Analysis, interpretation and validation of open source data

A key component for turning open source data and information into open source intelligence occurs during the analysis and interpretation stages. In addition, verification and validation stages can turn this OSINT into validated OSINT, which has a higher degree of credibility. Due to the wide range of data types that can be extracted from open information sources, the types of data analysis that can be performed on this data is specific to the type of data that we have. This chapter presents a set of analysis processes that can be used when encountering specific types of data regardless of what that data is concerning. These methods will assist an open source investigator in getting the most from their data as well as preparing it for further analysis using visualisation and visual analytics techniques for exploration and presentation.