Ebook
OSINT Tools and Resources Handbook
i-intelligence, Chris Pallaris and team
The widest free categorised map of OSINT sources. The 2018 PDF is 327 pages and visibly dated; the 2025 edition is a maintained website of over five thousand links. Read it as a taxonomy, not a method.
i-intelligence, a Zurich training company, published its handbook as a free PDF in 2016 and 2018 under a Creative Commons licence, covering search, social media, people investigations, company research, financial information, and much more. The 2025 edition is no longer a PDF: it is a web index across 34 categories, maintained and non-commercially licensed.
Worth it if
- You want a map of what kinds of sources exist before you learn any technique
- You write team glossaries or SOPs and need category names
- You need a search tool for a country or data type you have never worked in
Skip it if
- You want method, verification, or ethics; it is a link list by design
- You are using the 2018 PDF for live links; many are dead, including whole sections for defunct services
What is inside
- 01
Search
General, meta, visual, national, code, FTP, similar-site, device, and specialty search engines.
- 02
Social media and communities
Major networks, real-time search, per-platform tools, forums, and question sites.
- 03
People investigations
People search, addresses, public records, ancestry, phone, email, username, resumes, experts, and creating a research account.
- 04
Companies and finance
Business registers by region and financial information sources.
- 05
Everything else
The 2025 site runs to 34 categories including imagery, domains, dark web, and data tools.
What you will be able to do
- Name the category of source you need for a given question
- Find a starting tool for an unfamiliar country or data type
- Build your own curated list from a credible base
How current it is
The web edition is maintained, with terms updated in late 2025. The 2018 PDF is the last downloadable edition and includes sections for services that no longer exist. Prefer the site; keep the PDF for offline reference only.
- Updated
- 2025 web edition; last PDF 2018
- Maintained
- Actively maintained
How to get the most from it
- 01
Use the website, not the PDF
The PDF is a snapshot of 2018. The site is kept up.
- 02
Read category names, then verify entries
Inclusion is not endorsement, and no directory can keep every link alive.
- 03
Pair it with a method text
A map tells you where things are, not what to do when you get there.
Strengths
- Breadth
- Openly licensed
- Maintained web edition
Limitations
- No method
- PDF badly dated
- Non-commercial licence on the new site
Pair it with
FAQ
Questions, answered
Is there a 2025 PDF?
No. The 2025 edition is a website. The last PDF is from June 2018.
Can I use it commercially?
The 2018 PDF is CC BY. The 2025 website is CC BY-NC, so commercial reuse of its content needs permission.
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.
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