OSINT for Threat Assessment: Social Media Monitoring That's Actually Legal
- CrisisWire
- Oct 25
- 8 min read
By Warren Pulley, CrisisWire Threat Assessment Expert
A student posts "Don't come to school tomorrow" on Instagram at 11 PM.
Your threat assessment team sees it the next morning. By then, the post is deleted. No screenshot, no archive, no evidence.
This happens every single day across America.
After 40 years preventing violence in military operations, LAPD patrol zones, and campus environments, I've watched organizations make two catastrophic mistakes: ignoring social media intelligence completely, or collecting it illegally and getting sued into oblivion.
There's a third option nobody talks about.
It's called Open Source Intelligence—OSINT—and when you do it right, it's completely legal, admissible in court, and actually prevents violence.
Here's what your team needs to know.
What OSINT Actually Means (And Why You're Probably Doing It Wrong)
Open Source Intelligence is information from publicly available sources. Period.
If someone posted it publicly on Facebook? OSINT.
Shared it on Twitter where anyone can see it? OSINT.
Uploaded a threatening TikTok video with no privacy settings? OSINT.
Court records you request from the clerk's office? OSINT.
Property records at the county assessor? Also OSINT.
Think of it this way: If a concerned parent can find it through Google without breaking any laws, your threat assessment team can use it legally.
What Crosses The Line
Private messages? Need a warrant.
Password-protected accounts? Need consent.
Creating fake profiles to friend someone? That's illegal pretexting.
Hacking into accounts? That's a felony that will destroy your case and possibly land your investigator in prison.
The Secret Service found that 93% of school attackers communicated their intentions beforehand. Twenty years ago, that communication happened in whispered hallway conversations. Today, it's Instagram stories and TikTok videos.
The intelligence exists. The question is whether you know how to collect it legally.
The Legal Framework Nobody Explains Clearly
Let me make this simple.
You CAN monitor any public post without consent. Courts have ruled on this repeatedly—if someone shares content with the entire internet, they can't later claim privacy violations.
This means:
Employers can review public social media of employees
Schools can monitor public posts by students
Threat assessment teams can screenshot and document anything posted publicly
Google searches combining names with keywords? Legal.
Reverse image searches to track threatening photos? Legal.
Using Archive.org to find deleted content that was previously public? Legal.
Where Organizations Get Sued
Accessing private content without authorization destroys your case.
Real example: A school district created fake student accounts to friend private profiles. They discovered threatening content. The student sued for privacy violations. The district paid $250,000 and the evidence was inadmissible.
Creating fake accounts to access private profiles? Illegal pretexting.
Using employees' passwords to access their protected posts? Unauthorized access.
Paying data brokers for illegally obtained information? You're now party to the crime.
Discriminatory monitoring kills cases too. You cannot target specific racial or religious groups while ignoring others with identical behavior. That's textbook discrimination and will result in civil rights lawsuits that make your security concerns irrelevant.
The comprehensive legal frameworks in my Threat Assessment Handbook ensure your OSINT activities survive legal scrutiny. Because brilliant investigations are worthless if the evidence gets thrown out.
How Professional OSINT Actually Works
Most organizations approach social media monitoring like amateurs.
They search a name on Facebook. Skim a few posts. Call it "investigation."
That's not OSINT. That's how you miss threats and get sued.
Step 1: Define What You Actually Need To Know
Before you search anything, write down your intelligence requirements.
For student concerns:
Does the subject post content fixating on violence?
Is there evidence of weapon access?
Do posts indicate attack planning?
Are there threats against specific targets?
For workplace threats:
Has the subject made direct or veiled threats?
Do they express grievances against the employer?
Is there evidence of mental health crisis?
Do posts show weapon access and violent intent?
Writing this down before searching isn't bureaucracy. It's documentation proving legitimate investigative purpose when you're challenged in court.
Step 2: Start With Public Records (Not Social Media)
Here's what most investigators miss: social media without context is useless.
Use resources from OSINT Framework to check:
Court records for criminal history
Property records for addresses
Professional licenses
Business registrations
Voter registration data
Why start here? A subject with restraining orders and weapons permits who posts threatening content represents exponentially higher risk than someone with a clean record posting identical content.
My research on insider threat detection proves this pattern holds across thousands of cases.
Context changes everything.
Step 3: Systematic Social Media Intelligence
Now you're ready for social media—but methodically, not randomly.
Twitter investigation:
Search the subject's handle for direct threats
Review likes and retweets for concerning content
Check who they follow (extremist accounts? weapons dealers?)
Document deleted tweets using Archive.org
Instagram analysis:
Public posts showing weapons or violence preparation
Stories (screenshot immediately—they vanish in 24 hours)
Tagged photos revealing associates or locations
Comments indicating mindset shifts
Facebook intelligence:
Public profile information
Posts on public pages or groups
Event attendance (protests, rallies, weapons training)
Friends list analysis (when public)
TikTok and YouTube:
Posted videos showing planning or preparation
Comments expressing violent ideation
Subscribed channels focused on attacks
Playlists revealing fixations
For workplace cases, LinkedIn provides employment history, professional grievances expressed publicly, and connections to others involved.
Tools like Sherlock find associated accounts across platforms automatically. The Wayback Machine recovers deleted content.
But tools are useless without knowing what you're looking for.
Turning Data Into Threat Assessment
Collecting posts is reconnaissance.
Analyzing them against threat indicators is intelligence.
That difference determines whether you prevent violence or just accumulate screenshots.
What You're Actually Looking For
Direct threats: "I'm going to shoot up the school" leaves no ambiguity.
Indirect threats: Poems, artwork, or veiled references suggesting intent without stating it explicitly.
Leakage: Hints about plans—"you'll see what happens" or "don't come to school tomorrow."
Fixation: Obsessive focus on previous attacks—studying Columbine extensively, researching shooter manifestos.
Pathway behaviors: Research, planning, reconnaissance documented online—asking about security weaknesses, photographing exits.
Personal grievance: "They're all against me" or "someone has to make them pay."
Concerning change: Someone whose posts were mundane suddenly focusing on violence, death, or revenge.
The assessment frameworks from Campus Under Siege provide structured evaluation tools that score these behaviors against protective factors.
The critical question: Does publicly available information suggest this person is moving toward attack implementation?
Not "did they post something concerning" but "are they actively planning violence?"
That distinction saves lives.
Documentation That Survives Court
Your investigation report determines whether intelligence helps or destroys your case.
Every report must document:
Sources reviewed:
Platform names and specific URLs
Search terms used
Dates and times of review
Tools employed
This proves your investigation was systematic, not cherry-picking information to support predetermined conclusions.
Findings:
Screenshots with timestamps
Archived versions using Archive.is
Analysis explaining why elements are concerning
Assessment of overall threat level
Recommendations:
Is law enforcement notification warranted?
Should mental health intervention be coordinated?
Are protective measures needed for targets?
What ongoing monitoring is required?
Legal compliance documentation:
All sources were publicly available
No unauthorized access occurred
Investigation scope matched legitimate safety concern
Chain of custody maintained
I've testified in cases where brilliant investigations were destroyed because investigators couldn't document their methods met legal standards. The court didn't care that the threat was real—they cared that evidence was obtained legally.
Documentation determines which category your case falls into.
Platform-Specific Legal Landmines
Different contexts create different legal constraints.
Schools Can Legally:
Monitor public social media for safety concerns
Investigate reports about concerning posts
Document public threats
Notify parents of concerning public content
Schools Get Sued For:
Demanding students' passwords
Punishing off-campus speech protected by First Amendment
Accessing private accounts without consent
Discriminatory monitoring of specific groups
Corporations Can Legally:
Screen public social media pre-employment
Investigate workplace threats posted publicly
Monitor public posts during labor disputes
Document threats for termination
Corporations Get Sued For:
Requiring employees to provide login credentials
Accessing protected accounts through coercion
Discriminating based on protected speech (union activity, whistleblowing)
Retaliating for legal off-duty conduct
When OSINT reveals criminal threats, proper procedure means:
Preserve evidence immediately through screenshots and archives.
Contact local police with documented findings.
Provide chain of custody for digital evidence.
Let police obtain warrants for non-public information.
Maintain your parallel threat assessment focused on prevention.
My LAPD experience taught this lesson: Organizations conducting amateur criminal investigations contaminate cases, making prosecution difficult even when threats are credible.
The Tools Professional Investigators Use
Essential resources from OSINT Dojo separate amateurs from professionals.
Username search tools:
Archiving tools:
Archive.is - Preserve timestamped snapshots
Wayback Machine - Access historical versions
Screenshot tools with automatic timestamping
Image analysis:
Google Reverse Image Search - Find image sources
TinEye - Track image propagation
Video verification tools
But here's the truth: tools without training create illusions of competence.
Bellingcat's OSINT Guide provides investigative journalism methodologies. FEMA IS-906 covers digital threat indicators. My CrisisWire training integrates OSINT with behavioral threat assessment.
When ABC7 covered the security systems I tested, the story emphasized that technical capabilities mean nothing without proper implementation.
The same principle applies to OSINT.
The Ethical Framework That Sustains Programs
Legal compliance isn't enough.
Your OSINT program needs ethical implementation that communities trust.
Proportionality: Intelligence gathering matches threat severity. Investigating "I hate Mondays" doesn't justify the same depth as investigating "I'm bringing my dad's AR-15."
Necessity: Collect only information relevant to legitimate safety concerns. Not fishing expeditions into subjects' entire digital lives.
Transparency: Document methods to withstand legal scrutiny and community review.
Privacy protection: Minimize collection of irrelevant personal information. Discovering someone's sexual orientation while investigating workplace threats doesn't make it relevant.
Non-discrimination: Apply monitoring consistently. Not targeting protected groups.
Retention limits: Delete irrelevant information after investigation concludes.
These aren't obstacles to threat assessment—they're foundations ensuring your program survives legal challenges, community scrutiny, and political pressure.
Programs that violate ethical norms may succeed tactically but fail strategically when communities revolt.
What Your Team Must Do This Week
Theory without execution is worthless.
Immediate actions:
Establish written OSINT policy specifying:
Which tools are authorized
Which sources can be legally accessed
Who conducts investigations
How findings are documented
What legal review is required
Train team members on legal boundaries through formal coursework, not casual conversation.
Document intelligence requirements for different threat types so investigations are systematic.
Acquire basic OSINT tools and establish accounts for legitimate investigation use.
This Month:
Complete FEMA IS-906 training.
Practice OSINT techniques using public tutorials before applying to actual cases.
Coordinate with legal counsel for policy review.
Establish evidence preservation procedures.
Download frameworks from OSINT Framework and study Bellingcat's guides.
But don't attempt to become OSINT experts overnight. Build capability incrementally while consulting specialists for complex cases.
Contact CrisisWire at crisiswire@proton.me or visit bit.ly/crisiswire for consultation on implementing legal OSINT programs.
We provide training, policy development, and case consultation ensuring your social media monitoring prevents violence without creating liability.
The Intelligence You're Missing Right Now
Social media intelligence is critical for modern threat assessment.
But only when conducted legally and ethically.
Organizations that ignore publicly available warning signs face liability for preventable violence. Those conducting illegal surveillance face civil rights lawsuits and criminal charges.
The solution? Implementing OSINT methodologies that gather publicly available information within legal and ethical boundaries.
The frameworks in my Threat Assessment Handbook provide structured approaches used by investigative journalists, law enforcement, and human rights organizations worldwide.
Proven methods that detect threats while respecting rights.
Don't conduct social media monitoring without proper training and legal guidance.
The intelligence you need is publicly available.
The question is whether your team knows how to find it legally.
About Warren Pulley
Warren Pulley is a CrisisWire Threat Assessment Expert with 40 years of experience spanning the U.S. Air Force, LAPD, Baghdad Embassy Protection operations, and corporate security programs. His methodologies integrate OSINT techniques with behavioral threat assessment frameworks detailed in five published books including The Prepared Leader, Threat Assessment Handbook, and Campus Under Siege. His research is available at Academia.edu.
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