Benjamin Strick
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bendobrown.bsky.social
Benjamin Strick
@bendobrown.bsky.social
Investigator | Human Rights | Hybrid Wars
- Makes videos on maps, data & #OSINT
- Director of Investigations at @cen4infores.bsky.social
- Prev at BBC Africa Eye. Bellingcat contributor.
This footage from Brno (برنو) in Sudan's South Kordofan region, shows the sheer number of RSF affiliated fighters that descend upon these small towns when they are attacked, looted and burned.

The location is: 11.27240, 29.4757. It was filmed during the attack and takeover of the town last week.
December 24, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Sometimes political figures and influential accounts delete posts that could cause headlines. But some archives store those posts forever.

In this video, we dig into five tools to look up deleted tweets and search through political posts.

youtu.be/QZi4iRN_Uj8?...
OSINT At Home #28 - How to find deleted political posts (5 tools)
YouTube video by Bendobrown
youtu.be
December 23, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Since February 2022, the Eyes on Russia project by CIR and the #OSINT community has verified and mapped footage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The data is searchable by location, date and description.

For example, you can search "drone" and see areas they are largely present in.
December 18, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Investigation finds evidence that a Sudanese Armed Forces operation carried out in Wad Madani was marked by ethnically motivated violence, mass killing of civilians, dumping of bodies into canals and mass graves.

Impactful work by @cnn.com & @lighthousereports.com
edition.cnn.com/interactive/...
Bodies in the canals
Dumped in canals and buried in mass graves: CNN investigates how Sudan’s army carried out ethnically targeted killings
edition.cnn.com
December 17, 2025 at 11:15 AM
This is the third edition of OSINT Field Notes, a monthly newsletter on digital investigations, techniques and tools.

This issue covers X location data, Nano Banana, 3D flight paths, and a sanctions data diving.

Thank you for the support on these 🙏

tinyurl.com/osintfieldno...
OSINT Field Notes #3
3D scenes from scraps of imagery, X’s hidden location signal, how to follow sanctions paper trails and the global MAGA grifters exposed.
tinyurl.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Sudan air force bombing of towns, markets and schools has killed hundreds.

Brilliant open source investigative monitoring by our Sudan Witness team at CIR. www.bbc.com/news/article...
Sudan war: Air force's bombing of towns, markets and schools has killed hundreds, report says
A detailed study highlights the military's aerial campaign and how civilians have been its victims.
www.bbc.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:59 AM
On the same day that UN condemned post-election violence and blackouts in Tanzania, Meta disabled accounts of activists that were posting footage showing violence carried out by Tanzanian police against protestors.

Meta link: transparency.meta.com/reports/cont...
UN: www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
December 5, 2025 at 9:09 AM
X rolled out a new feature overnight showing where accounts are based. This network of “Trump-supporting independent women” that claimed to be “real Americans” are based in Thailand.

The photos were stolen from European models & posts pushed pro-Trump lines while targeting Islam and LGBTQ people.
November 23, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Tanzanian police killed protestors and there are signs of unmarked mass graves where bodies were reportedly dumped.

It was an honour to support the team at @cnn.com to document these horrible events.

edition.cnn.com/2025/11/21/a...

Video here: edition.cnn.com/2025/11/21/w...
‘Oh my God, this is our Tanzania’: CNN investigation shows police shooting protesters, signs of mass graves | CNN
In the chaotic aftermath of Tanzania’s disputed presidential election last month, police and gun-wielding men on patrol shot at groups of protesters, many of whom appeared unarmed or were holding only...
edition.cnn.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Gotta love a bit of lights at night, especially when you can see them on a global map.

NASA’s Black Marble updates every day and shows every glow, blackout and wandering ship 🛰️⛴️
November 20, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Strick
Shout out to @bendobrown.bsky.social for his newsletter!
He’s sharing a lot of tips, but reading this also brings me back to the days i just started doing osint. Newsletters like these taught me so much! 🥰

osintfieldnotes.substack.com
OSINT Field Notes - from Benjamin Strick | Substack
Digital investigations, tools, techniques and dispatches, from satellites to social media. Short, sharp, and always something you can use, in your inbox every month. Click to read OSINT Field Notes - ...
osintfieldnotes.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:02 AM
This is the second edition of OSINT Field Notes: a monthly newsletter on digital investigations, with tools, techniques and notes from the field.

Thank you for all of the warm messages after the first one. It's an honour to work with the community.

osintfieldnotes.substack.com/p/osint-fiel...
OSINT Field Notes #2
From simple panorama how-to's and Starlink signals to drone footage, fake architects, and the digital fingerprints that expose hidden networks.
osintfieldnotes.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Open source documentation by our Sudan Witness team at CIR on mass displacement, detentions & killings during the RSF takeover of El Fasher and the commanders linked to them: www.info-res.org/reports/disp...
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 PM
This is the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. Absolutely horrific level of destruction, all visible on NOAA imagery. View the map here: storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/melis...
November 3, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Strick
Reminder that mass killings of civilians are happening in Sudan after the RSF’s takeover of El Fasher this week.

And there’s still a severe famine.
New satellite imagery analysis from Yale shows detailed view of the site where footage showed RSF executing unarmed people in the berm just north of Sudan’s El Fasher.
November 1, 2025 at 4:22 PM
New satellite imagery analysis from Yale shows detailed view of the site where footage showed RSF executing unarmed people in the berm just north of Sudan’s El Fasher.
November 1, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Strick
For y’all interested in getting your own views into things like boat / naval activity in the Caribbean etc, this one’s for you.
I made a newsletter. I went overboard with detail, but I love sharing #OSINT tips and tricks.

I've covered:
- Innovations & resources.
- Free detailed aerial imagery tool.
- DIY power grid map.
- Analysis of leaked data on mass censorship & surveillance.
osintfieldnotes.substack.com/p/osint-fiel...
OSINT Field Notes #1 - DIY Power Grid Map, Great Firewall Leak & Birds Eye View Tool
Technical teardown on how to make a custom KML for power grids. Plus: tracking tiny ships, detailed aerial views and a case file on the Geedge leaks. Read time: 8 min.
osintfieldnotes.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Lots of folks sending me interesting case studies on NASA night lights data after I published this tutorial. Amazing to see so many applications used in Mali, North Korea, South China Sea and more.

Check out some case studies and how to use it here 👇

youtu.be/x9JR7myjivs?...
How to Use NASA Night Lights Imagery to Track World Events
YouTube video by Bendobrown
youtu.be
October 24, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Strick
[ #IMINT #SATELLITES ] How to Use NASA Night Lights Imagery to Track World Events (by @bendobrown.bsky.social):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9JR...
How to Use NASA Night Lights Imagery to Track World Events
YouTube video by Bendobrown
www.youtube.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Our world glows differently after dark and NASA’s satellites see it all. From wars to disasters and even the movement of vessels.

So I made a tutorial on how you can read those patterns using night lights imagery. Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9JR...
October 23, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Strick
“We want to send a message to all authoritarian leaders: choose ballots, not bullets.”

Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee on why 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Maria Corina Machado: “She is an extraordinary example of civilian courage.”

youtu.be/2JSAqdkT6z4
Chair of Norwegian Nobel Committeeon why 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Maria Corina Machado
YouTube video by ONEST
youtu.be
October 10, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Strick
New from 404 Media: the Discord hack is every users' worst nightmare. Yesterday the hackers started posting Discord users' selfies, identity documents, email addresses, phone numbers, more. I watched in real time. This is risk of tech storing ID for age verification
www.404media.co/the-discord-...
The Discord Hack is Every Users’ Worst Nightmare
A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...
www.404media.co
October 9, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Strick
I love me a good newsletter, especially one jam packed with open source investigation goodness. Nicely done @bendobrown.bsky.social 🕵🏽‍♂️
I made a newsletter. I went overboard with detail, but I love sharing #OSINT tips and tricks.

I've covered:
- Innovations & resources.
- Free detailed aerial imagery tool.
- DIY power grid map.
- Analysis of leaked data on mass censorship & surveillance.
osintfieldnotes.substack.com/p/osint-fiel...
OSINT Field Notes #1 - DIY Power Grid Map, Great Firewall Leak & Birds Eye View Tool
Technical teardown on how to make a custom KML for power grids. Plus: tracking tiny ships, detailed aerial views and a case file on the Geedge leaks. Read time: 8 min.
osintfieldnotes.substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Strick
A great new newsletter. Check out the section on exporting the great firewall.
I made a newsletter. I went overboard with detail, but I love sharing #OSINT tips and tricks.

I've covered:
- Innovations & resources.
- Free detailed aerial imagery tool.
- DIY power grid map.
- Analysis of leaked data on mass censorship & surveillance.
osintfieldnotes.substack.com/p/osint-fiel...
OSINT Field Notes #1 - DIY Power Grid Map, Great Firewall Leak & Birds Eye View Tool
Technical teardown on how to make a custom KML for power grids. Plus: tracking tiny ships, detailed aerial views and a case file on the Geedge leaks. Read time: 8 min.
osintfieldnotes.substack.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:35 AM