Which term describes publicly available information used to inform threat intelligence and defense?

• A. OSINT
• B. Threat Feeds
• C. Defensive OSINT
• D. Closed-Source

Answer: (A)

Open Source Intelligence, or OSINT, is information that is publicly available and can be collected and analyzed to support threat intelligence and defensive decisions. Because it comes from sources accessible to anyone, OSINT provides broad visibility into attacker campaigns, infrastructure, and vulnerabilities without needing restricted access. Analysts combine data from news reports, vendor advisories, CERT notices, vulnerability databases, domain registrations, DNS data, social media, paste sites, and security blogs to spot patterns, map attacker techniques, tactics, and procedures, and validate which indicators are relevant to their environment. OSINT adds context and breadth to other intelligence sources, helping to understand trends and potential threats in near real time. Threat feeds describe streams of indicators that may be private, commercial, or public and aren’t necessarily openly accessible, while Defensive OSINT is not a standard term for a formal category, and Closed-Source means non-public information.