02 People Search
People search is the most sensitive OSINT subcategory. It resolves an identity from partial information (a name, an email, a username, a photo) and connects it to public records, social accounts, and professional history. Done carelessly, it produces attribution errors and privacy harm. Done well, it is auditable and proportionate to the requirement.
Scope
- Identity resolution: name, email, username, phone, photo.
- Social media platforms and their search surfaces.
- Public records: corporate registries, court filings, property records.
- Professional history: LinkedIn, GitHub, conference talks.
- Verification: disambiguation, cross-platform corroboration.
Files
| # | File | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | People Search Fundamentals | Two-track |
| 02 | Identity Resolution | Two-track |
| 03 | Social Media Collection | Two-track |
| 04 | Public Records | Two-track |
All four files in this subcategory are published.
Format
Two-track (Offensive / Defensive) plus a ## Pentest and Red Team Application section. See the category README for the
full skeleton and the legal notes.
Related
- 01 OSINT Methodology - collection planning and source evaluation.
- 03 Infrastructure OSINT - domains, certificates, cloud assets.
- 04 Social Media and Content - platform-specific collection.
- 05 Corporate and Business OSINT - registries, filings, employee mapping.
References
- OSINT Framework - https://osintframework.com/
- Bellingcat's Online Investigation Toolkit - https://bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit
- Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations - https://www.ohchr.org/en/publications/policy-and-methodological-publications/berkeley-protocol-digital-open-source-investigations
- NIST SP 800-53 (Privacy controls) - https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/53/r5/upd1/final