Open Source Intelligence Laboratory (OSI Lab)

The Open Source Intelligence (OSI) Lab produces two types of research:

1. scholarly research for peer-reviewed publications and
2. applied open source research reports for external clients and stakeholders.

The diversity in our research products requires us to use a variety of data collection methodologies, analysis techniques, and software programs. Our scholarly research projects draw from data collection and analysis techniques ranging from content analysis to bibliometric analyses. In our applied research we use industry-standard software programs, such as ArcGIS tools, i2 Analyst’s Notebook, and Maltego. These tools provide student research assistants the opportunity to learn how to use tools that will make them competitive for job and internship opportunities.

Researchers and collaborators at OSI Lab come from a interdisciplinary backgrounds, such as public administration, information science, computer science, and cybersecurity. In addition, we partner with other laboratories at CEHC, including the Cyber Range and Center for Advanced Red Teaming. OSI Lab draws students from a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs in information science, emergency management, and homeland security.
 

Leadership

Stephen Coulthart 
Director, Open Source Intelligence Lab
Associate Professor, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, Cybersecurity

Dr. Brian Nussbaum
Assistant professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC) at the University at Albany.

He also serves as an affiliate scholar at the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) at Stanford Law School.  His research has been published in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, the Journal of Cyber Policy, Computer Law & Security Review, the Journal of Financial Crime, Public Integrity, and Business Horizons.  He formerly served as senior intelligence analyst with the New York State Office of Counter Terrorism (OCT); and has worked broadly as an instructor of intelligence analysis for both university students and practitioners.
 

Center for Advanced Red Teaming

As the first academic center devoted to advancing the art and science of red teaming, the Center for Advanced Red Teaming (CART) seeks to address a conspicuous need, identified by practitioners, for both research and education in this growing area of security studies. Launched in November 2019, the Center conducts multiple types of red teaming as part of its research and education efforts. Learn move by visiting the Center for Advanced Red Teaming (CART) website.
 

Advisory Board

• Richard Denholm
  JD, Director at A1C Partners LLC, FBI Supervisory Special Agent and FBIHQ Unit Chief (retired)
• Carmen Medina
  Senior Analytic Manager, Central Intelligence Agency
• Arno H.P. Reuser
  Founder and director Reuser's Information Services, Founder and manager (ret.) Open Source Intelligence Branch NLMOD (1990-2013)
• Efren Torres
  Founder of the Global Hazards & Open-Source Team (GHOST), private sector OSINT analyst
• Tyler Wrightson
  Founder, Leet Cybersecurity

Creating a Formal Definition of Open Source Intelligence

The term “open source intelligence” (OSINT) is used widely but little agreement exists between practitioners and researchers about the specific meaning of the term--other than it involves the collection of publicly available information. Specialists in fields as diverse as investigative journalism and cyber security use the term but seemingly in different ways.  The purpose of this project is to survey scholarly and practitioner documents to determine the core areas of research on OSINT.  Using hundreds of documents collected from bibliographic databases, such s Google Scholar and Dimensions, the researchers will collect all relevant documents on OSINT in the last thirty years.  A content and bibliometric analysis of the corpus will identify clusters of activity and culminate in an overarching OSINT definition. The resulting survey of the field and definition will create a unified understanding and open up future areas of research.

Researchers: Stephen Coulthart 

Student Collaborators: Madison Casillo

Concept map of keywords extracted from hundreds of journal articles and reports

PubDocEx - Public Document Exploitation

This project focuses on the discovery, use, and exploitation of publicly available and legally released official documents (not leaked documents) – especially government documents – to achieve understanding and insight about security programs that are not well documented or well publicized.  This OSINT approach and analysis can inform both traditional security or intelligence assessments, as well as academic and policy research.  Often seemingly secretive or obscure security programs and measures can actually be documented and understood by creating a mosaic of small bits of publicly available information.

Researchers: Brian Nussbaum

Publications

• Hyman, A., Nussbaum, B., Bencivenga, M., & Rizzo, Z. (2022, March). Critical Systems Protection (CSP): The US Secret Service’s Tactical Cyber Capability for Securing Protectees. In International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 552-558).
• Lanz, Z. (2022). Cybersecurity Risk in US Critical Infrastructure: An Analysis of Publicly Available US Government Alerts and Advisories. International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime, 5(1), 43-70.
• Nussbaum, B., & Doherty, J. E. (2021). Italy’s Guardia di Finanza: policing financial crime and domestic security in a changing world. Journal of Financial Crime.
  
   

Developing Curriculum and a Software Tool for Teaching Machine Learning to Non-Programmers

Machine learning (ML) is an important tool for leveraging the ever-growing volume of open source information. Fueled by technological advancements in computing and controversies surrounding bulk data collection, it will remain a focus for the foreseeable future.  However, teaching the fundamentals of ML to students outside Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is difficult due to the technical nature of the topic.  Two research questions will drive the activities of this project: (1) What properties should data science tools have to be used and trusted by users without programming skills? (2) What instructional materials are needed to augment data science tools to aid users without programming skills? To address the research questions, the investigators will develop prototype point-and-click data science tools for most common data mining applications along with a module of training materials that can be slotted into a university-level course.

Researchers: Shahriar Hossain (University of Texas at El Paso), Stephen Coulthart, Kathleen Vogel (Arizona State University), Chris Kampe (North Carolina State University)

Student Collaborators: Jessica Sumrall
 

Easy ML Online Tool for teaching machine learning concepts to non-programmers

Publications

P de Werd, S Coulthart, G Pili, J Gaspard, C Ivan, HB Jaffel, S Larsson, D Rogers, H Bean, H Örden, C Kaunert, S Newbery. (2024). Special Forum on intelligence and theory. Intelligence and National Security, 1-24.

S Coulthart, M Shahriar Hossain, J Sumrall, C Kampe, KM Vogel. (2024). Data-Science literacy for future security and intelligence professionals. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism 19 (1), 40-60. 

S Coulthart, A Rorissa. (2023). Growth, diversification, and disconnection: an analysis of 70 years of intelligence scholarship (1950-2020). Intelligence and National Security 38 (6), 1003-1019. 

S Coulthart, S Marrin. (2023). Where to submit: a guide to publishing intelligence studies articles. Intelligence and National Security 38 (4), 643-653. 

S Coulthart, S Keller, M Young. (2023). What ChatGPT Can and Can’t Do for Intelligence. Lawfare.

S Brennan, S Coulthart, B Nussbaum. (2023). The Brave New World of Third Party Location Data. Journal of Strategic Security 16 (2), 81-95. 

S Coulthart, R Riccucci. (2022). Putting Big Data to Work in Government: The Case of the United States Border Patrol. Public Administration Review 82 (2), 280-289. 

S Coulthart, R Riccucci. (2021). Improving Big Data Integration and Building a Data Culture for U.S. Border Security. Homeland Security Project Policy Paper Series. 

S Coulthart, M Maloney, R Turley. (2021). Where in the World is Baghdadi? Refining a Methodology for Finding National Security Fugitives. The International Journal of Intelligence, Security, and Public Affairs 23 (1), 63-80.

S Coulthart. (2020). Big Data in Border Security: An Exploratory Study of the United States Border Patrol. 2020 APPAM Fall Research Conference. 

M Landon-Murray, S Coulthart. (2020). Intelligence studies programs as US public policy: a survey of IC CAE grant recipients. Intelligence and National Security 35 (2), 269-282. 

S Coulthart, M Landon-Murray, D Van Puyvelde. (2019). Researching National Security Intelligence: Multidisciplinary Approaches. Georgetown University Press. 

S Coulthart. (2019). From laboratory to the WMD Commission: how academic research influences intelligence agencies. Intelligence and National Security 34 (6), 818-832. 

S Coulthart, M Landon-Murray, D Van Puyvelde. (2019). Introduction: a pluralistic approach to intelligence scholarship. Researching National Security Intelligence. Georgetown University Press: Washington D.C., 1-8.

S Coulthart, M Landon-Murray, D Van Puyvelde. (2019). Conclusion: the past, present, and future of intelligence research. Researching National Security Intelligence. Georgetown University Press: Washington D.C., 225-235. 

S Coulthart. (2019). Speak of the Devil: Simulating Competitive Analysis in the Classroom. The Art of Intelligence: More Simulations, Exercises, and Games, 120.

News

2023

CEHC Adds New Research Labs in Open Source Intelligence, Smart Device Security. (May 25, 2023). UAlbany News Center.

CEHC’s Open Source Intelligence Lab Partners on New Drone Detection Software. (July 18, 2023). UAlbany News Center.

UAlbany Summer: CEHC Senior Interns at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. (Sept. 5, 2023). UAlbany News Center.