Intel Tradecraft: Geo-Tagging and Identifying a Picture by it’s Background (Similar Image Search)

 

In the most recent episode of Homeland, Carrie while trying to figure out what direction to go in searching a stolen laptop for intel, is distracted by the computer’s screen saver which is a picture that shows the suspect in a beachfront bar in what appears to be a tropical location. Thinking back, Carrie remembers one of her associates (Allison) mention the name of a beachfront bar (Banana Joe’s) in the West Indies (St. Lucia Island). Carrie then has her computer tech do a google search for “Banana Joe’s Bar”. She then pulls up the image of the bar and compares it with the screen saver picture; sure enough the backgrounds match, right down to the yellow fence and bamboo awning of the bar.

In the 21st century, pictures just don’t say a 1,000 words anymore, they can tell (down to the square inch) the EXACT location of that picture to the person who knows where to look.

The first way this can be accomplished is through Geo-Tagging. 

Geotagging is the process of adding geographical information to various media in the form of metadata. The data usually consists of GPS coordinates like latitude and longitude, but may even include bearing, altitude, distance and place names. Geotagging is most commonly used for photographs and can help people get a lot of specific information about where the picture was taken or the exact location of a friend who logged on to a service.

For those of you that keep up with the news, you will remember this recent story about some Russian Soldiers in Syria that were geo located by some Russian Investigative bloggers seeking to identify current troop locations in Syria. This story started a lengthy online conversation about how a large amount of modern military intelligence is now obtained through Open Sourced information such as geo-tagging.

Geo-Tagging is made possible through EXIF meta-data. It is important to review how to both modify this data to both avoid YOUR photo’s being discovered and discover another person’s photo location if need be.

The Second way is what we discussed in the opening paragraph; identifying similar backgrounds or Similar Background Search. There are several ways to accomplish this, the easiest way is through Google Image Search and Reverse Image Search, which are fairly self-explanatory to use, simply click-n-drag the photo into the search box.

TIP: As a general rule (something that was also briefly discussed in Homeland) when you take a selfie or any other picture and you want to minimize the chance that somebody will be able to identify your location, minimize the AMOUNT of background in your picture, regardless of what it is. Remember, in the age of the internet, sometimes the smallest thing can be recognized and identified.

Stay Alert, Stay Armed and Stay Dangerous!