Community
SANS OSINT Summit
SANS Institute, chaired by Matt Edmondson
A yearly summit of practitioner talks, in the United States and now Europe, with a free online tier in 2025 and 2026. The 2027 US edition is in person only, so check the format before you plan on free access.
The SANS OSINT Summit gathers named practitioners for a day or two of case studies and tool talks, alongside a week of paid training. In 2026 it ran in Arlington in March with a free live-online stream and chat, and separately in Amsterdam in June. The 2027 edition, co-located with the CTI Summit in February, lists a paid in-person ticket and no free online tier.
Worth it if
- You want a day of talks from people who run OSINT courses and cases
- You can attend online in a year the free tier is offered
- You are considering SANS training and want to meet the instructors
Skip it if
- You need guaranteed free access; it changes year to year
- You want a community rather than an event
What is inside
- 01
Talks
Case studies and tool demonstrations; 2026 Amsterdam included sessions on fundamentals over buttonology, North Korean IT-worker schemes, and displaced children.
- 02
Solutions track and expo
Sponsor webcasts and vendor presence.
- 03
Training week
Paid SANS courses in the days after the summit.
What you will be able to do
- See a year of the field's work summarised in a day
- Hear instructors before you pay for their courses
- Find talks later in the summit archive
How current it is
Active. The 2027 summit is scheduled for February in Virginia, in person only, with a listed summit-only price. Whether 2026 recordings are public is unverified.
- Updated
- 2026 editions held; 2027 announced for February
- Maintained
- Actively maintained
How to get the most from it
- 01
Check the free tier each year
It existed in 2025 and 2026 and is absent from the 2027 page.
- 02
Mine the summit archive
Past decks are listed with a free SANS account.
Strengths
- Named practitioners
- Free online access in some years
- An archive
Limitations
- Not a community
- Free tier not guaranteed
- Training is expensive
Pair it with
- ReadCoursePaidIntermediate
SANS SEC497: Practical Open-Source Intelligence
The course the summit chair wrote.
- ReadCommunityFree + paidIntermediate
OSMOSIS Association and OSMOSISCon
The other US professional gathering, association-run.
- ReadCommunityFreeAll levelsRun by OSINTverse
OSINTCon
A free virtual conference with recordings.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Is it free?
The 2025 and 2026 editions offered a free live-online tier. The 2027 page lists an in-person ticket only.
Are talks recorded?
Approved recordings and decks go to registrants first; some decks appear later in the public summit archive.
Learned the method? Practise it on real data
The resources above teach the craft. When you want to run real lookups across breach, people, domain, and crypto sources without opening a dozen vendor accounts, that is what SearchIn is for.
- Free account, no card
- Credits never expire
- Refund unused balance in 7 days