurance can easily undermine a potentially important investigation.

6. Counterintelligence and Technological Threats: The Game Has Changed

Threat actors are now not just hiding - they're striking back with sophisticated counterintelligence operations. Investigators must deal with adversaries who can conduct counter-surveillance, deceit, and cyber-disinformation campaigns. Organised crime groups have evolved beyond traditional methods, now leveraging the dark web as a secure platform for coordinating operations and establishing intelligence marketplaces where sensitive data, law enforcement information, and investigative details are bought and sold. These groups deploy extensive intelligence-gathering networks, collecting information on law enforcement personnel, judicial proceedings, and investigative techniques. They also use honeypots, false identities, and artificially created content designed to mislead and entrap investigators, while simultaneously conducting their own surveillance operations against those pursuing them. This creates a complex adversarial environment where criminals operate with near-governmental levels of sophistication in their counterintelligence capabilities.

Cowboys, unaware of this potential, are often outperformed. Professional investigators stay ahead by constantly enhancing their skills. They identify mechanisms for deepfake detection, adapt to new platforms such as decentralised social networks, and integrate blockchain tracing into their toolkit.

Keeping pace is not optional. The OSINT environment is evolving rapidly, both technically and legally, and investigators must keep pace to be effective and safeguarded.

7. Quality Assurance: Lessons from Success and Failure

Recent legal literature and case summaries acknowledge several vital issues with OSINT evidence in European courts.

• OSINT evidence is often scrutinised for its chain of custody, data integrity, verification, source clarity, and acquisition method. Courts may rule evidence inadmissible if these elements are not well documented or if the collection method is not transparent or reliable.

• Challenges with OSINT-derived evidence include unverified tools, incomplete logs, and unreliable or unclear timestamps, which can undermine the evidentiary value and admissibility in legal proceedings.

• Legal experts and practitioners emphasise that failures involving log detail, timing accuracy, and data provenance can lead to evidence being wholly or partially excluded in court, especially when legal standards such as reliability and reproducibility are not met.

These examples illustrate the practical consequences of adhering to - or not adhering to - best practices in handling digital evidence, and cowboys rarely possess the knowledge to meet the required standards.

8. From Lone Guns to Organised Frameworks: Implementation at Scale

Organisations that wish to adopt OSINT practices must view it as a formal capability rather than an ad-hoc test. That starts with clearly articulated policies within existing security protocols, risk assessments, and case management frameworks.

Staff must be trained, competency must be evaluated, and compliance must be verified against internal and external standards through regular audits. As with incident response or digital forensics, OSINT requires a set of repeatable, accountable procedures.

Risk must be considered holistically. A compromised investigation may have monetary, legal, and reputational repercussions. Insurance policies, stakeholder communication plans, and incident response plans must all address OSINT-specific threats.

9. The Future of OSINT: AI, Privacy, and Professional Ethics

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising OSINT, but it faces challenges. Machine systems may misinterpret context, generate hallucinations, or reinforce any biases present in their training data. Human oversight remains essential. AI should assist, not replace, the investigative mind.

At the same time, privacy-beneficial technologies like encryption, decentralised platforms, and zero-knowledge systems limit the visibility on which OSINT relies. Investigators must exercise caution in balancing investigative needs with privacy rights, public interests, and human dignity.

That equilibrium is ultimately moral. A systematic, professional OSINT process includes frameworks for ethical decision-making, escalation mechanisms, and principles for responsible handling of sensitive information. Ethics cannot be an afterthought - it must be central.

10. Documentation and Reporting

We know that cowboys dislike the burden of having to document every step they take and report every outcome, especially those that are unfavourable to their case. However, the era of the cowboy-style report is ending. Thorough documentation and clear reporting procedures are essential for the integrity and effectiveness of OSINT investigations. These procedures also serve as a safeguard, ensuring that every part of the investigative process - sources, methods, and findings - is recorded. This creates a clear audit trail for any future legal review.

Well-structured reports also help transform complex findings into actionable intelligence for decision-makers, while maintaining compliance with data protection laws and ethical standards.

Ultimately, robust documentation and reporting practices are essential for transparency and accountability and are a necessary step toward OSINT standardisation.

11. Community and Collaboration: Fostering Community Development and Active Mentorship for the Future of OSINT.

OSINT cowboys love the limelight - they enjoy showing people how clever they were to have access to personal data, no matter the methods or the purpose. However, unsurprisingly, they are often reluctant to share methods or offer advice unless it makes them look good - a stance that is a direct contradiction of the cornerstones of a thriving OSINT field - community and collaboration.

By fostering mentorship, experienced practitioners can guide newcomers, helping them navigate both technical challenges and ethical dilemmas. Advocacy within the community promotes responsible use, ethical standards, and the elevation of OSINT as a recognised and disciplined profession. Organisations like Valinor Intelligence and UK OSINT Community exemplify this spirit by uniting professionals, sharing resources, and creating opportunities for collaboration and growth. Others, such as Forensic OSINT, publish regular newsletters, sharing expertise and resources with a growing and enthusiastic community of followers.

Through shared events, networking, and reinvestment in talent development, these communities cultivate a sense of belonging and a shared vision for the future - one where open-source intelligence is not only technically advanced but also ethically grounded and inclusive.

Experienced OSINT and investigations professionals will always recognise the value in mentoring those at the start of their careers—not because it makes them look good, but because they recognise that the transformation of OSINT from the wild-west to a discipline that is standardised and professionalised globally requires practitioners to understand how important it is to avoid wild-west antics.

12. Why OSINT Standards Matter - More Than Ever Before

OSINT stands at a turning point. Because abuse is more prevalent, the law is more focused on it than ever before, and threats have become increasingly advanced. Standards must be created for the public and private sectors to use, as digital forensics did a decade ago. They must address tool validation, audit logs, training, ethics, and methodology.

Without a solid foundation of professionalism, OSINT risks being thoroughly discredited. However, clear frameworks, peer accountability, and good governance can help it mature into a respected and influential investigative practice.

Conclusion: Time to Hang Up the Spurs

The cowboy OSINT age - where improvisation, gut instinct, and making it up as you go along once defined the field – has to come to a close. The price is too high, and the danger is too serious to allow guesswork and improvisation to rule the field. The consequences of errors, bias, or ethical lapses reach far beyond the investigator – it can tarnish brand image, destroy reputations, put life at risk and even threaten national security. The future of OSINT calls for an organised approach that is, responsible, transparent and ethical.

No longer "What can this tool find?" but "will its use pass the test when it matters – in the courts, in the boardroom or in the eye of the public?"

Modern OSINT is not about chasing the next shiny tool or shortcut but about building processes that withstand scrutiny and challenge, legal review, or any ethical test.

The new standard is one of professionalism: rigorous documentation, peer review, and a commitment to continual learning and improvement.

We need to encourage all cowboys to hang up their spurs, walk out of the last-chance saloon, and transform themselves from lone rangers into collaborative OSINT professionals.

Next Step

The shift from cowboy culture to professional practice requires more than just awareness - it demands tangible action.

Our next article in this series will explore the practical application of OSINT standardisation in greater detail, offering detailed guidelines, proven frameworks, and structured workflows that organisations can implement immediately. We will review specific policies and procedures that have been successfully adopted across both private and public sectors, along with comprehensive process documentation and best practices that have stood up to legal scrutiny. From establishing audit trails and quality assurance protocols to developing training curricula and competency evaluations, we will provide the blueprint for creating a resilient, defensible OSINT capability.

This upcoming piece will act as the practical companion to the theoretical groundwork established here, providing not just the "why" of standardisation, but the essential "how" to enable practitioners and organisations to move beyond the chaos of the wild-west era of open-source intelligence.

Authored by: The Coalition of Cyber Investigators

Paul Wright (United Kingdom) & Neal Ysart (Philippines)

©2025 The Coalition of Cyber Investigators. All rights reserved.

The Coalition of Cyber Investigators is a collaboration between

Paul Wright (United Kingdom) - Experienced Cybercrime, Intelligence (OSINT & HUMINT) and Digital Forensics Investigator;

Neal Ysart (Philippines) - Elite Investigator & Strategic Risk Advisor, Ex-Big 4 Forensic Leader; and

Lajos Antal (Hungary) is a highly experienced expert in cyberforensics, investigations, and cybercrime.

The Coalition unites leading experts to deliver cutting-edge research, OSINT, Investigations, & Cybercrime Advisory Services worldwide.

Our co-founders, Paul Wright and Neal Ysart, offer over 80 years of combined professional experience. Their careers span law enforcement, cyber investigations, open source intelligence, risk management, and strategic risk advisory roles across multiple continents.

They have been instrumental in setting formative legal precedents and stated cases in cybercrime investigations and contributing to the development of globally accepted guidance and standards for handling digital evidence.

Their leadership and expertise form the foundation of the Coalition’s commitment to excellence and ethical practice.

Alongside them, Lajos Antal, a founding member of our Boiler Room Investment Fraud Practice, brings deep expertise in cybercrime investigations, digital forensics, and cyber response, further strengthening our team’s capabilities and reach.

The Coalition of Cyber Investigators, with decades of hands-on experience in cyber investigations and OSINT, is uniquely positioned to support organisations facing complex or high-risk investigations. Our team’s expertise is not just theoretical - it’s built on years of real-world investigations, a deep understanding of the dynamic nature of digital intelligence, and a commitment to the highest evidential standards.