Free Tool
OSINT Verification Exercise
Open-source intelligence — OSINT — is the skill of finding the truth in information that is already public. This exercise gives you a synthetic case file: four claims about a fictional public event, each with a source. Your job is to verify them using the two-source rule and the four Ds of media verification. No real person, no real data, and a hard rule throughout — publicly available information only, never bypassing a login.
Synthetic data only, and a hard boundary. Every person, place and source in this exercise is fictional. Real OSINT uses publicly available information only — it never bypasses logins, passwords or access controls, and it is not hacking.
What this tool does
OSINT is the collection and analysis of information that is already public: news reports, social media posts, public records, maps, photographs. Journalists, investigators and security researchers use it to verify what happened, and the skill is not finding information — it is judging whether the information is true. A photo can be old, a post can be copied, a quote can be invented, and a claim repeated a hundred times can still be wrong, because repetition is not verification.
This exercise teaches the two habits that make verification work. The first is the two-source rule: a claim is only treated as verified when two independent sources confirm it, and two sources that both copy the same original are one source, not two. The second is the four Ds of media verification — Distortion, Disinformation, Decontextualization and Deepfake — the four ways a piece of media can mislead you, each with its own check. The exercise gives you four claims from a fictional case file, each with a source, and asks you to judge each one: verified, needs a second source, or fails the four Ds.
The exercise is built for beginners who want to learn OSINT from scratch, and it follows the roadmap in the OSINT guide on this site: learn the cycle, practise on synthetic cases, and only then work with real public data — always within the law, always on information that is genuinely public, and never on a real person without a legitimate reason.
Try it
Case file — fictional. A post claims a protest happened in the fictional town of Millbridge yesterday, with a photo and a quote from a named local official. Verify four claims from the case file.
Claim 1 of 4
Judge the claim, then read the verification notes.
Score: 0 of 4 — all data in this exercise is synthetic and fictional.
How it works
Verification starts with the source. Who published this, when, and what is their track record? A claim from a source with a history of accuracy counts for more than the same claim from an unknown account, and a claim from an official source counts for more than a claim from a post that cites nobody. The exercise makes you ask that question for each claim, and it shows you the trap that catches beginners: two sources that both copied the same press release, the same photo or the same wire report are not two sources. Independence is what the two-source rule requires, and copying is not independence.
The four Ds are the second habit. Distortion is a real image or fact presented misleadingly — a cropped photo, a quote taken out of context. Disinformation is a claim invented to deceive. Decontextualization is real media from the wrong time or place — a photo of a protest in one city, presented as a protest in another. Deepfake is synthetic media, generated or altered to show something that never happened. Each D has its own check: a reverse image search for the photo's real date and place, a search for the quote's original context, a look at the metadata and the source's history, and — for video — a check of the details that generators get wrong.
The exercise ends with the rule that governs all OSINT: publicly available information only. That means information anyone can see without a login, a password or an access control — and it means OSINT is not hacking. It does not involve unauthorised access, it does not bypass a login, and it does not target a private person. The boundary is what keeps OSINT legal and ethical, and it is stated on every OSINT page on this site.
Limitations
This exercise uses a synthetic case file with fictional people, places and sources. Real verification is harder: sources conflict, evidence is incomplete, and some claims cannot be verified at all — and the honest answer then is that they are unverified, not that they are false. A good score here means you understand the method, not that you are ready to investigate real events.
- The exercise covers four claims and the two-source rule. Real investigations involve dozens of claims, conflicting sources and judgement calls that no exercise can simulate.
- The four Ds are a starting point, not a complete method. Image forensics, metadata analysis and source-network analysis are deeper skills, covered in the OSINT guide linked below.
- OSINT is not hacking. It uses publicly available information only and never bypasses logins, passwords or access controls.
Examples
Example 1 — the photo's real date. A post claims a photo shows a protest in Millbridge yesterday. A reverse image search finds the same photo published a year ago, from a different town. That is decontextualization: real media, wrong time and place. The claim fails, even though the photo itself is genuine.
Example 2 — two sources, one original. Two news sites both report that 5,000 people attended the protest. Both cite the same police statement, word for word. That is one source, not two — the two-source rule requires independence, and copying is not independence. The number is unconfirmed until a second, independent source is found.
Example 3 — the invented quote. A post attributes a dramatic quote to a named local official. The official's office has no record of it, the quote appears nowhere else, and the account that published it was created yesterday. That is disinformation: a claim invented to deceive, and it fails the check on the source alone, before the content is even examined.
Frequently asked questions
What is OSINT?
Open-source intelligence: finding and analysing information that is already public — news, social media, public records, maps, photographs. It is used by journalists, investigators and security researchers to verify what happened.
What is the two-source rule?
A claim is only treated as verified when two independent sources confirm it. Two sources that both copy the same original — the same press release, the same photo, the same wire report — are one source, not two.
What are the four Ds of media verification?
Distortion (a real fact presented misleadingly), Disinformation (a claim invented to deceive), Decontextualization (real media from the wrong time or place) and Deepfake (synthetic media showing something that never happened). Each has its own check.
Is OSINT the same as hacking?
No. OSINT uses publicly available information only — what anyone can see without a login or a password. It never bypasses logins, passwords or access controls, and it does not involve unauthorised access.
How do I start learning OSINT?
Learn the cycle first, practise on synthetic cases like this one, and only then work with real public data. The OSINT guide on this site gives the sequenced roadmap, the tools, and the legal and ethical boundaries.