Ref. Ares(2015)550895 - 10/02/2015
European Commission
Date: 04.02.2015
Joint Research Centre - Ispra Site
Mission No: DF-15-1017652
Mission Report
Name Institute/Unit/Project
IPSC/ GlobeSec/OSINT
Object of the mission
Discuss possible use case scenarios for EMM OSINT Suite software toolkit with
DG HR (DS). Meet with DG HOME to discuss project plan of current AA.
Place, date, organizations visited and contacted persons
(Please continue on a separate sheet, if necessary)
27.01.15
, DG HR
DG HR, Brussels
, DG Home
DG HOME, Brussels
Other Participants
Distribution List
Of the establishment
Other services of the
Obligatory(*) + Messrs.
Commission
(*), JRC
(*), JRC
(*), JRC
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx.xxxxxx.xx (*), JRC
GlobeSec Unit, JR
C xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx For sensitive mission reports, distribution must only be
only to persons indicated by (*) and relevant staff
members of the GlobeSec Unit
Main Results of the mission:
(Please attach as many separate sheets as necessary)
Visit of DG HR.DS
Background
Officials of DG HR attended our EMM OSINT Workshop last November. They expressed interest to
evaluate the EMM OSINT Suite software for internal purposes. Due to the sensitive nature of their use
case scenarios we met on-site in the secure area of the DS to discuss how our software could be put to
work.
Use Case Scenarios
demonstrated various workflows which are part of the daily work in his unit.
The work is aimed at avoiding leaks of sensitive data to the press and other external parties and to
detect possible emerging threats to the security of EU personnel and sites.
The automatic processing of documents and email messages as well as the processing of social media
content is one of the core requirements. Our software provides extraction functions but needs to be
customised to particular work flows.
By using the EMM OSINT Suite for typical use cases we made the following observations:
The software needs an additional import module to be able to load messages from Microsoft’s
PST mailbox file
The software needs additional extraction steps to process typical email header information
The software’s default work flow seems to be suited to process the needed data.
Automatic scripts could control more complex workflows. This could be realised by
leveraging the existing script API for reporting
Twitter monitoring as it is used for EMM Media Monitoring would be a very good fit for the
desktop product as well
Follow-up actions
Provide additional import module for PST files
Extract meta information from mail messages
Improve scripting API to be able to automate complete workflows
Meeting with DG HOME
Background
We have an ongoing collaboration with DG HOME to improve the capabilities of MS’ law
enforcement authorities in the field of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). We concluded a new AA
last October to continue the successful work with the MS. The aim of my brief visit was the kick-off
meeting of the new AA and to discuss the work packages and the project plan going forward.
Discussion
Most of the work packages are straight forward follow-ups to our previous arrangement such as our on-
site support to DG HOME’s analytical capability and the OSINT community related activities such as
the yearly workshop.
For the EMM OSINT workshop we discussed how we could bring the JRC workshop format (use-case
scenarios, hands-on tutorial) together with the yearly Europol Open Sources conference (more strategic
topics). A first step would be to find a common “branding” of both workshops to make clear that both
are part of DG HOME’s policy initiatives. For next year a possible co-hosted workshop at Europol
should be discussed.
As part of the ongoing collaboration we have developed the EMM OSINT Suite software which is
currently used by around 40 authorities in Europe (law enforcement and others). Still, we see further
potential to disseminate the software to more law enforcement authorities.
In order to better understand, how the EMM OSINT Suite software is used and to prepare for future
events we decided to create a survey which will be made available to users of the software and
attendants of the past events.
We agreed that the JRC develops a first draft version of the survey which could be tested with existing
users of the software. Based on this work to be performed in March/April 2015 a more comprehensive
dissemination strategy will be developed also talking to other units at DG HOME in the field of police
cooperation.
Follow-up actions
Incorporate results of kick-off meeting into Inception Report
Develop a survey to assess the use of EMM OSINT Suite for law enforcement authorities