When you work in a multicultural environment, sooner or later you’ll find yourself looking up the exact meaning of a term you might need to study a text, prepare a presentation, or talk with other OSINT experts who don’t speak your language… and so on.
So we decided to start work on a Multilingual OSINT Glossary. It collects over 130 entries from five different but authoritative sources:
- the Berkeley Protocol for digital investigations
- soxoj’s Counter-OSINT Guide for countermeasures and digital hygiene
- the Team Cymru, SANS and NICCS glossaries for threat intelligence and cybersecurity
We put quite a bit of work into building it and gathering terms in four different languages (English, Russian, simplified Chinese/pinyin and Italian).
Methodological notes
How the glossary is structured:
- Section A (General Terminology), meant to provide a terminological base for the terms used in OSINT.
- Section B (Investigative Process) — it expands Section A into the investigative field and helps you keep terminological rigour during an investigation. It ties closely to Section H.
- Sections C (Security) and D (Counter-OSINT): terms useful for talking about your own OPSEC.
- Section E (Technical Terminology) is the one you’ll probably consult most often: knowing how the Internet and online platforms work is the starting point of any search.
- Section F (Threat Intelligence) helps you understand the terms used in the CTI field when you take your first steps into analysing cyber attacks or malicious activity.
- Section G (Protocols): dedicated to network-infrastructure terminology.
- Section H (Legal): a natural continuation of Section B, indispensable when you prepare material intended for law enforcement.
Sources
- Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations (OHCHR / Berkeley Human Rights Center)
- Counter-OSINT Guide by soxoj
- Team Cymru Glossary
- SANS Glossary of Security Terms
- NICCS Cybersecurity Glossary (CISA)
- ACN Glossary
- Glossario intelligence
- IATE — the EU’s terminology database
Accuracy and updates: The definitions here reflect the cited sources as of June 2026. This is a work in constant evolution that will be updated over time. OSINT terminology evolves fast, and a static glossary soon becomes an archaeological relic. If you spot a missing term, a definition that needs updating, or an error, let us know through our channels — every contribution is welcome.
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