Abstract

here has been a gross expansion of social media platforms and other platforms that generate lots of information that is very useful in the digital space called open-source intelligence (OSINT). A growing space where this information is of immense importance are criminal investigations and this research is to understand how we can apply open-source intelligence to help with criminal investigation. This research seeks to answer the question that is how the utilization of open-source intelligence has impacted the effectiveness of criminal investigations across various geographical locations and how software functionalities and capabilities for leveraging (OSINT) have evolved to support criminal investigations over the last couple of years. A multivocal literature review was adopted to help answer the research questions. This was adopted because there are not so many peer-reviewed articles that address our questions and wanted to include grey literature that captures the importance of open-source intelligence in criminal investigation. The research study revealed that most open-source intelligence applications are geared toward threat intelligence and darknet intelligence and have automation at the heart of their operations which help the inclusion of intelligence from multiple sources. This research study embodies a comprehensive overview of the applications of OSINT to criminal investigations and establishes the various jurisprudence of OSINT applications.