IntelTechniques by Michael Bazzell https://inteltechniques.com/blog/ IntelTechniques by Michael Bazzell Blog Archive https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/blogarchive.html Blog Archive Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/blogarchive.html https://inteltechniques.com/blog/ ]]> Free PDF Self-Publishing Guide https://inteltechniques.com/publishing.html Free PDF Self-Publishing Guide Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/publishing.html This Book Was Self-Published. I wanted to share my experiences self-publishing several books, and it also served as my own documentation of the steps I had taken up to that point. It included a chapter on digital publishing focused on the Amazon Kindle platform, but in 2023, I expanded that section to include native PDF publishing. At that time, I had chosen a service called SendOwl for PDF distribution, which worked well for several years. They offered a fair price, but more importantly they offered the option for us to send unlimited free updates to customers who had purchased digital books. This worked great for two years, but then it all collapsed.

In 2025, SendOwl notified us that they would no longer allow us to send out free updates to customers, and they were increasing our prices ten-fold (plus fees for all download bandwidth). This is not an exaggeration; you can read the public outrage at https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.sendowl.com. All legacy accounts would be switched to their new limited platform, which was unsustainable for us. Fortunately, we found a new service called Payhip (https://payhip.com/?fp_ref=michael76). I recently updated the section of the book about PDF distribution in order to reflect these changes and the purpose of this guide is three-fold. First, it is to share our experiences with Payhip after a year of their services, which may encourage readers to launch their own self-published project. Second, those who may have purchased older print or PDF versions of the book can have this updated content for free. Finally, it serves as a warning to stay away from SendOwl, a service we had previously recommended.

Payhip is now my preferred digital book purchase and delivery service. It is the most affordable option with the most robust features for our use. It also puts the most money in your pocket from sales. If you legitimately purchased any PDF from us over the past year, you purchased through Payhip. Payhip is not a completely free service. At the time of this writing, the "free" tier had no monthly fee, but Payhip takes 5% of every sale. On top of that, you will pay a 2.9% credit card transaction fee on every purchase. The next tier is $29 per month plus a 2% fee per sale and the "Pro" tier is $99 per month with no fee per sale. All paid tiers still pay the 2.9% credit card transaction fee.

This is where you must consider your predicted sales. While the cheaper (or free) monthly fee may seem like a better deal, those 5% and 2% fees may be more than moving to a different tier. Let's do the math. Assume you will sell 100 books per month at $20 per book. The following outlines the three basic tiers.

$0 (Monthly) + $100 (5% of sales) = $100 (Payhip Fee)
$29 (Monthly) + $40 (2% of sales) = $69 (Payhip Fee)
$99 (Monthly) + $0 (0% of sales) = $99 (Payhip Fee)

In that scenario, the middle plan is best. Let's assume you will sell 500 books monthly.

$0 (Monthly) + $500 (5% of sales) = $500 (Payhip Fee)
$29 (Monthly) + $200 (2% of sales) = $229 (Payhip Fee)
$99 (Monthly) + $0 (0% of sales) = $99 (Payhip Fee)

In that scenario, the "Pro" plan is best financially. This can be confusing since we never know how many books we will sell. I recommend testing with the free plan. If your sales are too much to justify this plan, you can always raise the tier before the monthly fee kicks in. In fact, you can switch tiers in either direction at any time. Always pay attention to the math for your own sales. As I write this, the "Pro" plan is ideal for my sales.

Once you have established an account with Payhip, the following explains the process to sell your book.

• Click "Products" in the menu then "Add new product".
• Select the "Digital Product" or "e-book" option.
• Provide the title of your book and the price.
• Click the "Upload product file" link and select your book PDF.
• Click the "Upload a product image" link and select your book cover image.
• Provide a description of your book and choose your desired visibility.
• Click "Add Product".

You can now click on "Products" in the menu and see your book. However, it is not available for purchase just yet. You must connect some type of payment processor in order to accept credit cards and deliver your product. I prefer Stripe for this, but PayPal is simpler. You will need to create an account at Stripe or PayPal, and then connect the account within Payhip by navigating to "Account" > "Settings" > "Payment Details". Select the appropriate option and follow the steps to associate the account. Once this is complete, you are ready to sell your book.

Return to "Products" and click the "Share/Embed" button next to your item. This presents several options. I no longer prefer to only sell through my website code, so I focus on the "Share" option. It presents the following URL for this book.

https://payhip.com/b/k5Zuy

I can now link to this URL on my site and forward people to purchase directly through the Payhip site. I do this for a few reasons. First, by purchasing through Payhip instead of my site, readers can place multiple items from my Payhip store into a "cart" and checkout later. If I had embedded code onto my own site, that could fail. Additionally, it does not require me to store any cookies from users on my site. Finally, purchasing with a credit card on Payhip's site is likely to work better than embedding code or an iFrame on my own site. I do not want to create any purchasing friction. The most likely way to complete the sale without Stripe being fussy about the purchase is on Payhip's site. The following displays the purchase and checkout pages.



The customer can provide any name, email and credit card information, then pay for the purchase. Payhip will immediately present the customer with a download link within their browser, and also email them a receipt with additional copy of the link. This all happens without any input from you.



Notice that it requests a country and state with zip code. This is for state sales taxes. Payhip will collect and distribute the taxes on your behalf. Some states require it while other do not. The tax rate varies between states. If a state is not selected, the tax will be based on the IP address of the reader. Again, these are all details I want done on Payhip's site and not mine. I highly recommend that you test all of these settings several times before sharing the purchase option publicly.

Regardless of how you facilitate sales, Payhip hosts your PDF on their servers and delivers the product without your input. However, we are far from pushing PDFs into people's inboxes. There are many additional options to configure in "Account" > "Settings > "Advanced Settings".

Protect your PDF files: With this option, the PDF is watermarked with the purchaser’s email address in small letters in the top left every page of the document. If I find a pirated copy of a book floating around the internet, I can look for this data and learn more about the culprit. I can also disable updates and downloads for that reader if desired. This eliminates SOME risk of the buyer pirating the PDF to the world. However, there are problems with this. The watermarks can be removed. Anyone who plans to upload your content to book piracy websites will know how to remove any evidence of the purchase.

Download Limit: The default download attempts of a purchased book are five. I find this to be acceptable. That should be plenty of attempts for someone to download their book. If they still have trouble, you have the option to reset any individual purchase by searching for the order and clicking "Increase download attempts" option.

Gifting: Enabling this option allows people to purchase the book from you on another's person's behalf. They can include the recipients email address so that they receive the book instead of the purchaser. I like this option.

Pricing: Previously, I chose $14.03 for printed copies of the original version of this book. I kept the price low to encourage sales, and I did not have to be involved in any phase of the purchasing process. For digital PDFs of this updated revision, I chose $20. This may seem high and counterintuitive to the print pricing, but I have reasons for this choice.

First and foremost, I provide free updates to this PDF digital guide (as seen here). You are not purchasing a one-time document, and later asked to buy the updates. I believe $20 justifies the purchase. I have also found that my audience responds better to an even price, such as $20, over a detailed price, such as $14.03 or $18.99. $20 per guide has worked well for my strategy.

Free Orders: You may want to issue a free book to someone as a gift or for a review. This can be done under the "Marketing" menu. you can create a coupon code and give it to someone to obtain the book for free. You do not pay an additional fee to Payhip for these orders.

Updated Files: This is the biggest benefit of this service. You can update your book from your word processor; generate a new PDF; upload the new PDF to replace the prior PDF on Payhip; and send an email to all purchasers notifying them of the update. You must do this at "Customers" > "Email Updates" > "New email update". As long as you include the following line at the end of your message, they will receive a link to the latest file. Below it is an example.

[download_link]



I am unable to successfully use this feature because many of our orders were placed through SendOwl in previous years, and our legacy account has since been terminated with them. Generating an updated email blast on Payhip would miss most orders. However, if you started with Payhip, you could use this feature at any time.

Additional Features: You can also sell bundles, allow items to be placed in a cart, and generate discount codes.

Why should you consider this over Kindle books? Two reasons: convenience and income. You already have a PDF, so your hard work is done. Payhip handles all of the rest. You receive the entire purchase price, minus the credit card fees. If you have a technical manual at a cost of $20.00, your take is $19.40. That is a 97% royalty! As long as you sell enough copies to justify the "Pro" monthly fee, this can be an option for some writers. If not, the free tier would still pay much more than Amazon. All of the transactions happen behind the scenes, and you are not responsible for delivering the goods.

Prior to 2023, I focused only on KDP print books. In late 2022, many people complained that print books were dead and digital files were the only way I should release technical manuals. I began offering numerous technical titles as PDF releases, and the response was mixed. Many people loved the new format, while many others complained because there were no print options. The lesson here is that you will never make everyone happy.

As I continued to release more PDFs, I made sure to update them often. Almost every month, I modified the content of each PDF to match various changes with the technologies discussed. This was a huge hit with my readers, and they appreciated the constantly updated material. When SendOwl terminated the legacy accounts, we had to switch to Payhip and the ability to send all of those customers free updates vanished. Again, if you sign up with Payhip and only rely on them, you could make it work.

Offering free updates to a $20 PDF may seem unsustainable. That may sound like a lot of work if you only have a few sales. I was fortunate to have a large audience, and the work was justified. Every time I issued updates to my books, I posted details of the updates on my blog and social media accounts. These posts generated a spike in new sales every time. The free updates were working well from a marketing view. Digital PDFs are much easier to create. However, this worked well because I have already established an audience. Your first book(s) may rely on Amazon sales to get going.

Overall, only you can choose whether PDF delivery is appropriate for your audience. While it is the easiest distribution option, PDFs do not transfer well to a Kindle or other E-book devices. Reference manuals, such as my OSINT and privacy books, opened on a laptop may work well, but a fictional novel in PDF is not desired by most. The majority of your readers will not want a PDF from you unless it is a large trim size with technical content. If you want to reach the largest audience possible, you might create a Kindle version of your book, which brings along many nuisances, as explained in the book.

Today, we rely solely on Payhip for all digital orders and I could not be happier. We pay them less per month than any month we were on SendOwl, even before the huge price increases. All of the paid issues of UNREDACTED Magazine were through Payhip and the current PDF books are too. After I wrote this update, I noticed Payhip had an affiliate program, so I signed up. If you want to let them know we referred you, which gives us a few bucks, please sign up through Payhip (https://payhip.com/?fp_ref=michael76). Our affiliate programs greatly help support this whole thing. If you want to read about all of my experiences self-publishing print books, digital books, and a podcast, consider my book This Book Was Self-Published

OK, what do you want to write about? Please create something from which the world will benefit, generate some income during the process, and share it with us when you make it! ]]> OS Telemetry Update https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/telemetryupdate.html OS Telemetry Update Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/telemetryupdate.html OS Telemetry Guide, we received a lot of feedback. A lot. There were two concerns. First, when enabling telemetry in order to update, would all of the locally-stored telemetry be delivered, making the protections useless? Second, many people asked why we excluded Linux from our guide. Let's tackle both.

The Linux response is easy. Linux does not natively collect much telemetry. Many distributions collect none at all. There is no central repository snooping on your daily activity. Therefore, we have no recommended DNS block list for Linux in general. If you are concerned, we recommend a software firewall such as Open Snitch instead of DNS filtering.

The other concern is more complicated. Yes, enabling all connections to Apple or Microsoft does open the flood gates for telemetry delivery, but not the way you might think. If you never use Apple's Music, News, Photos, or other stock applications, there is no telemetry to deliver. If you use those apps but have not opened them since the last reboot, much of the logs have been purged. If you are following our previous guides on purging logs, even less is stored (and transmitted). This is why I insist on only applying updates after a reboot with everything closed. Also, if you have no Apple account associated with the macOS device, there is no account to store all of the details. The general idea was to block the non-stop sending of data every minute to Apple or Microsoft and only allow connection when we need something from them. However, I respect the concerns and agree that opening the flood gates is not ideal.

Therefore, let's modify things a bit. When attempting to update macOS with DNS filtering set to block all connections, I can see in the DNS logs that things are working as desired.



I can also see that the updates were blocked.



If I disabled all blocking, it should all work fine but would leak out too much data. Instead, I applied the following to my "Allowlist" within NextDNS.



These are the bare minimum connections required to allow Apple to update macOS without openeing every connection on the domain. We are blocking every connection to apple.com but allowing swdist.apple.com (software distribution). These specific domains are related to updates and would not send telemetry based on applications such as News, Photos, Music, etc. After enabling these, I attempted updates again.



Everything worked and I allowed my machine to update. When complete, I simply disabled each rule but left them in the Allowlist for future use.

This could be replicated for Windows by watching your NextDNS logs while attempting an update. It takes a bit of trial and error, but should be straight-forward. However, both Apple and Microsoft constantly tweak these connections so expect failure at some point. When that happens, simply repeat the process and see what changed, adding the new domain to your Allowlist. ]]> New OS Telemetry Guide https://inteltechniques.com/2026.telemetry.html New OS Telemetry Guide Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/2026.telemetry.html Extreme Privacy, 5th Edition I explained how I use a software firewall to prevent my computers from sending out details about my usage to the companies which create the applications and operating systems powering them. In Issue 011 of UNREDACTED Magazine, I explained how the Apple operating system now bypasses the software firewall to send data about your actions back to their servers without any notification. This generated a lot of feedback. Some wanted to know exactly what they should block for their own macOS machines while others wanted an updated list for Microsoft. Others were curious if this would apply to Windows virtual machines (yes, it does).

The purpose of this guide is to allow you to create a DNS filtering block list which can be used without a software firewall to prevent all telemetry from being sent to either Apple or Microsoft (or both if using a VM). You will need a free NextDNS account and your host operating system must be using this specific account for it all to work, as explained in Extreme Privacy, 5th Edition. Once you have that working, the following block lists block all telemetry by placing each option in the "denylist" within your NextDNS profile.



Apple Block List

apple.com
icloud.com
itunes.com
apple-dns.net
apple.news
apple-relay.cloudflare.com
apple-relay.fastly-edge.com
cdn-apple.com
aaplimg.com
akadns.net
dsce9.akamaiedge.net
sentry.io
demdex.net
mgr.gcsp.cddbp.net
safebrowsing.googleapis.com
ohttp-relay1.fastly-edge.com

Microsoft Block List

microsoft.com
microsoft.net
windows.com
windowsupdate.com
bing.com
live.com
msedge.net
office.com
skype.com
msn.com
office.net
xboxservices.com
cloud.microsoft
msftconnecttest.com
msftncsi.com
nelreports.net
t.ssl.ak.dynamic.tiles.virtualearth.net
img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net
edge-consumer-static.azureedge.net
prod-video-cms-amp-microsoft-com.akamaized.net
sentry.io
demdex.net
safebrowsing.googleapis.com

Once these are applied and activated, your system can no longer send data about your usage back to the motherships. However, that also means your systems can no longer receive updates or scan files and programs for suspicious behavior. This can be a serious risk for those who need that protection. I would never recommend this for a non-tech-savvy user. I also insist that I disable the DNS filtering at least once a week to download and apply system updates. During this time, I have no other apps open and I re-apply the DNS filtering upon a reboot.

I believe macOS users should still use a software firewall such as Little Snitch or Lulu in order to block telemetry of software applications (unless you want to constantly modify your denylist in NextDNS with their domains). It is also vital to change your time server to a nuetral provider (not Apple or Microsoft), as explained in the book. This keeps your time synchronized without allowing Apple or Microsoft to suck up everything else about your usage.

Overall, please do not apply any of this unless you understand the risks and benefits.

Results

Within a few seconds of booting my Apple computer, the following is only a partial output of the connections being blocked. This was without opening a single application.



Within a few seconds of booting my Windows computer, the following is only a partial output of the connections being blocked. Notice that a connection to Proton was allowed since it was not on the denylist. Also notice that a connection to Apple popped in because many people with Windows systems may also use Apple-related applications. There is no harm in applying both block lists to any computer. The unused domains won't harm anything.



I want to say one last time that you should use caution when blocking system connections. In theory, it sounds great. You are preventing your host from snooping on you and documenting a lot about your activity, including your IP address, machine identifiers, accounts, programs you use, and when (and how) you use them. You are also preventing your system from protecting you. Only you can decide if you need their protection. If you have good digital hygiene, understand how cyber threats come into systems, and have the discipline to manually apply updates, you should be fine. If you are prone to viruses, this is not for you. Always understand how to reverse your DNS provider before making the switch. See Extreme Privacy, 5th Edition for more details. ]]> New Firewall Guide https://inteltechniques.com/firewall/ New Firewall Guide Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/firewall/ https://inteltechniques.com/firewall/. This guide walks through every step of creating your own pfSense firewall with Proton VPN and Wireguard. ]]> The New Blog https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/newblog.html The New Blog Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/newblog.html
WordPress was great. Type what you want to say; click a few buttons; and poof, your post is available to the world while your RSS feed is auto generated. It was so easy. It also brought a lot of trouble.

Even though we self-hosted the blog, WordPress continued to add various tracking capabilities. We would remove them as they emerged, but tracking was still possible. We try to prevent us from knowing the IP addresses of our visitors whenever possible. This gives you more privacy and us deniability if we were to receive a court order for traffic. The feds were not knocking down our door, but we like to practice what we preach.

We use Cloudflare as our CDN and full caching prevented our web host from receiving the requests for pages. This eliminated both our host and us from seeing your specific traffic and IP address. However, searches on the blog would generate a direct hit to the host and bypass the protection. We disabled search but that did not stop all logging when an un-cached page was accessed.

My main beef with having WordPress on our site was the attacks. Thousands of bots brute-force and scrape WordPress installations looking for content and vulnerabilities. This can result in hundreds of thousands of page loads every day, sometimes millions. Our CDN stops some of it, but most gets by.

I also just don’t like having a large amount of code and a database on my site just to deliver text content and a few images. WordPress is very excessive for our needs. So we killed it. Doing this left us with an entire site existing of only HTML and JS. This allowed us to stop using our web host (Namecheap) and simply cache the static pages on a Cloudflare worker. The entire site is under 100 MB and our old host is no longer logging your activity. Cloudflare is now the only server which can see the data and traffic, and they do not share IP address or traffic logs with us, outside of temporary security logs when attacked. That is not to say THEY don't store the data, but they could do that as our CDN anyway. We have just eliminated one of two middle-men (Namecheap). We updated our Privacy Policy to reflect these new benefits at https://inteltechniques.com/privacy.

Today, we offer a pure HTML with Javacript Blog at https://inteltechniques.com/blog/. There is no database or bloat. Images only load if you expand a post in order to keep bandwidth down for you and us. We created an RSS feed to continue supplying updates to those who rely on RSS readers for content. We even forward the old feed to the new so that your existing configurations should just work.

We have already posted new content and pruned the old and outdated material so be sure to take a look and subscribe to the RSS feed. We have many big things planned. ]]> OSINT Tools Update https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/osinttools.html OSINT Tools Update Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/osinttools.html https://inteltechniques.com/tools/. They now allow automated query of an X (Twitter) username across XCancel for data retrieval without being logged into a X (Twitter) account including filtration by year.

]]> Online Training: Updates and Membership Discounts https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/trainingdiscounts.html Online Training: Updates and Membership Discounts Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/trainingdiscounts.html
We also wanted to remind former training members that, although training costs have risen in recent years, you are always welcome to renew your membership at your original discounted price point. Contact Jason at training@inteltechniques.net directly to reactivate your account or if you have any questions. No chatbots, no AI agents, and no call centers. Laura or I will assist you directly because we think you deserve proper support from real humans.

New Lessons and Updates

The training currently includes more than 130 hours of video content, 1,000+ pages of digital guides, a custom OSINT virtual machine, specialized scripts, and report templates, with new content added every month. Below is a sample of recent lessons, tools, and resources added to the program and you can view the full curriculum at inteltechniques.net.

Triaging Leads Best practices for deciding which leads to pursue early in an investigation, with an optional real-world practical exercise.

Event Threat Assessments A scenario-based lesson on researching events, related issues, and online discussions to support safety planning and tactical decision-making.

Privacy Assessments A workflow for conducting vulnerability assessments on cooperating targets. New Excel and Obsidian templates are provided.

Developer Tools: Removing Page Elements A demonstration on using browser developer tools to remove overlays and reveal hidden page content during online investigations.

Cultural Intelligence Guidance on interpreting interests, beliefs, online behavior, photos, videos, usernames, and cultural context to improve investigative analysis.

Investigating a Scam Email – Exercise and Demo A practical attribution exercise using a real-world scam email, followed by a walkthrough of the investigative workflow.

Domains, IP Addresses, and DNS A foundational overview of how domains, IP addresses, and DNS work in the context of web traffic.

How Packets Work A companion write-up to the Domains, IP Addresses, and DNS lesson, explaining what happens at the packet level when a browser requests a website.

APIs An overview of application programming interfaces appropriate for OSINT work and how to add them to your workflow.

Due Diligence Reports An overview of core components, templates, and best practices for professional due diligence reporting.

Updated Tools Dashboard An updated set of custom OSINT tools available only to training members, including hosted and self-hosted options.

Client Expectations: Bug Sweep Scenario A real-world counter-surveillance scenario used to discuss best practices for managing challenging client expectations.

Sanctions Evasion Report and Resources A sample report and resources focused on business-entity research in the context of a sanctions-evasion investigation.

Address Verification Demo A demonstration combining search engines, people-search results, and government databases to locate and verify a target residential address.

Premium Breach Data Services A comparison spreadsheet covering popular premium breach-data services. This supplements our lesson series on building and self-hosting your own breach-data collections.

Triaging a Personal Data Security Incident Actionable steps to take in the first 24 hours after a cyber incident to stop the bleeding and mitigate damage.

OSINT Case Study: “Call to Arms” This case study was shared by one of our members and walks through their approach to an OSINT investigation.

Investigative Pivots Best practices for identifying new leads and uncovering new investigative paths.

PDF Editors and Utilities Alternative PDF readers, editors, and utilities for preparing OSINT reports. This is a useful lesson for anyone interested in moving away from Adobe products and unfriendly subscription fees.

Transitioning to Linux from Windows Tips and considerations for moving away from Windows and over to Linux as a primary operating system.

Cloudflare Tunnels A practical introduction to using Cloudflare Tunnels for low-cost remote access to infrastructure and self-hosted tools.

Note-taking Templates in Excel Format Two new Excel templates for collecting, organizing, and reusing investigative findings.

Telegram Scraping with Python, Part 1 The first lesson in a series using Python scripts to automate collection of Telegram content.

GitHub A walkthrough of GitHub navigation, search options, and profile research.

Images and Photographs An updated lesson on tactics and tools for processing digital images during OSINT investigations.

10-Day Security An updated digital-security guide with tips for coaching others through a 10-step digital security makeover.

Regular Expressions This lesson explains how to use regex for locating and filtering patterned data in large files, such as breach data.

Executive Summaries An example-driven lesson on writing stronger executive summaries.

Linux Terminal A beginner-friendly guide to the Linux terminal and common command-line tools.

Infiltration Tactics and guidelines for online infiltration work, with discussion of policy, risk, and the importance of professional judgment.

What Makes IntelTechniques Training Different

  • IntelTechniques instructors are active-duty professionals from the U.S. intelligence community with decades of real-world experience. When evaluating OSINT training, we believe that instructor qualifications matter. You should know whether the people teaching the material have actual experience using these tactics at a professional level. When we are not teaching you about intelligence work, we are actively working real cases and operations in the intelligence field.
  • Our training format is demonstration-based and uses real-world targets. This is not “death by PowerPoint.” The program is built around practical tools, repeatable workflows, investigative tradecraft, and the full intelligence process from triage through report writing.
  • We write our own curriculum. Our materials have become the foundation that many other OSINT training programs, instructors, and academic courses use as a reference point.
  • The program is designed to provide substantial value at a practical price point. We encourage you to compare programs carefully and look at the details: depth of content, instructor experience, student support, templates, tools, updates, and practical application.
  • We focus our time and resources on curriculum and student support rather than marketing. Our growth has relied largely on word of mouth, and we are proud that the program is known for the strength of its content. This is why you do not hear from us often about the program. We want to respect your time and inbox.
  • Support is direct and personal. Michael, Laura, or Jason will assist you directly; you will not be routed to a call center, support bot, or random staff member.

Certification Considerations

Many certification programs rely primarily on academic testing and recurring fees. We believe a written test alone does not prove that someone can perform intelligence work, so our certification process is different.

  • Candidates complete a 10-day real-world OSINT mission resulting in a professional intelligence report that can serve as a meaningful portfolio sample.
  • The process is challenging and not for everyone, but successful candidates clear a high bar for OSINT certification.
  • IntelTechniques certifies your work directly. We do not charge additional fees for a third-party logo, and we do not believe you should have to pay recurring maintenance fees to keep a certification you earned.
Our certification is tough and requires a significant time commitment, but if you pass, you will have achieved something that sets you apart from most intelligence professionals.

Reactivating Your Membership Former IntelTechniques online training members are always welcome back at their previous rate. If you would like to reactivate your account at your previous discounted rate, please contact Jason directly at training@inteltechniques.net, and we will provide a payment link at your discounted membership rate. There is no deadline, no strings attached, and no hoops to jump through. You are welcome to reach out any time with questions or to regain access to our new content.

]]> UNREDACTED Magazine 012 https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/unredacted012.html OSINT Tools Update Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/unredacted012.html
https://unredactedmagazine.com
https://payhip.com/b/fS2NA Contents:

"../../News & Updates

Hardware TOTP: Revolving 2FA Codes Without an App
Placing Telephone Orders to Avoid VPN Flags: Bypass IP Blocklists
Minimal Android Emulation: Terminal-Based Mobile VMs
The ID.me Challenge: Create Accounts with the Least Invasion Possible
The Photocopied ID Strategy: Copies of Copies of Copies...
Access Full Terminal History: Never Lose Another Command
Fun with AppleScripts: Daily Convenience and Productivity on macOS
Your Health Records are Leaking: Any Office Can Access Your Data
Repurpose Hard Drives with TrueNAS: Merge Smaller Drives for Backups
Self-Hosted Genealogy: Research Without Compromising Control
Deleting Un-Deletable Accounts: Bending the Truth to Force Removal
Security.txt is Broken: Abuse by Spammers, Scammers, & Wannabe Hackers
Drive Specifications Matter II: 80Gbps Enclosures
SDRTrunk: Avoid Expensive Police Scanners with Software
Q&A

No third-party ads.
No outside sponsors.
No A.I. slop
No conflicts of interest.
No fluff.
No filler.
No agenda.
Only detailed information.

We anticipate #013 will be released in Autumn or Winter of 2026.

]]> Updated OSINT VM https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/osintvm.html OSINT Tools Update Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/blog/posts/osintvm.html
Updated linux.txt and install.sh to reflect changes within several applications.

Modified user.sh to reflect change with Maigret.

We highly recommend building a new VM to take advantage of the modifications, which bring back full function to several dead applications. Log into the OSINT portal from the book to see everything. ]]> Updated GrapheneOS Settings https://inteltechniques.com/2026.grapheneos.html Updated GrapheneOS Settings Mon, 05 Jan 2026 03:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/2026.grapheneos.html Extreme Privacy, 5th Edition. This is because Apple added many new invasions to your privacy with their latest offering. While Apple devices are extremely secure, even more so than most Android devices in my opinion, this comes at a privacy risk. The settings presented in the previous articles eliminate much of the concern for Apple users, but we have to always be watching for the next embedded data collection utility.

With GrapheneOS, there is not as much to discuss, as it has always been a bare-bones mobile operating system allowing you to add what you want instead of being force-fed new features. However, much like Apple, many things have changed over the past two years. Let's revisit the entire content for GrapheneOS customization to match their latest release.

I suspect that most of these settings will already be applied to your device. However, new features are now available and it is always good practice to confirm your desired settings annually. While GrapheneOS does not typically revert any modified system settings after an update like iOS does, individual apps may have encouraged you to disable some of the overall protection.

The following represents how I set up my own device. Some of these settings may be too restrictive for your needs. As I stated in the previous articles, do your own research and understand what these modifications change. Only then can you make the most informed choice for your needs.

Again, the following is simply a supplement to the content within the book.
  • Settings > Network & internet > Private DNS > (Enter your preferred DNS)
  • Settings > Network & internet > Internet connectivity checks > GrapheneOS server
  • Settings > Network & internet > Attestation key provisioning > GrapheneOS proxy
  • Settings > Network & internet > Widevine provisioning > GrapheneOS proxy
  • Settings > Apps > Contacts storage > Device only
  • Settings > Notifications > App notifications > All apps > Disable undesired
  • Settings > Notifications > Notification history > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Bubbles > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Notifications on lock screen > Don't show any notifications
  • Settings > Notifications > Notification cooldown > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Flash notifications > Camera Flash > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Flash notifications > Screen Flash > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Wireless emergency alerts > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Enhanced notifications > Disabled
  • Settings > Sound & vibration > Media volume > Lowest
  • Settings > Sound & vibration > Notification volume > Lowest
  • Settings > Sound & vibration > Media > Pin media player > Disabled
  • Settings > Sound & vibration > Media > Show media on lock screen > Disabled
  • Settings > Sound & vibration > Default notification sound > None
  • Settings > Sound & vibration > Dial pad tones > Disabled
  • Settings > Sound & vibration > Screen locking sound > Disabled
  • Settings > Sound & vibration > Charging sounds and vibration > Disabled
  • Settings > Display > Screen timeout > Low
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Screen lock > Pin
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Screen lock > Settings > Scramble PIN > Enabled
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Screen lock > Settings > Enhanced PIN privacy > Enabled
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Screen lock > Settings > Lock screen timeout > 5 seconds
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Screen lock > Settings > Power button locks > Enabled
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Screen lock > Settings > Allow camera access > Disabled
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Privacy controls > Show passwords > Disabled
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Privacy controls > Location access > Disabled (until needed)
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Exploit protection > Auto reboot > 18-24 hours
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Exploit protection > USB-C port > Charging-only
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Exploit protection > Turn off Wi-Fi automatically > 1 minute
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Exploit protection > Turn off Bluetooth automatically > 1 minute
  • Settings > Security & privacy > Exploit protection > Secure app spawning > Enabled
These settings provide a more hardened Android system while taking advantage of GrapheneOS's robust security features. Modify your device as needed and never let our fascination with privacy completely break the functionality of technology. ]]> Updated iOS 26 Settings https://inteltechniques.com/2026.ios.html Updated iOS 26 Settings Mon, 05 Jan 2026 02:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/2026.ios.html Extreme Privacy, 5th Edition also offered many privacy and security considerations for previous versions of iOS. That content is also pushing two years old now, so I am again overdue for an update.  This article revisits that entire section for the recent changes within iOS 26.

The following assumes you are on iOS 26.1, which was the latest version at the time of writing. Now that we have let Apple offer the first major update to that OS, the menu settings should be fairly locked in. I always prefer to wait for a ".1" update before documenting specific menu settings. This guide also assumes you have already purchased and booted the mobile device, created your Apple ID, and configuring any personal customizations as explained in the book.

The purpose of this article is to revisit all of the System Settings for optimal iOS privacy and security. While everything here will work if you logged in to an iCloud account, which is different than an Apple account, some menus may appear differently. Consider it a supplement to the content within the book.

Once you can access the system on the device, the following configurations should be considered through the Settings menu. Note that some of these settings may disable features which you find desirable, and some options here might not be present within your device. Research any modifications and apply settings which are most appropriate for your usage. Never blindly accept my opinions, understand why you want the change.
  • Settings > Apple Account > Personal Information > Name and Photo Sharing > Disabled
  • Settings > Apple Account > Personal Information > Communication Preferences > Disable all
  • Settings > Apple Account > Media & Purchases > View Account > Personalized... > Disabled
  • Settings > Bluetooth > Off (If not used)
  • Settings > Cellular > Disable as desired
  • Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates > Off
  • Settings > General > AirDrop > Receiving Off
  • Settings > General > AirDrop > Bringing Devices Together > Disabled
  • Settings > General > AirDrop > Use Cellular Data > Disabled
  • Settings > General > AirPlay & Continuity > Disable all
  • Settings > General > Picture in Picture > Disabled
  • Settings > General > AutoFill & Passwords > Disable all
  • Settings > General > Background App Refresh > Apple Store > Disabled
  • Settings > General > Background App Refresh > Shortcuts > Disabled
  • Settings > General > Background App Refresh > Voice Memos > Disabled
  • Settings > General > Keyboard > Auto-Correction > Disabled
  • Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Dictation > Disabled
  • Settings > General > Keyboard > Stickers > Disabled
  • Settings > Battery > Battery Percentage > Enabled
  • Settings > Passwords > Password Options > Autofill Passwords > Disabled
  • Settings > Camera > Scan QR Codes > Disabled
  • Settings > Search > Show Recent Searches > Disabled
  • Settings > Search > Show Recent Searches > Show Related Content > Disabled
  • Settings > Search > Show Recent Searches > Help Improve Search > Disabled
  • Settings > Search > Each App > Disable all
  • Settings > Siri > Disable all
  • Settings > Standby > Standby > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Scheduled Summary > Off
  • Settings > Notifications > Show previews > Never
  • Settings > Notifications > Screen Sharing > Notifications Off
  • Settings > Notifications > Siri Suggestions > Disable all
  • Settings > Notifications > Disable notifications on sensitive apps
  • Settings > Notifications > If desired, disable all Government Alerts
  • Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback > Sound > Disabled
  • Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback > Haptic > Enabled
  • Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Lock Sound > Disabled
  • Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Password AutoFill > Disabled
  • Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Allow Access When Locked > Disable undesired
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Location services > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Motion & Fitness > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Nearby Interactions > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Paired Devices > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Research Sensor & Usage Data > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Journaling Suggestions > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Sensitive Content Warning > Disabled
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising > Personalized Ads > Disabled
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > App Privacy Report > Off
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Wired Accessories > Automatically Allow When Unlocked
  • Settings > Game Center > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > App Store > Automatic Downloads > Disable all
  • Settings > Apps > App Store > Video Autoplay > Off
  • Settings > Apps > App Store > In-App Ratings & Reviews > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > App Store > Offload Unused Apps > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Apple Store > Video Autoplay > Off
  • Settings > Apps > Maps > Share ETA > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Maps > Air Quality Index > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Maps > Weather Conditions > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Maps > Ratings and Photos > Disabled (If Present)
  • Settings > Apps > Maps > Show Ratings and Photos Suggestion > Disabled (If present)
  • Settings > Apps > Maps > Follow Up by Email > Disabled (If Present)
  • Settings > Apps > Photos > Shared Albums > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Photos > Show Hidden Album > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Photos > Show Recently Viewed & Shared > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Photos > Show Featured Content > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Photos > Enhanced Visual Search > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Siri & Search > Disable All
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Search Engine > DuckDuckGo
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Search Engine Suggestions > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Safari Suggestions > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Show Recent Searches > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Quick Website Search > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Preload Top Hit > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > AutoFill > Disable All
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Prevent Cross-Site Tracking > Enabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Fraudulent Website Warning > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Highlights > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Camera > Deny
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Microphone > Deny
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Location > Deny
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced > Privacy Preserving Ad... > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced > Check for Apple Pay > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Shortcuts > iCloud Sync > Disabled
  • Settings > Apps > Shortcuts > Private Sharing > Disabled
These settings provide more privacy from Apple while taking advantage of their secure mobile operating system. Modify your device as needed and never let our fascination with privacy completely break the functionality of technology. ]]> Updated macOS 26 Settings https://inteltechniques.com/2026.macos.html Updated macOS 26 Settings Mon, 05 Jan 2026 01:00:00 GMT https://inteltechniques.com/2026.macos.html Extreme Privacy, 5th Edition, I offered many privacy and security considerations for macOS. That content is pushing two years old now, so I am probably overdue for an update.  This article revisits that entire section for the recent changes within macOS 26.

The following assumes you are on macOS 26.1, which was the latest version at the time of writing. Now that we have let Apple offer the first major update to that OS, the menu settings should be fairly locked in. I always prefer to wait for a ".1" update before documenting specific menu settings. This guide also assumes you have already purchased and booted the device, skipping the request for an Apple ID, and configuring things such as Wi-Fi, application firewall, Spotlight, Gatekeeper, FileVault, and any personal customizations as explained in the book. Consider this a supplement to that information.

The purpose of this article is to revisit all of the System Settings for optimal macOS privacy and security. Major updates are known to re-enable undesired settings, so this is a good time to check everything. While everything here will work if you logged in to an Apple account, some menus may appear differently. The following was conducted within System Settings from the Applications menu.
  • Settings > Wi-Fi > Ask to join networks > Off
  • Settings > Wi-Fi > Ask to join hotspots > Never
  • Settings > Bluetooth > Disabled (if not used)
  • Settings > Network > Firewall > Enabled
  • Settings > Network > Firewall > Options > Automatically allow built-in... > Disabled
  • Settings > Network > Firewall > Options > Automatically allow downloaded... > Disabled
  • Settings > Network > Firewall > Options > Stealth mode > Enabled
  • Settings > Battery > Options > Wake for network access > Never
  • Settings > General > Automatic Updates > i > Disable All
  • Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff > Allow Handoff > Disabled
  • Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff > AirDrop > No One
  • Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff > AirPlay Receiver > Disabled
  • Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff > Allow Airplay for > Current User
  • Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff > Require password > Enabled
  • Settings > General > AutoFill & Passwords > All Your Password... > (Close "x")
  • Settings > General > AutoFill & Passwords > AutoFill Passwords and Passkeys > Disabled
  • Settings > General > Date & Time > Source > Set > pool.ntp.org > Set
  • Settings > General > Date & Time > Set time zone automatically... > Disabled
  • Settings > General > Date & Time > Time zone > Desired location
  • Settings > General > Date & Time > Closest City > Desired location
  • Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > Remove or disable those desired
  • Settings > General > Sharing > Disable all
  • Settings > Accessibility > Siri > Type to Siri > Disabled
  • Settings > Accessibility > Siri > Listen for atypical speech > Disabled
  • Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Apple Intelligence > Disabled
  • Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Siri > Disabled
  • Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Siri History > Delete Siri & Dictation History > Delete
  • Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Siri Suggestions & Privacy > Disable all
  • Settings > Desktop & Dock > Show suggested and recent apps in Dock > Disabled
  • Settings > Desktop & Dock > Show recent apps in Stage Manager > Disabled
  • Settings > Desktop & Dock > Automatically rearrange Spaces... > Disabled
  • Settings > Spotlight > Show Related Content > Disabled
  • Settings > Spotlight > Spotlight Search History > Delete Search History
  • Settings > Spotlight > Help Apple Improve Search > Disabled
  • Settings > Spotlight > Results from Apps > Disable all
  • Settings > Spotlight > Results from System > Disable all
  • Settings > Spotlight > Results from Clipboard > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Show previews > Never
  • Settings > Notifications > Allow notifications when the device is sleeping > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Allow notifications when the screen is locked > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Allow notifications when mirroring or sharing the display > Disabled
  • Settings > Notifications > Application Notifications > Disable undesired
  • Settings > Sound > Alert volume > Minimum
  • Settings > Sound > Play sound on startup > Disabled
  • Settings > Sound > Play user interface sound effects > Disabled
  • Settings > Sound > Play feedback when volume is changed > Disabled
  • Settings > Focus > Share across devices > Disabled
  • Settings > Focus > Focus status > Off
  • Settings > Lock Screen > Turn display off on battery when inactive > For 1 hour
  • Settings > Lock Screen > Turn display off on power adapter when inactive > For 1 hour
  • Settings > Lock Screen > Require password after... > Immediately
  • Settings > Lock Screen > Show password hints > Disabled
  • Settings > Lock Screen > Show message when locked > Disabled
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Off
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Confirm app access
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Sensitive Content Warning > Off
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > Disable all
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising > Personalized Ads > Disabled
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Intelligence Report > Off
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > FileVault > Enabled
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessories > Always ask
  • Settings > Privacy & Security > Background Security Improvements > Enabled (if desired)
  • Settings > Touch ID & Password > Use Touch ID for Apple Pay > Disabled
  • Settings > Touch ID & Password > Use Touch ID for purchases... > Disabled
  • Settings > Touch ID & Password > Use Touch ID for autofilling passwords > Disabled
  • Settings > Internet Accounts > None
  • Settings > Game Center > Disabled
  • Settings > iCloud > None
  • Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Autofill Cards > 0
  • Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Shipping Address > None
  • Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Email > None
  • Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Phone > None
  • Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Add Orders to Wallet > Disabled
These basic privacy and security settings plus a properly-configured software firewall such as Little Snitch or Lulu will provide the optimal macOS setup. Most telemetry and overall Apple invasions will be eliminated and you can simply enjoy a secure operating system. ]]>