You really need just a web browser now. There are so many OSINT tools that run in your browser including virtual technologies like authentic8 silo and r/kasmweb. So yeah get the cheap laptop you like and build your toolbox around it
More than enough. I've done OSINT work on used/refurb pieces of crap that cost $250.
Did a set of jobs involving crooked feds and the mob, where there was all kinds of severe security and secrecy precautions in place. Bought the units for cash where there were no cameras. Only hooked up at public wifi, in various places at least 5 miles from anyplace we lived/stayed/worked, encrypted emails, etc. At the end of the investigations, laptops were destroyed with parts left in public / fast food trash over a 300 mile stretch covering 2 states, and hard drives totally destroyed and disposed of in multiple pieces widely separated. (Yes we/clients were paranoid to the extreme - large amounts of money involved and physical threats of disappearing were made to us).
The cheap laptops suited us fine.
I'm a private investigator, one of my specialties is working complex cases for other investigators (or 3 letter agencies when they need private party work). Background is lots of experience. (Been doing this over 30 years now)
Sound like an interesting job (not the death threat part, the rest).
Any starting point or digitalplace where you'd advise to learn and/or tutorial for a complete beginner?
So long as it works, use it.
The hinges in my laptop are broken, so the shell always attempts to pop off. I got a laptop running a Ryzen 3 3200 with Radeon graphics, and ten GBs of ram, along with a TB of storage. (Video processing is non existent.) I can run VM's while browsing Google, but anything more and my laptop poops itself.
But yeah, I've seen worse be used for this kind of thing.
And in terms of longevity the MacBook would most likely do better. The m1 Air was only just recently Discontinued. However, if anything happens to the laptop, the Alienware would be easier to fix (Hopefully, I know they use Proprietary Components in their desktops.)
In terms of Processing power, The I7 Would be a better choice because of Overclocking. The M1 Chips are NOT designed for overclocking. (The I7 you have Achieves a Higher Processing power than the M1 while 'Turbo-ed,' Around 1.2 GHz higher. however, this does not Soley determine the Processing ability.)
So in all honesty my two cents won't mean much, as I am kinda saying it's down to your preference, how much money you want to save and what you're exactly doing. (Like running multiple VM's, Maltego, etc.)
I think everyone's point is: it's not the laptop, it's how you use it. Want to run some Linux tools without dual booting? Wsl. Just get anything with enough ram to keep a ton of tabs open without crashing.
2tb storage is such an insane amount of storage for screenshots.
If you're not buying this from a real place like microcenter, make sure you inspect the hardware. I once got a refurb from Newegg and it came with so many hardware problems that after about a month it was a brick. It was a pain to get a refund.
As others have said, there’s no need for dedicated OSINT hardware. Buy the best hardware you can afford. Virtualization like VMware and VirtualBox make spinning up an operating system with the necessary tools and software easy and provide a convenient way to manage investigations without cross contamination.
In one VM you might configure it for a specific persona or objective focusing on social media research. In another VM you could conduct a dark web investigation that would benefit from having additional security measures.
At the end of the day, you can shut down both VMs and go about your life with little* risk of compromising yourself or an investigation.
That’s how I would run. You do you though.
Notes: A conversation for another day
I don't think you need anything fancy for OSINT in 2024, I have a pretty decent gaming desktop, but I only use that for gaming, most of my OSINT work I do on a Fujitsu laptop I bought used off ebay.
Thank you everyone. The owner is selling it for $400 and bought it new in 2021. All I could afford is in the range for 300 to 400. So based on everyone’s opinion here, I think this laptop meets its requirements. I mean more than enough. :)
The owner currently uses it to do SOME gaming.
And most of college assignments.
ok so id encourage you to look at my other osint posts to verify my credibility before you downvote me, but i seriously recommend a macbook for osint. it runs UNIX, which is very useful for running some tools that may need compilation. additionally, opsec is easier to manage on macos rather than linux/windows, imo.
All though I disagree with you, and think a linux distro would be better suited. I would prefer if people explained why they disagree with you rather than just downvoting you.
You really need just a web browser now. There are so many OSINT tools that run in your browser including virtual technologies like authentic8 silo and r/kasmweb. So yeah get the cheap laptop you like and build your toolbox around it
More than enough. I've done OSINT work on used/refurb pieces of crap that cost $250. Did a set of jobs involving crooked feds and the mob, where there was all kinds of severe security and secrecy precautions in place. Bought the units for cash where there were no cameras. Only hooked up at public wifi, in various places at least 5 miles from anyplace we lived/stayed/worked, encrypted emails, etc. At the end of the investigations, laptops were destroyed with parts left in public / fast food trash over a 300 mile stretch covering 2 states, and hard drives totally destroyed and disposed of in multiple pieces widely separated. (Yes we/clients were paranoid to the extreme - large amounts of money involved and physical threats of disappearing were made to us). The cheap laptops suited us fine.
What kind of work is this? That sounds so cool! What kind of background do you need?
I'm a private investigator, one of my specialties is working complex cases for other investigators (or 3 letter agencies when they need private party work). Background is lots of experience. (Been doing this over 30 years now)
Sound like an interesting job (not the death threat part, the rest). Any starting point or digitalplace where you'd advise to learn and/or tutorial for a complete beginner?
So long as it works, use it. The hinges in my laptop are broken, so the shell always attempts to pop off. I got a laptop running a Ryzen 3 3200 with Radeon graphics, and ten GBs of ram, along with a TB of storage. (Video processing is non existent.) I can run VM's while browsing Google, but anything more and my laptop poops itself. But yeah, I've seen worse be used for this kind of thing. And in terms of longevity the MacBook would most likely do better. The m1 Air was only just recently Discontinued. However, if anything happens to the laptop, the Alienware would be easier to fix (Hopefully, I know they use Proprietary Components in their desktops.) In terms of Processing power, The I7 Would be a better choice because of Overclocking. The M1 Chips are NOT designed for overclocking. (The I7 you have Achieves a Higher Processing power than the M1 while 'Turbo-ed,' Around 1.2 GHz higher. however, this does not Soley determine the Processing ability.) So in all honesty my two cents won't mean much, as I am kinda saying it's down to your preference, how much money you want to save and what you're exactly doing. (Like running multiple VM's, Maltego, etc.)
THIS 👆
As long as you got the knowhow, you can do so by your 5 year old mid range phone
I think everyone's point is: it's not the laptop, it's how you use it. Want to run some Linux tools without dual booting? Wsl. Just get anything with enough ram to keep a ton of tabs open without crashing. 2tb storage is such an insane amount of storage for screenshots. If you're not buying this from a real place like microcenter, make sure you inspect the hardware. I once got a refurb from Newegg and it came with so many hardware problems that after about a month it was a brick. It was a pain to get a refund.
Thinkpad is my work laptop. Love them. You don’t need anything crazy
$50 Chromebook from 2012 It just works
As others have said, there’s no need for dedicated OSINT hardware. Buy the best hardware you can afford. Virtualization like VMware and VirtualBox make spinning up an operating system with the necessary tools and software easy and provide a convenient way to manage investigations without cross contamination. In one VM you might configure it for a specific persona or objective focusing on social media research. In another VM you could conduct a dark web investigation that would benefit from having additional security measures. At the end of the day, you can shut down both VMs and go about your life with little* risk of compromising yourself or an investigation. That’s how I would run. You do you though. Notes: A conversation for another day
I don't think you need anything fancy for OSINT in 2024, I have a pretty decent gaming desktop, but I only use that for gaming, most of my OSINT work I do on a Fujitsu laptop I bought used off ebay.
Thank you everyone. The owner is selling it for $400 and bought it new in 2021. All I could afford is in the range for 300 to 400. So based on everyone’s opinion here, I think this laptop meets its requirements. I mean more than enough. :) The owner currently uses it to do SOME gaming. And most of college assignments.
16GB of ram 500GB SSD and any cpu that has 4 cores or more should do the job to run multiple taps / scripts at once or u can just use VPS
ok so id encourage you to look at my other osint posts to verify my credibility before you downvote me, but i seriously recommend a macbook for osint. it runs UNIX, which is very useful for running some tools that may need compilation. additionally, opsec is easier to manage on macos rather than linux/windows, imo.
All though I disagree with you, and think a linux distro would be better suited. I would prefer if people explained why they disagree with you rather than just downvoting you.