Geolocating a Traveler via OSINT techniques
How did I locate him through a picture taken at the beach?
Hey Folks!
So because a lot of people complimented me on the previous challenge,
I decided to do another one for you guys.
In today’s blog, we will dive into an OSINT investigation I’ve conducted to identify the exact geolocation of a traveler — as a part of an OSINT challenge he gave.
He said not to be confused by the coconut as he can be in China :)
Well, as always CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
First of all, I started my investigation by downloading the picture to look for some more details inside.
Now let’s try and get some clues from the picture.
Indicators:
Pink- We can see the same pattern of colorful beach umbrellas.
Blue- We can see that the sand color has a golden color because it contains low percentages of iron and turns orange/gold when oxidized. In addition, there are big rocks scattered on the beach, which might be because of nearby volcanoes.
Red- We can see mountains on the horizon.
In addition to that, there are two soldiers with camo uniforms standing right by the water.
From the umbrellas, we can assume that they might be umbrellas for rent for tourists who come over.
From the characteristics of the picture, it is not possible to understand much because it could be anywhere in the world, so I decided to poke around (OSINT) a bit in his Twitter profile to find clues to find his location.
The challenge picture was pictured on Sep 3, 2023.
I found that on August 30, 2023, he posted something interesting on his page.
Now we know we need to focus on Panama and beaches because he said they plan to visit there.
I decided to search for beach destinations in Panama and let Google do the work for me and suggest the most popular beaches in Panama.
It can’t be beaches in Panama City because the sand is lighter than in the original picture, same for San Blas Islands.
So, I decided to focus on Taboga Island.
As you can see the sand color matches the challenge picture.
I searched on Google “Rent an umbrella in Taboga Island”, and came across this site that offers a Taboga Day Pass which includes umbrellas and chairs.
I noticed something interesting inside the picture.
It’s the same colorful umbrellas on golden sands from the challenge picture.
Now let’s try and look for popular beaches on this island, searched on Google Maps to find the best rated and reviewed beach.
Found a beach named “Playa de la Isla Taboga” that is the most popular on this island.
Then, Searched for “arcoíris sombrillas Playa de la Isla Taboga” which means rainbow umbrellas in Spanish (The official language in Panama) to specify my Google search and get relevant results. (9 results, amazing!)
I navigated to a Facebook page that appeared in my search and found the exact umbrellas, as expected, It’s a local company that offers umbrellas for rent.
Now we know that we have a potential match but we want to find the exact coordinates of the guy from the challenge picture.
I came across a video on YouTube that also shows the exact umbrellas and the sand color from the challenge.
Here is a satellite image of the beach, As you can see there are little umbrellas on the beach.
As you can see from the satellite image, there are 2 possible sides of the same beach.
Remember the original picture with the mountains on the horizon?
So, I wanted to try and locate the exact side of the beach.
I used Google Earth for this because of the 3D view option they got.
First side view of the beach, as you can see there are no mountains at all.
To my surprise, the second side of the beach has a mountain as you can see, with umbrellas on the sand, and it matches the original picture.
I found the location on TripAdvisor.
Big rocks, rainbow umbrellas.
I also found a soldier with the same military uniform.
The exact beach is named “Restinga Beach” in Playa de la Isla Taboga.
8.800789442808224, -79.55504762097299
By the way, the name of the mountain in the picture is Cerro Cabra.
I also managed to geolocate another picture he posted.
As you can see there’s a big sign of “DUCHAS” which means showers in Spanish.
And you can see he is holding a very good-looking pineapple drink.
He bought his drink in Kiosco Aboga.
https://www.instagram.com/enkioscoaboga/
And I found the same big “SHOWERS” sign from the picture, I found it via a YouTube video.
So the traveler from the OSINT challenge is located in a Street market.
Remember, everything depends on your creativity and thinking outside the box, as always.
Hope you enjoyed this challenge as much as I did.
Happy investigating!
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