Open source intelligence startup Echosec Systems Ltd. has been purchased by business risk intelligence startup Flashpoint for an unknown sum. Echosec, a 2013 startup, gives security and intelligence teams increased real-time access to a variety of open source intelligence data. Platforms and application programming interfaces provided by the company transmit timely, pertinent data from websites including social media, the deep web, and the black web. The information can be utilised for crisis management, brand protection, counterterrorism, disinformation monitoring, and geopolitical risk assessments.
The OSINT that Echosec offers to intelligence professionals can be utilised to support physical and cyber security tasks. According to the company’s marketing materials, its users are given the tools they need to employ OSINT and publicly available data to secure people, property, and infrastructure by bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds. Three main pillars serve as the foundation for the company’s service. When human safety and national security are on the line, speed to insight is the key. An emphasis on usability enables intelligence teams with a range of expertise and experience levels to be productive right away. The third pillar is data breadth, which includes giving users a single point of access to all OSINT data at their disposal.
Hill & Associates Ltd., Innocent Lives Foundation, STS Government, Maletego Technologies GmbH, and The Maritime Observatory are a few notable Echosec clients. In order to provide situational awareness on the ground, executive protection, geopolitical risk assessments, counterterrorism, misinformation and disinformation identification and response, and crisis response, the acquisition will increase Flashpoint’s OSINT capabilities.
“Intelligence practitioners require a converged, user-focused solution that includes insights derived from both open and closed intelligence sources,” Flashpoint President Donald Saelinger said in a statement. “Integrating Echosec’s worldwide social media collections, intuitive interface and industry expertise into Flashpoint will deliver unparalleled value to our customers, to help them best identify and mitigate all types of risk.”
