Training for the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol: Empowering prosecutors with OSINT tools and strategies

To enable Ukrainian prosecutors to effectively carry out procedural guidance and use the information necessary for pre-trial investigation, on November 29, trainers from LingvaLexa NGO with the support of the Training Center of Prosecutors of Ukraine conducted an offline training for prosecutors from the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, which focused on OSINT investigations. During the training "Conducting Effective OSINT Investigations: Methods and Practice", prosecutors got acquainted with interesting cases in which OSINT tools were used. As a result of working through such tasks, the participants were able to deepen their knowledge of collecting, processing and analyzing information they can obtain from open sources.

Key Takeaways:

Key Takeaways:

  • Participants explored the professional, methodological, and ethical principles of conducting effective OSINT investigations.
  • The training emphasized minimum mandatory security standards to safeguard sensitive information.
  • Prosecutors learned to assess digital threats and risks in their investigative work.
  • The importance of creating well-structured OSINT investigation plans was highlighted.

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Hands-On Learning: During the workshop, trainers guided participants through practical exercises:

  • Tools for gathering intelligence on businesses.
  • Techniques for working with registers.
  • Strategies for identifying individuals using photographs.
  • Investigating people based on phone numbers and social media profiles.

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During the training, prosecutors performed geolocation exercises to identify places by photo, tasks to search for information about a person in Russian registers using photos from official documents, and worked in teams to practice simulations of OSINT investigations. The participants also analyzed their own mistakes made during the investigation.

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Hands-On Learning: During the workshop, trainers guided participants through practical exercises:

During the training, prosecutors performed geolocation exercises to identify places by photo, tasks to search for information about a person in Russian registers using photos from official documents, and worked in teams to practice simulations of OSINT investigations. The participants also analyzed their own mistakes made during the investigation.