OSINT, cybersécurité et légalité, vers la fin du Far West numérique ?

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) has historically operated in a legal gray area, involving mass data collection and indexing without stringent oversight. However, this is changing due to new European regulations such as the GDPR, NIS2 Directive, and DORA Regulation. These frameworks require compliance with legality, loyalty, and proportionality standards in digital information handling.

Technical Accessibility vs. Legal Exploitability

Contrary to common belief, public availability of information does not automatically permit its collection or use. European law distinguishes between technical accessibility and legal exploitation. Information, whether from the clear web, deep web, or dark web, may be protected by personal data rights, copyrights, trade secrets, or database protections.

Accessing an unsecured database without a password can be deemed fraudulent under French penal code, and technical availability is no longer a valid defense against legal penalties.

Regulatory tightening requires rethinking surveillance and cybersecurity methods. Information collection must now utilize search engines operating within strict legal frameworks, ensuring indexing without intrusion, avoiding unauthorized scraping, and maintaining source traceability.

Techniques like mass automation, unauthorized crawling, or accessing protected forums pose criminal risks. Utilizing databases derived from breaches, even if encrypted, can be considered digital handling of stolen goods.

Compliance is now a competitive advantage and a legal requirement. Clients must demand both results and legal assurances from their service providers.

Responsibility in Internet Intelligence

Contracts between clients and service providers are crucial, detailing authorized scopes, data typologies, processing procedures, and integrating GDPR compliance clauses. French companies using foreign providers outside the EU can face liability for illegal data collection, as what is illegal in France remains so, regardless of where the act is committed.

The European OSINT and threat intelligence sector is undergoing a significant transformation towards regulated, auditable, and legally controlled practices. This professionalization indicates a future where ethical data collection is as critical as the quality of analysis provided.

D’après FrenchWeb.