The Finale

The GNOSINT Project was quite the competition. I started doing their challenges at around September 5th, making my account at around a week after. At the moment I am placed top 50, having completed every challenge. There was some struggle with some of these challenges, but with some breaks and perseverance, those images were geolocated. 

Now we find GNOSINT for one last time (for now). 

We can start by reverse image searching the picture. Using Google Lens it yields:

The AllTrails result looks quite similar if we compare the carvings. Clicking on it results in more images being shown. We should use the image we found to assist in our geolocation. 

Reverse image searching our new photo up gives us Gutman's Cave, whose carvings are the same as our original image. 

Farming Bellingcat challenges

Verifying claims is one of the most important things you have to do in OSINT. With verifying claims, you can make sure you're accurate. The amount of malinformation being spread with the intent of harassing an individual is quite scary. If you're an internet vigilante which I do not encourage you to become, at the very least, you should verify before going after your target. 

On a more lighthearted note, let's try and find where this airplane is flying over. 

(Image from https://challenge.bellingcat.com/)

Let's start by inputting this image into Google Lens. 

Looks like we got a hit!

This image comes from the SnoValley Tilth company's blog, and it definitely seems like they operate somewhere close to the river shown in the challenge. 

This island of trees looks familiar...

Searching SnoValley Tilth, you get a place near two rivers, one is Tolt River, and the other is the Snoqualmie River. During this challenge I had a hunch that they operated next to the Snoqualmie River. My reasoning is that the Snoqualmie River has more vegetation than the Tolt and looking at the image there's trees all around, making it more likely that they operate closer to the Snoqualmie than the Tolt. Despite the sureness that the Snoqualmie is the river shown here, we should double check due to the chance, though small, that the river shown is actually the Tolt. 

Let's try to find if there's hidden metadata in our original image via an Exif data viewer.

Looks like we got a hit!

Though Exif data is rare to find in images in many social media websites, with blogs, you have more luck. Inputting our coordinates, we should recieve...

Looks like we found our oxbow lake!

If you're lucky to use Exif data, the latitudes and longitudes it gives you is pretty accurate to where an image is taken, however in the case Exif data could not be used, looking at the landform of the two rivers and accounting for the farms can get you your answer. 

🎵This is The Greatest PLANNNN🎵

Although for the past few OSINT challenges I have been successful, I have failed two of them in that time. The issue with what I was doing with these challenges was that I didn't know what I needed to use or do. After all, if you are going on a to hike, you would want a map.

https://hacktoria.com/alien-abduction

This was a challenge provided by Hacktoria. I first used Google Lens to search the image up but got nowhere. I then Google dorked "'Broomfield' 'Colorado' 'Alien'" and got a few results. None of these led me to the original URL. I tried this dork: after:2023/4/3 before:2024/1/1. No results leading me to the origin. Maybe I should've google dorked some more, but at that point I gave up. Frustrated, I looked up a walkthrough. I should've looked for tools regarding UFO or alien sightings such as a database. Some people made their google dorks to find what they were looking for. I unfortunately was not in the mindset to write out the correct google dork to lead me to the URL to unlock the flagfile. Though for this challenge, you could have made a google dork to find what your were looking for. The next challenge would be much harder to directly google dork for.  

https://courses.kasescenarios.com/courses/dragoncon

kasescenarios.com/Meetup.m4a

This is a free scenario provided by KASE Scenarios. The words said were outgoing, bongo, and skip. I was struggling for quite a bit on this question. Searching outgoing, bongo and skip without any search operators didn't help. Searching with the ext: operator gave me files with nothing related to the location of the secret meetup of the Sherlock Holmes Fanclub. Searching "'outgoing'" AND "'bongo'" AND "'skip'" AND "'Sherlock Fanclub'" AND "'Dragon Con'" AND "'2024'" got me nothing related to location. I had to find help for this one. Pretty much anything I searched for gave me nothing related to the secret location. Using the clue of using 3 words to find a location, I searched up ''3 words location". What I got was the website what3words.com. Inputting outgoing.bongo.skip I got a Trader Vic's at Atlanta, the city where Dragon Con 2024 took place, more importantly the restaurant where the Sherlock Fanclub's secret meeting took place. 

Good OSINT comes from making a plan to follow, finding where exactly you are stuck and how you got there. Plans get you thinking, and for good OSINT, you need to think. 

Help I can't reverse image search this picture 3!!! (Walkthrough)

Reverse searching nowadays is very powerful. Many people use praise Yandex and Google reverse image searching, however some don't realise that manipulating the area of search can yield more accurate results. 

Let's use this image as an example 

(Image found here https://www.osint4fun.eu/challenges/gnosint-project/)

If I try and reverse image search using Google without adjusting the area of search, I won't find anything helpful.

(I can't find the location like this)

Let's analyse the image a little; if we zoom in to the upper left corner, we find a sign on top a building.

If we adjust the area of search to only include the upper left corner of the image like this:

We'll yield results that can help us find the location of Gnosint. Using the given image, we see that Gnosint is across the Munch Museum, located Oslo, Norway. Across the Munch Museum and the Oslo Opera House which is the white slanted building is...

 Langkaia

Help I can't reverse image search this picture 2!!! (Walkthrough)

Many images nowadays can be reverse image searched by the majority, however Exif data isn't as abundant. So, what if you can't find either of these? Let's use the context of the image to determine where it is. 

We'll use this image as an example: 

(Image found here https://www.osint4fun.eu/challenges/gnosint-project/)

The description reads: "What diversity in this city. Gnosint has just gotten off the ferry after a crossing of barely 20 minutes and he finds this archipelago adorable."

I'd also like to add the fact that the previous image taken in Gothenburg with its description saying: "Gnosint is very sensitive to the charm of the seaside and it is located in the ideal city. But before heading southwest, a little photo in the center." 

Pretty safe to say that this archipelago is the Gothenburg Archipelago.  

Remember, it took about 20 minutes to get from a port in Gothenburg to the island. Let use that information to search up which islands on the Gothenburg Archipelago take ~20 minutes to get to. We'll start from Saltholmens Brygga since the dotted lines on Google Maps lead us to there from the archipelago. 

Definitely not these islands. 

We eliminate Vrango and Donso because they take way too long to get to. Makes things a bit easier though still tedious. 

What I did was check out all the ports for the rest of the islands, which may have given me more work than others.

This port looks familiar... 

This port is in Styrso Bratten.

Help I can't reverse image search this picture!!! (Walkthrough)

A lot of images you see online can always be traced back somewhere if you try hard enough, but after reverse image searching on Yandex, Google, and other search engines you can't find anything, you can always try to find Exif data. 

Here's an example of an image that may be impossible to geolocate using reverse image search:

(Image found here OSINT4Fun - Educational Resources)

If you tried to reverse image search this, you'd find nothing associated with location. This is where Exif data comes in. Exif data is essentially hidden metadata stored in images. Using exifinfo.org, one of the many tools out there that can find Exif data, you can find the exact location along with the device used to take the image and other additional information. Dragging the image to the tool, we get a ton of information, like the original file name, the creation date and most importantly, the latitude and longitude of where the image was taken. 

Now this is epic.