The finer art of searching, and it’s little pittfalls...2011/11/30 · The finer art of searching, and it’s little pittfalls Arno H.P. Reuser Reuser’s Information Services The

The finer art of searching,

and it’s little pittfalls

Arno H.P. ReuserReuser’s Information Services

The Netherlands

‘’Oh what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice

To retrieve…’’

‘’80% of what I needed to know as CINCENT I got from open sources rather than classified reporting. And within the remaining 20%, if I knew what to look for, I found another 16%. At the end of it all, classified intelligence provided me, at best, with 4% of

my command knowledge.” Tony Zinni, CINCENT, U.S. Central Command

Bio

Arno H.P. Reuser

• C.E.O., Reuser’s Information Services

• Senior Policy Advisor OSINT & Cyber, Defence Intelligence &

Security Service

• Founder and former director Dutch Open Source Intelligence

Service

Writer, reviewer, speaker, teacher, workshop

leader, editor, moderator, …

Contact: [email protected], Twitter, Facebook, Skype, LinkedIn

Products: http://www.reuser.biz (home page)

http://www.opensourceintelligence.eu

http://rr.reuser.biz (Repertorium)

http://isolde.reuser.biz (Search Engine)

http://osint.reuser.biz (OSINT training)

28 November, 2011 reuser's information services http://www.reuser.biz 2

Content presented or statements made do not endorse any official

position or opinion of the Defence Intelligence & Security Service, the NL

Ministry of Defence or Dutch government. All content is based on the

personal experience of the speaker on behalf of Reuser's Information

Services.

Techniques, procedures, tools and documents used and/or demonstrated

may in your country or organisation not be allowed, or be illegal, or an

offence, a misdemaneour, a felony or worse, punishable by law.

DO NOT TRY ANYTHING learned unless you are absolutely sure about the

ethical and legal consequences. Try at your own risk.

Disclaimer

Searching people

“Arno Reuser”

“Arno H.P. Reuser”


Searching people


arno h.p. reuser arno reuser a. reuser

a.reuser a.h.p.reuser a.h.p. reuser

a reuser ahp reuser reuser, a.

reuser, a.h.p. reuser, arno reuser, arno h.p.

reuser, a reuser, ahp reuser, arno hp

reuser,a. reuser,a.h.p. reuser,arno

reuser,arno h.p. reuser,a reuser,ahp

reuser,arno hp reuser a. reuser a.h.p.

reuser arno reuser arno h.p. reuser a

reuser ahp reuser arno hp 'the librarian from the

hague''

''the chief of Dutch OSINT'' ''the brother of Ivo Reuser'' Arno “The Curious” Reuser

• Searching Google with a simple query

• Looking for ‘’iran nuclear’’ stuff

iran nuclear nuclear iran

.com 9,110,000 20.600.000

.de 22.200.000 71.400.000

.co.uk 9,260,000 21.000.000

Searching for subjects

28 November, 2011 reuser's information services http://www.reuser.biz

A simple query in ordinary Google:

intitle:india OR intitle:"new delhi" intitle:pakistan OR

intitle:islamabad -sport -cricket -inurl:(.com|.net)

filetype:pdf site:edu OR site:org last:3

Searching for relevant documents


Not understanding the basics of search can be fatal.:

india 1,580,000,000

new delhi 235,000,000

india OR new delhi 255,000,000

Searching for relevant documents


Search today is multilingual,

multidomain, cross border,

multiagency, people’s intelligence

Information is everywhere:

– Internet, commercial databases, print

libraries, the telephone, your teachers,

your librarians, hackers, the general

public, social networks, shops,

taxidrivers, TIC, Twitter, radio, NGO’s,

government’s, societies, Facebook,

associations, international governments

(EU, UN), YouTube, patent office,

chamber of commerce, …

The Art of Searching


We shall start searching for high relevant documents on the border

conflict between India and Pakistan

Preparations:

1. Start your browser

2. Start Google

3. Start Notepad to make notes (start | programs | accessories)

Successive factions


Subject: high relevant documents on the border conflict between India

and Pakistan

Think in concepts!

concept search terms

1. India india, new delhi, manmohan singh, …

2. Pakistan pakistan, islamabad, syed yousuf raza gilani, …

3. Border border conflict, border incident, …

Successive factions


query number of results

1 india 2,580,000,000

Successive factions


Clean the Machine!

1. Remove the ‘history’ files

2. Remove the ‘cookies’

3. Logout your Google account

4. Use Google.com, do NOT use Google.es

http://www.google.com/ncr (no country relay)

MSIE | tools | Delete Browsing History

Firefox | tools | Clear recent history

Successive factions



1 india 2,580,000,000

2 new delhi 235,000,000

Successive factions



1 india 2,580,000,000

2 new delhi 235,000,000

Compose a query to get documents that contain

either india or new delhi or both.

Which Boolean operator?

Successive factions



1 india 2,580,000,000

2 new delhi 235,000,000

3 india OR new delhi

But, DO NOT hit enter, yet …

Successive factions



1 india 2,580,000,000

2 new delhi 235,000,000

3 india OR new delhi 255,000,000

What is wrong?

What is the solution?

Successive factions



1 india 2,580,000,000

2 new delhi 235,000,000

3 india OR “new delhi” 2,520,000,000

Successive factions



1 india 2,580,000,000

2 new delhi 235,000,000


4 pakistan 808,000,000

5 islamabad 6,570,000

6 pakistan OR islamabad 71,100,000

Successive factions



1 india 2,580,000,000

2 new delhi 235,000,000


4 pakistan 808,000,000

5 islamabad 6,570,000

6 pakistan OR islamabad 71,100,000

7 (india OR “new delhi”) (pakistan OR islamabad)

388,000,000

Successive factions



7 (india OR “new delhi”) (pakistan OR islamabad) 388,000,000

8 (intitle:india OR intitle:“new delhi”) (intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad)

828,000

Limiting





828,000

9 (intitle:india OR intitle:“new delhi”) (intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad) –sport

1,160,000

Limiting





828,000


1,160,000

10 (intitle:india OR intitle:“new delhi”) (intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad) –sport –cricket

1,150,000

Limiting





828,000


1,160,000

10 (intitle:india OR intitle:“new delhi”) (intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad) –sport –cricket

1,150,000

11 (intitle:india OR intitle:"new delhi“) (intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad) -sport -cricket -inurl:(.com|.net)

227,000

Limiting



12 (intitle:india OR intitle:"new delhi“) (intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad) -sport -cricket -inurl:(.com|.net) filetype:pdf 1,220

Limiting




13 (intitle:india OR intitle:"new delhi“) (intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad) -sport -cricket -inurl:(.com|.net) filetype:pdf site:edu 79

Limiting




13 (intitle:india OR intitle:"new delhi“) (intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad) -sport -cricket -inurl:(.com|.net) filetype:pdf site:edu 79

14 intitle:india OR intitle:"new delhi" intitle:pakistan OR intitle:islamabad -sport -cricket -inurl:(.com|.net)

filetype:pdf site:edu OR site:org 488

Limiting


Results: 488 PDF

documents, from think

tanks only, with either

New Delhi or India, and at

least Islamabad or

Pakistan in the title, no

sport, no cricket.

Fine tuning


Further finetuning

By limiting on

(publication?) date,

in reverse order

Fine tuning


Further finetuning

By limiting on

language

Fine tuning


Scenario:

a foreign delegation has arrived expecting a briefing on nuclear

affairs in India. The expert on nuclear affairs did not show up.

You have to give the presentation.

Assignment:

find a ready made briefing on nuclear affairs India to present to

the delegation.

Time frame:

You have exactly TWO minutes!

An exam question


Scenario:

a foreign delegation has arrived

expecting a briefing on nuclear

affairs in India. The expert on

nuclear affairs did not show up.

You have to give the presentation.

Assignment:

find a ready made briefing on

nuclear affairs India to present to

the delegation.

Answer:

intitle:india nuclear filetype:ppt

An exam question


An exam question


arno h.p. reuser

In summary:

1. Know your search language

– intitle:, inurl:, filetype:, site:, NOT operator (in Google: minus symbol), AND

operator (in Google: space)

2. Construct a decent search question

– The history of windmills in The Netherlands

3. Build sets of terms/synonyms with OR

– (history OR old OR medieval OR historical)

– (netherlands OR holland)

4. Combine sets of terms with AND

– (history OR old OR medieval OR historical) (netherlands OR holland) windmills

5. Work step by step

6. Do not forget: only a fraction of all information is available on the Net

7. Use your library often!

8. Use you professor even more often

An exam question


Thank you for

your attention!

This presentation will be online

this afternoon for downloading:

URL http://www.opensourceintelligence.eu/madrid

Logon ID SuperSearcher

Password TheBetterWay


Documents

The finer art of searching, and it’s little pittfalls...2011/11/30 · The finer art of searching, and it’s little pittfalls Arno H.P. Reuser Reuser’s Information Services The