Favicons: A Powerful, Underutilized Tool in OSINT Investigations

This article highlights the crucial role of favicons (website icons) in Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) investigations. Favicons, often overlooked, can be powerful indicators of fraudulent websites. By comparing the hash values of a target website's favicon with legitimate sites, investigators can identify impersonation attempts. The article demonstrates how tools like Favicone, Favicon Grabber, and Favihash can be used to analyze favicon hashes and search platforms like Shodan and Censys to uncover malicious websites mimicking legitimate ones, such as an example involving a fake Amazon UK site. This underscores favicon analysis as an effective, yet underutilized, technique in OSINT, enabling swift identification of online fraud and malicious activities.