The OSINT4Fun Project

The OSINT4Fun project aims to combat disinformation through an educational and fun approach. Composed of academics and members of civil society, OSINT4Fun aims to popularize the methods and tools classically used in OSINT in order to encourage their appropriation by citizens.

The main objectives are:

  • Providing educational resources: the platform produces and makes available free and reusable content tailored to different audiences. It is aimed at individuals, as well as teachers or popular education associations, for example, in the context of media and information literacy. These resources include:
    • Tutorials on OSINT tools and methodologies.
    • In-depth reports on specific topics.
    • Educational and entertaining challenges.
  • Encouraging collaboration: OSINT4Fun is a multidisciplinary project that involves diverse skills. It brings together academics and members of civil society while collaborating with national and international partners who jointly explore societal or general interest issues.
  • Promoting critical thinking: by teaching these techniques, OSINT4Fun aims to strengthen citizens' ability to evaluate and interpret information, thus contributing to the fight against misinformation, which may be one of the greatest threats to democracies. Information manipulation blurs the lines between truth and falsehood, exacerbates polarization, and has severe social, economic, and health consequences.

All productions are royalty-free, the goal being to create a public and reusable common fund. We have chosen the Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

A Discord server is in place for people wishing to discuss our projects: https://discord.gg/fWpMTvVZjC.

Historical

The OSINT4Fun project is the continuation of the OSINT advent calendar imagined and set up at the end of 2023 by Céline Girardeau and Alain Godon. The story is told in this article of Ouest France.

This first 2023 edition was a huge success, as evidenced by visitor feedback and site statistics. In fact, in just one month:

  • over 15,000 visits, around 800 players
  • visitors from all over the world and dozens of messages of support
  • TOP 5 countries: France, Germany, Poland, United States, Spain

The project perfectly fulfilled its role of initiation to the search for information on the Internet. The OSINT professionals appreciated the "relaxing" side of the small challenges that we presented, while the less experienced discovered tools, techniques and acquired rigor in their search for information.

The steering committee

After an initial experiment with an OSINT advent calendar at the end of 2023, and the success encountered, various colleagues and students from the University of Angers decided to collaborate to continue this introductory work, prior to and/or ancillary to OSINT work, and to go further in training and teaching.

We formed the project steering committee in January 2024, and it is gradually expanding with the arrival of new talents. The committee is working on different projects:

  • The creation of resources such as files and tutorials.
  • The design of educational challenges.
  • The organization of conferences open to all (academics, students, general public).
  • The annual organization of the #adventofosint advent calendar with the development of a network of national and international partners.

The Scientific and Ethics Committee

In order to ensure the quality and scientific rigor of our work, we have set up a scientific and ethics committee. It is composed of personalities who are authorities in their field, and whose work is related to our missions.

This committee may be requested by the steering committee to give its opinion prior to the dissemination of a file. It may also be contacted by any person who questions the work of the steering committee.

OSINT Communities

There are multiple platforms and communities for French speakers around OSINT, often with a privileged domain. Some offer tools, publications, training, exercises, etc. We have set up collaborations, and this is an area that we wish to develop.

Here is a list - not exhaustive - of the main associations:

  • Bellingcat is an international group that investigates all subjects, even sensitive ones: Mexican drug traffickers, crimes against humanity, monitoring the use of chemical weapons, etc.
  • OpenFacto is an association that seeks to unite and promote the French-speaking OSINT scene and offers publications, training and assistance to NGOs.
  • Oscar Zulu is a group of enthusiasts who offer challenges and thematic CTFs, to make OSINT fun and educational.
  • OSINT-FR is the oldest French community whose objective is to democratize OSINT.
  • OSINTOPIA is a French community that offers numerous OSINT challenges for all levels.
  • Projet FOX is a group that promotes OSINT and its applications to crises and armed conflicts.

Our visitors can connect with the platforms or communities that best suit them to truly understand OSINT, which goes far beyond what we currently offer.