OSINT book
Extreme Privacy
Michael Bazzell
A task-oriented privacy and disappearance manual: accounts, data brokers, devices, and lifestyle compartmentation. Investigators read it to understand how subjects (and themselves) leave or erase traces — not as a substitute for an OSINT search syllabus.
Who it’s for
- Investigators who need to understand subject OpSec
- Practitioners hardening their own investigation accounts
- Privacy-minded readers outside investigation work
What you get
- Structured privacy tasks across accounts, devices, and lifestyle
- A mirror image of people-search: where traces get cut
- Print and digital editions via IntelTechniques
How to use it
- 01
Separate job OpSec from personal privacy
Workplace policy may forbid some steps. Adapt; do not blindly follow disappearance playbooks on a corporate laptop.
- 02
Use it to reverse-engineer seams
When a subject is careful, this book explains which public traces usually remain — and which are gone for good.
Strengths
- Concrete, task-based privacy craft
- Updated across editions like the OSINT Techniques line
- Makes OpSec failures (and successes) legible
Watch out for
- Aggressive steps can conflict with law, policy, or employment terms
- Not an OSINT collection manual — pair with a techniques book
Related in the directory
- BookRead
OSINT Techniques
The practical field manual most investigators mean when they say “the Bazzell book.” Current editions focus on self-hosted VMs, people and social search, breach and stealer data, and a repeatable investigation workflow — not theory for its own sake.
- NewsletterRead
IntelTechniques
Books, tools, training, blog, and magazine updates from Michael Bazzell — the hub behind OSINT Techniques and Extreme Privacy. More publisher ecosystem than a classic tip newsletter.
- CommunityRead
IntelTechniques forum
Formerly a threaded forum around privacy, OSINT, and the Bazzell manuals. The public forum URL now 404s. Start from the IntelTechniques hub for blog, books, and training instead.
FAQ
Questions, answered
What is Extreme Privacy?
A task-oriented privacy and disappearance manual: accounts, data brokers, devices, and lifestyle compartmentation. Investigators read it to understand how subjects (and themselves) leave or erase traces — not as a substitute for an OSINT search syllabus.
Who is this book for?
Investigators who need to understand subject OpSec; Practitioners hardening their own investigation accounts. You’ll get: Structured privacy tasks across accounts, devices, and lifestyle; A mirror image of people-search: where traces get cut.