Bookmarks are a key feature in most modern web browsers that allow us to save and quickly access URLs of websites that we want to visit again later. When creating a bookmark, we create a shortcut to a page easily accessible from our toolbar within a browser.

Bookmarks are helpful in many ways - for quick access to our favorite online resources; for saving articles for future references, or organizing our browsing history. We can add, delete and manage our favorite web pages into folders and subfolders. Once created, our collection can be easily accessible across multiple devices and virtual machines.

In this relatively short post, I will show you how I created my own set of OSINT resources for Firefox, a process you can easily replicate with a browser of your choice.

How to make bookmarks in Firefox.

To add bookmarks in Firefox, follow these steps:

  1. Open Firefox and navigate to the webpage you want to bookmark.
  2. Click on the star icon located in the address bar. A dialog box will pop up.
  3. Then, choose a name for your bookmark and select the folder you want to save.
  4. You can also add tags to help you find it easily later.
  5. Click on the “Done” button to save it.

To access the already created set, click on the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner of the Firefox window, and select “Bookmarks” from the dropdown menu.

Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+D” for Linux, “Cmd+D” for MacOS to add, and the combination “Ctrl+Shift+B” (Linux) and “Cmd+Shift+B” (Mac) to open the bookmarks. I prefer the manual method.

Which websites to include in your OSINT tool set?

The websites you include in your OSINT toolkit largely depend on your specific objectives and needs. If you’re mainly concentrated on geolocation, you should focus on different maps and snapshot tools. For more ‘general’ OSINT investigations, I prefer to use a combination of other websites offering information from publicly available sources.

Some of the resources you are about to read are available without any registration. For others, you need to register and download software. It is advisable to use a virtual machine and VPN. Here you can find more about the installation of a VM on MacOS.

In my bookmarks set, I have included the following:

  • Social media platforms - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, Ticktok, MySpace, Pinterest. These platforms can provide valuable information about people, events, and organizations.
  • Search engines - Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Baidu, Brave, Gibiru, Search Encrypt, Escosia, Qwant.
  • Messaging Apps - Signal, Skype, Viber, WhatsUp, Telegram, WeChat.
  • Usernames - Blackbird, KnowEm, NameCheckup, IdCrawl, UserSearcher, WhatsMyName.
  • Phone Number - USphoneBook, hlrLookups, ThatsThemReversePhoneLookup, TrueCaller, FoneFinder, FreeCarrierlookup, EmobileTracker, ReversePhoneCheck, ReversePhoneLookup, SpyDialer, SyncMe.
  • People Search Engine - xLek, Ancestry, FamilySearch, FindMyPast, USsearch, ZabaSearch, AdvancedBackgroundChecks, PeekYou, Yasni, WinkPeopleSearch, Radaris, InfoSpace, Lullar, SnitchName, Webmii, Intelius, ThatsThem, Spokeo.
  • Image Search - KarmaDecay, Baidu Graph, Imgur, Raider Reverse, Image Search, Yandex Image Search, Tineye, BingImageSearch, Google Image Search.
  • IP Address - PacktTotal, ProjectHoneyPot, LiveipMap, ExoneraTor, ipVoid, OpenCellid, Wigle, Exfiltrated, ipAddress, IPtrackerOnline, InfoByIP, InfoSniper, ipLocation, dbIP, ipFingerprints.
  • Maps - Wikimapia, Historicaerials, LivingAtlas, EarthExplorer, MGmaps, OpenRilwayMap, MapQuest, KartaView, Baidu Map, Yandex Map, Here, ZoomEarth, OpenStreetMap, InstantStreetView, Bing Map, Google Maps.
  • Public Records:
    • Property - Zillow, HomeFacts, NeighborReport, RedFin.
    • Criminal - Mugshots, SearchSexOffender, Criminal-Records, TheInmateLocator, Intelius, FamilyWatch, CityProtect, BlackBookOnline.
    • Financial/Tax - VATsearch, BinBase
  • Business Records - International Yellow Pages, CorporationWiki, Kompass, InfoBel, Aihitdata, BuzzFile, LittleSis, EuroPages, Glassdoor, CompaniesInUK, UK Company List, OpenCorporates.
  • Web Archives - BrowserShots, UKwebArchive, CachedPages, CacheedView, ArchiveIS, WaybackMachine.
  • Camera Tracking - EarthCamera, Windy, OpenTopia, WorldCamEU, WorldWebcams.
  • Railways & Mobility - SatellitesPro, OpenTrainTimes, LiveTrainTracker, OpenEailwayMap.
  • Air and Space Tracking - IntheSky, SpaceSatellite, RadarBox, AirPortia, FlightAware, GlobeAdsbexchange.

Though most of these web pages are well-established and known in the OSINT world, new resources come and go constantly. It is essential to continuously evaluate the relevance and reliability of the sources you use for your research.

In addition, too, check Michael Bazzell’s online tools, OSINT Framework, and Awsome OSINT.

Do you have a comment or suggestion? Please send me an email at hello@yordanova.info.