Learning OSINT through Games
A forward before I get started: Do yourself a favor and read Sector035, MWOSINT(https://keyfindings.blog/), and Hatless1der https://hatless1der.com/ (just to name a few the list could go on and on) as they have all been tremendous resources as I have dived into learning. As I have jumped into OSINT investigations I have realized that a background in board gaming has actually served me surprisingly well as a foundation for certain aspects of investigations.
One thing that can feel overwhelming I think at first is where to start. When you don’t have a background in conducting investigations it can be challenging to not feel inundated by the sheer volume of information you might find when you begin to search.
This brings me to games! Did you know there's a whole genre of modern and classic board games devoted to mimicking a criminal investigation? It’s a fun way to practice your OSINT skills and maybe even get your family/friends involved in a way that's safe (as usually, the subject matter of our OSINT investigations is private or emotionally challenging). These games won’t teach you techniques per se but they will teach you about ways of thinking and collecting information in a structured manner. This list is not meant to be exhaustive but I’ll try to give you some of my favorites and how I think they apply to OSINT.
- Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Series
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective puts you in the shoes of one of the Baker Street Irregulars (Holme’s network of spies and informants). It has you pitting your investigative skills against the great fictional detective to see a) can you solve the mystery b) how did you stack up against Holmes. This game is both delightfully easy to learn while being brutally challenging. You’ll do your best to collect the evidence by reviewing newspaper clippings, traveling around London, and conducting interviews.
What I like about SHCD is the game does not hold your hand AT all. You are given the case setup/overview, a map, and a newspaper from that week, and that's it! The game leaves it entirely up to you how you begin investigating. You can travel to locations via a choose your own adventure-esque mechanic and if you have analyzed correctly you’ll be rewarded with a little more of the story. If not you’ll hit closed doors. Sometimes you have to make intuitive leaps or hazard guesses. Taking good notes becomes crucial because as you progress through several of the cases in the box information from previous cases may become relevant to the current one.
How it applies to OSINT: Pivoting, note-taking and case management, non-linear thinking, inference/logical guessing, and human behavior analysis.
Sherlock is nice because the puzzles are all 100% solvable with only the information at hand. It is great preparation for the moments in an investigation where there is no clear direction in which to go.
2. Unlock Series
Unlock! Is a cooperative puzzle game inspired by escape rooms. You and a team of friends/family will have one hour to go through a deck of sixty cards solving puzzles, finding clues, and trying to complete the scenario objective.
This one is app-enabled so there is a cool technology element that can come into play in many of the puzzles.
How it applies to OSINT: visual analysis, communication/information sharing, non-linear thinking, and pivoting.
I think Unlock’s beauty is that while more linear than SHCD the time crunch creates a very real tension. Sometimes your investigation will be time sensitive. You will need to be able to function under that pressure while still making sense of information that is not always clear how it fits together. Why not practice this in a fun / low pressure situation!?
There are many other games that explore this area but I hope these two get you started on many hours of fun and hopefully knowledge you can apply to investigations. Happy OSinting!
