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Introduction:
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) has become the backbone of modern fact-checking, digital investigations, and cybersecurity threat intelligence. When GitHub — the world’s largest platform for code collaboration — suddenly bans accounts hosting OSINT resources, the entire investigative community feels the ripple effects. Pavel Bannikov, a fact-checker, OSINT trainer, and Co-founder of Tesari AI, recently had his GitHub account restored after an unexplained ban, but instead of returning to business as usual, he and his team made a strategic decision: migrate the most valuable repositories to a dedicated organizational account, ensuring long-term stability and community access.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the structure and utility of country-specific OSINT resource repositories for digital investigations
- Learn how to navigate, contribute to, and leverage standardized OSINT collections across 32+ countries
- Master practical OSINT workflows using GitHub-based tools, Google Custom Search Engines (CSEs), and command-line utilities
- Identify mitigation strategies for platform risks when hosting OSINT and security research materials
You Should Know:
- The OSINT-for-Countries V2.0 Repository — A Standardized Investigation Arsenal
The flagship repository now maintained under the Provereno Media GitHub organization is OSINT-for-countries-V2.0, a community-driven collection of OSINT tools, websites, and projects organized by geographic location. What sets this repository apart from the countless outdated OSINT collections scattered across the internet is its standardized structure: each country entry follows a universal template with seven distinct categories:
| | Category |
||-|
| 1 | Open databases & statistics |
| 2 | Legal and tax information search |
| 3 | Maps and cadastres |
| 4 | Cars and license plates |
| 5 | People: names, public documents, social accounts, phones and other personal identifiers |
| 6 | Public procurement |
| 7 | WHOIS |
Currently indexing 32 countries with active maintainers, the repository serves fact-checkers, digital profilers, journalists, and cybersecurity investigators who need rapid access to jurisdiction-specific open sources. The project was inspired by the original OSINT-for-countries work by @wddadk but addresses a critical gap: most existing collections are abandoned or never updated.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Use the OSINT-for-Countries Repository
- Browse the collection: Navigate to the main repository index at `https://github.com/Provereno-Media/OSINT-for-countries-V2.0` and review the Table of Contents to find your target country.
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Access a country-specific repo: Click on any country link (e.g., Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil) to open its dedicated repository containing categorized OSINT links.
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Clone for offline use: To maintain a local copy for offline investigations or backup:
git clone https://github.com/Provereno-Media/OSINT-for-countries-V2.0.git cd OSINT-for-countries-V2.0
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Search across all countries: Use grep to find specific tools or keywords across the entire collection:
grep -r "license plate" .
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Contribute new resources: To add a new country, copy the Country Template, structure your file using the 7-category standard, and submit a pull request.
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Report broken links: If you encounter dead links, open an Issue on the repository to alert maintainers.
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Google Custom Search Engines (CSEs) — Pavel Bannikov’s Investigative Force Multiplier
Beyond the country-specific OSINT repository, Pavel Bannikov has curated a powerful collection of Google Custom Search Engines designed specifically for investigators, researchers, and analysts. Custom Search Engines allow you to restrict Google searches to specific websites or sections of websites, dramatically improving the precision of open-source investigations. Bannikov’s CSE collection enables investigators to search across:
– Government databases
– Corporate registries
– Social media platforms
– News archives
– Academic publications
Step-by-Step Guide: Building and Using Custom Search Engines for OSINT
- Access the CSE collection: Visit Bannikov’s curated list at the provided link (available via his LinkedIn posts).
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Create your own CSE: Go to the Google Programmable Search Engine control panel:
– Click “Add” to create a new search engine
– Specify sites to search (e.g., .gov.uk, .eu.int)
– Define search scope and refine with exclusion patterns
- Export CSE configuration: Use the Google CSE API to programmatically manage search engines:
Example: Using curl to query a CSE curl "https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?key=YOUR_API_KEY&cx=YOUR_CSE_ID&q=SEARCH_TERM"
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Integrate with OSINT workflows: Combine CSE results with other OSINT tools like Maltego or automated scraping scripts for comprehensive investigations.
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The GitHub Ban Crisis — Platform Risks for OSINT Researchers
GitHub has recently restricted access to repositories containing OSINT, dark web, and infosec links and resources, often without warning or explanation. High-profile figures including Maltego and Ubikron creator Roelof Temmingh have had their accounts blocked from public view. This trend poses an existential threat to the OSINT community, which relies on GitHub as a primary distribution channel for investigative tools and resources.
The underlying causes are multifaceted:
- Automated flagging systems that cannot distinguish between malicious content and legitimate research
- Government takedown requests under various jurisdictions
- Terms of Service violations related to sensitive content categories
Step-by-Step Guide: Mitigating Platform Risks for OSINT Repositories
- Migrate to organizational accounts: As Bannikov demonstrated, moving repositories from personal accounts to team/organizational pages provides institutional backing and reduces the risk of unilateral account suspension.
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Maintain off-platform backups: Regularly clone your critical repositories to local storage or alternative platforms:
Backup all repositories from an organization gh repo list Provereno-Media --limit 1000 --json name,url | jq -r '.[] | .url' | xargs -11 git clone
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Use distributed version control: Set up multiple remotes to push to GitLab, Bitbucket, or self-hosted Gitea instances simultaneously:
git remote add gitlab https://gitlab.com/yourname/repo.git git remote add bitbucket https://bitbucket.org/yourname/repo.git git push --all
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Document your repository structure: Maintain a README that clearly explains the educational and research purpose of your OSINT collection to reduce the likelihood of automated flags.
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Monitor account status: Use GitHub monitoring tools to track profile updates, repository engagement, and follower changes — even detecting when you’ve been blocked:
Using github-monitor (Python package) pip install github-monitor github-monitor --username yourusername --watch-all
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Tesari AI — AI-Powered OSINT for Investigative Workflows
Tesari AI, where Pavel Bannikov serves as Co-founder and CPO, represents the next generation of OSINT platforms. Unlike consumer AI systems that function as autonomous answer engines, Tesari positions AI as a collaborative tool that assists, suggests, and correlates information without making final decisions. This approach is critical for evidentiary integrity in investigations where human judgment remains paramount.
Tesari’s capabilities include:
- Jurisdictional coverage: Understanding local specifics and flagging potential disinformation
- Accelerated data collection: Scraping thousands of databases, entity information, and articles in hours
- Anti-corruption investigation support: Supercharging investigations while centering human expertise
Step-by-Step Guide: Integrating AI into OSINT Investigations
- Define your investigative question: Clearly articulate what you need to discover before engaging AI tools.
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Collect raw data: Use OSINT tools (including the country-specific repositories) to gather initial datasets.
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Apply AI for correlation: Feed structured data into AI platforms like Tesari to identify patterns, connections, and anomalies that would be impossible to detect manually.
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Validate AI findings: Cross-reference AI-generated insights with primary sources and human analysis.
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Document the investigation chain: Maintain a clear audit trail showing where AI was used and how its outputs were verified — essential for legal and evidentiary purposes.
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Provereno Media — The Frontline of Independent Russian-Language Fact-Checking
Provereno Media («Проверено» — Russian for “Verified”) is the first independent media outlet exclusively dedicated to professional, nonpartisan fact-checking for Russian-speaking audiences worldwide. Founded in 2020 by journalist Ilya Ber, the organization emerged in response to state-sponsored disinformation targeting Russian-speaking communities globally. Legally established as a non-profit association — Faktikontrollilabor Provereno MTÜ — and headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, Provereno operates independently of any state, political, or commercial influence.
The organization’s GitHub presence now hosts the OSINT-for-countries-V2.0 repository alongside approximately 15 other public repositories, all published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
Step-by-Step Guide: Fact-Checking Workflows Using Provereno’s Resources
- Identify a claim to verify: Select a piece of information circulating in media or social platforms.
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Query the OSINT-for-countries repository: Navigate to the relevant country and category to find authoritative sources for verification.
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Cross-reference multiple sources: Use the country-specific open databases and statistics category to find official data.
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Apply Provereno’s color-label rating system: Evaluate claims using a nuanced multi-point rating rather than a simple true/false binary.
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Publish findings: Provereno’s fact-checks are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, allowing free redistribution.
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Engage with the community: Provereno offers practice-oriented training for journalists, civil society activists, researchers, and media professionals in OSINT, GeoInt, data verification, and digital forensics.
6. Practical OSINT Commands and Tools for Investigators
To operationalize the resources described above, investigators should be familiar with the following command-line tools and techniques:
Linux/Unix OSINT Commands:
WHOIS lookup for domain investigation whois example.com DNS enumeration dig example.com ANY nslookup example.com Subdomain discovery subfinder -d example.com Social media username search across platforms Using Sherlock (Python tool) sherlock username Email verification and breach checking Using holehe holehe [email protected] Metadata extraction from documents exiftool document.pdf
Windows OSINT Commands (PowerShell):
WHOIS lookup
whois example.com
DNS resolution
Resolve-DnsName example.com
HTTP header analysis
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://example.com -Method Head
Port scanning (using Test-1etConnection)
1..1024 | ForEach-Object { Test-1etConnection example.com -Port $_ -WarningAction SilentlyContinue }
GitHub OSINT Automation:
Clone all repositories from an organization gh repo list Provereno-Media --limit 1000 --json name,url | jq -r '.[] | .url' | xargs -11 git clone Search GitHub for sensitive information (use responsibly) Using GitRob - finds potentially sensitive files in public repos gitrob analyze Provereno-Media Monitor repository changes github-monitor --username Provereno-Media --watch-all
API Security Testing:
Test API endpoints for exposed keys Using nuclei for vulnerability scanning nuclei -u https://api.example.com -t ~/nuclei-templates/ Check for open S3 buckets aws s3 ls s3://bucket-1ame --1o-sign-request
What Undercode Say:
- Key Takeaway 1: The OSINT-for-countries V2.0 repository is not just another link collection — it’s a standardized, community-maintained investigation framework that solves the critical problem of outdated and abandoned OSINT resources. The 7-category structure across 32 countries provides investigators with a repeatable, methodical approach to country-specific open-source intelligence gathering.
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Key Takeaway 2: The GitHub ban incident reveals a systemic vulnerability in the OSINT ecosystem. When platforms can unilaterally restrict access to research repositories without warning, the entire investigative community becomes dependent on the goodwill of centralized infrastructure. Bannikov’s response — migrating to an organizational account and maintaining multiple distribution channels — should serve as a blueprint for every OSINT researcher.
Analysis: The convergence of OSINT, AI, and fact-checking represents one of the most significant shifts in information warfare and cybersecurity since the advent of social media. Provereno Media’s work in the Russian-language information space is particularly critical given the scale of state-sponsored disinformation targeting Russian-speaking communities globally. Tesari AI’s approach — using AI as an assistive tool rather than an autonomous decision-maker — acknowledges the fundamental truth that investigative integrity requires human judgment. The OSINT-for-countries V2.0 repository, now safely hosted under Provereno Media’s organizational account, provides the foundational data layer that makes both human-led and AI-assisted investigations possible. However, the GitHub ban incident serves as a stark reminder that open-source intelligence depends on open platforms — and when those platforms become unreliable, the entire field must adapt or risk losing access to critical investigative resources.
Prediction:
- +1 The OSINT-for-countries V2.0 repository will grow to include 50+ countries within the next 12 months as the community recognizes its value and contributes additional jurisdictions, becoming the de facto standard for country-specific OSINT reference.
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+1 AI-powered OSINT platforms like Tesari will increasingly integrate with standardized repositories like OSINT-for-countries, creating automated investigative workflows that can reduce investigation times from days to hours while maintaining human oversight.
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-1 Platform-level restrictions on OSINT content will intensify as governments and tech companies grapple with the dual-use nature of open-source intelligence tools, potentially leading to a fragmented ecosystem where critical resources are only accessible through private channels or regional instances.
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-1 The concentration of OSINT infrastructure on centralized platforms like GitHub creates a single point of failure that could be exploited by adversaries seeking to disrupt investigative communities, necessitating a shift toward decentralized, self-hosted distribution models.
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+1 Provereno Media’s model of combining fact-checking with OSINT training and open-source tool development will be replicated by fact-checking organizations worldwide, creating a global network of standardized investigative resources that transcend language and jurisdictional barriers.
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