Investigate websites without exposing yourself

You will learn how to collect intelligence from websites, domains, and infrastructure using passive techniques that minimise your digital footprint and keep your investigations secure.

Follow the infrastructure, not just the surface

From DNS records and certificate transparency logs to tag analysis and reverse IP lookups, you will develop the skills to map connections between domains, hosting providers, and operators that would not be visible through conventional searching.

Move from tools to tradecraft

This course does not just show you how to use tools. It teaches you how to think about website investigations systematically, plan your collection, assess risk before you act, and pivot from one data point to the next.

ABOUT THIS COURSE

Websites leave more traces than most people realise. This course teaches you to read those traces, from the structure of a domain name to the certificates, tags, and infrastructure that connect it to a broader network of sites and operators. 

Whether you are investigating a suspicious domain, mapping disinformation infrastructure, or profiling a corporate entity, Website OSINT gives you a structured, repeatable approach to finding what is publicly available and understanding what it means.

ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETE

This course takes approximately 8 to 10 hours to complete. It is entirely self-paced, meaning you can work through it on your own schedule and return to any lesson at any time during your access period.

WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR

This course is designed for OSINT practitioners, investigators, intelligence analysts, and cybersecurity professionals who need to investigate websites and online infrastructure as part of their work. 

It is suitable for those with foundational OSINT knowledge who want to develop a more systematic and technically informed approach to website investigations. It will also be valuable to due diligence professionals, journalists, and corporate security teams who regularly encounter domains and web-based entities in their investigations.

PREREQUISITES

Completion of OSINT Primer or equivalent foundational OSINT experience is recommended.

This course becomes progressively more technical — no prior technical background is needed, but expect a steeper curve in the later modules.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Detecting and Analysing Disinformation: The infrastructure investigation skills you have developed in this course are applicable to mapping disinformation campaigns. This course takes you into the identification of inauthentic content, coordinated behaviour, and influence operations, where domain and hosting analysis are central techniques.

The OSINT Redbook: Exploring the Chinese Internet: Many of the domain registration, Whois, and infrastructure techniques covered in this course apply directly to investigating Chinese internet entities. This course extends those skills into China-specific platforms, registries, and data sources that require a different investigative approach.

Person of Interest and Social Media Investigations: Website OSINT and person-focused investigations are closely connected. Selectors discovered through domain and Whois records such as email addresses, phone numbers, business numbers frequently pivot into social media and people-based collection, which this course covers in depth.

COURSE CURRICULUM

    1. Welcome to Website OSINT

    2. Before We Begin

    3. Planning Your Collection

    4. Attribution Risk for Website OSINT

    5. Practical Activity: Initial Evaluation of a Website

    6. Cyber Threat Intelligence Vs OSINT

    7. Active Vs Passive Reconnaissance

    8. Quiz: Introduction to Website OSINT

    1. Domain Name Structure

    2. URLs: Structure and Analysis

    3. Registering a Domain: ICANN and IANA

    4. What are WHOIS records

    5. Practical Activity: Searching WHOIS Records

    6. Historical Searches

    7. Practical Activity: Historical WHOIS

    8. Newly Registered Domains

    9. Quiz: Domain and Website Infrastructure

    1. HTTP, HTTPS and SSL Certificates

    2. Certificate Transparency Tools and OSINT

    3. Quiz: Domain and Website Infrastructure

    1. What is the Domain Name System (DNS)

    2. DNS Records

    3. Historical DNS

    4. Practical Activity: DNS Records

    5. Internet Protocol Addresses and IPv4

    6. What is IPv6?

    7. IP and Network Tools

    8. Quiz: DNS and IP Addressing

    1. Capturing Websites

    2. Wayback Machine & Archiving Sites

    3. Robots.txt

    4. Practical Activity: Look Where the Robots Won't

    5. BuiltWith and Tag Analysis

    6. Quiz: Website Analysis

    1. Hosting and Content Delivery Networks

    2. Common Ports

    3. ViewDNS - Reverse IP Lookup

    4. ViewDNS - Reverse Whois and MX Look Ups

    5. ViewDNS IP History, Subdomain Enumeration and Visualisation

    6. Practical Activity: ViewDNS

    7. Document Searching and Cloud Drives

    8. Quiz: ViewDNS, Enumeration & Scanning

COURSE SNAPSHOT

  • $499.00
  • 50 lessons
  • 1 hour of video content