Phone numbers often contain clues to the identity of the owner and may bring a lot of data during an OSINT investigation. Starting with a phone number, we can search for a vast amount of information online with just a few clicks to get information about the phone number. It may include administrator, owner and owner address, and even online accounts.
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While a phone number may not seem like much information to extract, an OSINT researcher can quickly find information that binds a phone number to various other indicators. The information can be used to determine if the phone number is a VoIP disposal number used to conceal the identity of the owner or a real person's cell phone. If you happen to be buying something online or responding to an apartment ad, this information is incredibly helpful.
For the host, the ability to convert a phone number into multiple online accounts, email addresses, or screen names makes it a top priority for future events. A quick scan to find the carrier's phone number can provide the criminal with everything the criminal needs in an email to steal the sensitive information that pretends to be from the carrier. Once a hacker is able to identify more information about a target that can be linked to a phone number, it is easy to spot a weak link and attack the target using any of the excavated information.
OSINT tools for phone numbers
To quickly search for phone numbers, we can use both command line and browser-based tools. Line control tools offer great easy and customization functionality but require you to install Python and upgrade. Today, we will use a tool called Phoneinfoga to quickly find out if a number is associated with a discarded phone number.
One of OSINT's best tools is Mike Bazzel's IntelTechniques website, which we will focus on here. This website contains a few custom tools that Bazzel has designed to be useful to researchers. Many of these tools are already in the Buscador OS, a virtual machine that can be used to provide a system used for OSINT research.
The Scenario
For example, we will take a sample of a business listing from a separate ad. How can we be sure of that? If an ad claims to be from licensed professionals, can we track a license attached to a phone number? Looking for a simple number to call back may find something, but in order to see real data, you have to dig deeper and use only one call tracking tool.
Step 1: Install Phoneinfoga
To add information you find online over time, you can use a Python tool called Phoneinfoga, which lets you search for information about phone numbers in the command line. To use Phoneinfoga, open the last window and enter the following four commands one at a time or simultaneously.
Next, you can run the program with the options shown in the help file.
Step 2: Search for a phone number with Phoneinfoga
To search for a phone number, we just need to enter the flag and any number we want to search. If you use --recon argument, it will perform advanced searches.
In some cases, this tool may find you temporarily banned from Google searches because of the way it is configured. It's annoying but easily resolved with Google's harassment apology, which is detailed at the end of the video above.
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As you can see above, there are many links you can access, and soon the name and business associated with the phone number are available in the output.
Step 3: Access the IntelTechniques OSINT Portal
Now, let’s focus on the free web tools on the Bazzel website because it is much easier to work with than the command line tool above. To follow, you can go to inteltechniques.com/menu.html, then click on the "Phone Number" tab.
The menu below appears when you click on "Phone Number," and you will need to select "Telephone Search Tool" to bring up a page that will allow us to search for more than one tool at a time.
As you can see, a healthy mix of search tools, phonograph references, scam reporting websites, and social media connections. These are free social services, integrated into a single easy-to-use search tool, which allows anyone with a browser and internet connection to start researching on the other side of a phone number.
We can enter a number for each tool, but the easiest way is to enter a number in the top field, and then click "Populate All."
Step 4: Search a phone number on IntelTechniques
In the search tool, enter the number in the field next to the "Populate All" button, then click the button to automatically enter the number in other fields. Next, select "Send All" under the Services list to perform all searches on the phone number. All services will be open to separate tabs or pop-ups via pre-rendered search (you may need to enable pop-ups in your browser).
Step 5: Search results for Clues and patterns
Now, check out some of the resources downloaded from the search. Here, some people searching for services have changed our phone number to name.
As well as a person’s name is an amazing amount of information, most importantly which is our location and address for compiling additional information. We've found many results with a name, which makes it even more likely that this is the one for our ad. So how can we prove that they are licensed professionals?
Step 6: Get Confirmed Information
In another search engine result, we may see a business name associated with a phone number, which is exactly what we are looking for! If we are able to tie a company name with a number we have associated with a number, we can look at a trusted source, such as a provincial list of active businesses, to determine if this is a real business. Here, we have the name, address, and business name; all we need is to make sure the business exists.
Step 7: Verify with Primary Source Data
To evaluate the information we have received, we should look at some of the key backup information we have received. For us, the best database we can find is the state Department of Business database where we found the business. Here we were able to obtain an official business listing, similar to the address we received earlier. It seems that the person doing this online is trustworthy - after all, he is a licensed professional after all.
Phone Numbers Can Bind It All Together
As a starting point, a phone number can give you everything you need to get information about a target. With tools like Phoneinfoga, you can quickly find out if a phone number is a dumping method or a legal number. If the number is real, IntelTecniques website tools can include directions to create a picture of the person behind the phone number, sometimes actually.
With the right tools, a single phone number can lead you to a destination, collecting everything you need to learn about a target.
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