Topic

Social media has become one of the richest sources of publicly available information, offering real time insight into people, events, and emerging trends. Yet many investigators are not fully tapping into the depth of data these platforms provide or the techniques required to analyze it...

In a world where nearly every action leaves a trace, understanding your digital footprint is essential. Many people do not realize how easily their personal information can appear online or how that data can be collected, analyzed, and used in ways they never...

Every investigator relies on a set of trusted tools to make sense of the vast amount of information available online, but knowing which resources to use and when to use them is what sets strong OSINT work apart. Many analysts are familiar with popular platforms yet are not fully aware of the...

OSINT, Knowledge Ecology, and the Myth of the Quick Fix Open-source intelligence is entering a new phase. The discipline is no longer defined primarily by collection or access, but by interpretation, amplification, and consequence. That shift reflects a deeper reality. OSINT now operates inside a...

At Hetherington Group, we not only pride ourselves on the work that we do to help people regain their digital privacy, but we also educate people on things they can do going forward to limit their digital exposure. In honor of digital privacy week, we wanted to share some of our knowledge and...

In January 2026, Business Insider published an investigation detailing how a viral Reddit post alleging systemic exploitation inside a major food delivery platform was, in fact, an AI-driven hoax (Parmar, 2026). The anonymous poster claimed to be a whistleblower bound by a non-disclosure...

As 2025 draws to a close, one truth has become clear over the last 12 months: the need for open-source intelligence (OSINT) expertise and tradecraft only continues to grow. This year, Hetherington Group’s OSINT Academy saw a record number of professionals trained in open-source...

The fear of physical violence is the main reason Executive Protection (EP) teams and Physical Security specialists reach out to Hg. As referenced in my previous two blogs, most people use our Digital Vulnerability Program because of fear of physical harm to themselves or their family....

In my previous blog, we covered the importance of a comprehensive strategy for Digital Executive Protection (DEP) that goes beyond Personally Identifiable Information (PII) removal. In this second blog in the series, I want to address the role of social media data in DEP and how a comprehensive...