Full Report
At the end of last year, Bellingcat released a set of online challenges that we hoped would test the skills of our audience and the wider open source investigator community. We wanted the challenges to be educational, to encourage people to carry out responsible online research and, most importantly, to be fun! Around 35,000 people […] The post The Bellingcat Open Source Challenge is Back appeared first on bellingcat.
Analysis Summary
# Main Topic
The relaunch of the Bellingcat Open Source Challenge as a regular, monthly series, designed to educate and test the skills of the open-source intelligence (OSINT) community. The January/December challenges focused on geolocation and chronolocation, while the current set centers on multispectral satellite imagery analysis.
## Key Points
- The initial set of challenges attracted around 35,000 participants.
- The challenges will now be a regular, monthly occurrence, with five questions released on the first Monday of every month, one per day for that week.
- The program includes a new monthly newsletter to announce launches, provide answers, and highlight creative solutions.
- Participation is encouraged via the Bellingcat Discord server (#BellingcatChallenge channel) and a live broadcast hosted by Eliot Higgins on Patreon.
- Specific skills tested include geolocation, chronolocation, shiptracking, satellite imagery analysis, image verification, and flight tracking.
- The current (March) set of challenges revolves around multispectral images, which reveal data invisible to the naked eye (e.g., water quality, soil health).
## Threat Actors
- Not applicable. The content describes an educational challenge series, not a malicious threat actor campaign.
## TTPs
- **OSINT Techniques Tested:** Geolocation, Chronolocation, Shiptracking, Satellite Imagery Analysis (specifically multispectral imagery), Image Verification, Flight Tracking.
- **Multispectral Image Analysis:** Utilizing band ratios and false colour imagery to identify geological features, such as mining areas.
## Affected Systems
- Not applicable. This is an educational exercise targeting researchers, not a software or network compromise.
## Mitigations
- **For OSINT Practitioners:** Utilize Bellingcat's provided resources and community channels (Discord) to learn and refine techniques.
- **Recommended Prep Work:** Review Bellingcat's guide on multispectral imagery before engaging with the current challenges.
## Conclusion
Bellingcat has formalized its successful Open Source Challenge into a recurring monthly event to foster continual learning and community engagement in advanced OSINT techniques, with the current focus being on interpreting complex satellite data like multispectral imagery. Participation is strongly encouraged through their community platforms.