Open Source Intelligence Gathering Practice 3

Hi, throughout this repository you’ll find information on Open Source Intelligence Gathering that I hope can provide anyone with assistance to better their skills. I have the intention of publishing these on Medium, so be on the lookout for that.

Useful Links

OSINT Analysis & Practice

Tools Used

• Google
• Google Earth
• Wikipedia

Problem

Welcome to OSINT exercise #003!

Task briefing: In April 2017 Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, the then president of Somalia, visited Turkey. A news agency published a photo where he was seen shaking hands with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the country’s president. The article did not disclose where the photo was taken. Your task is to find out the name and coordinates of the location seen below.

Click here to see the photo on its own.

Location: Presidential Complex in Turkey Coordinates: 39.9308 N 32.7989 E

Solution + Thought Process

1. Taking from the information provided in the task briefing, we can start with a simple google search to find out more about this photo…

1. The google search produced some decent results. Taking a look at one of the image results gives us a different angle of the photo provided to us. Doing a little more snooping reveals images that give hints for us to look into next…

1. A few things to take away from these photos.

   • The two gold emblems on the door behind the men in the photo
   • The red seal on the top
   • Every photo highlights the light blue rug. This stands out in particular.

2. Along with these observations, we see a couple of references to the location being called the “Presidential Palace”. Doing some thinking, we can make another google search to see if this is possibly the place in question.

1. The top google search results brings us to a Wikipedia page of what appears to be the Presidential Complex located in Turkey. A simple google search of the complex reveals an image that shows the light blue rug that we observed earlier. This confirms the location in the photo!

1. We are also given the coordinates on the Wikipedia page, which should give us everything we need to finish out this problem

Takeaways

1. Landmark elements in photos can be helpful in identifying an area you may be unfamilliar with