Breadcrumbs in the Digital Forest: Tracing Criminals through Torrent Metadata with OSINT
Annelies de Jong, Giuseppe Cascavilla, Jessica De Pascale

TL;DR
This paper demonstrates how torrent metadata can be leveraged for open-source intelligence to identify high-risk behaviors and illicit activities, providing a scalable method for digital investigations.
Contribution
It introduces a novel OSINT process utilizing torrent metadata, enriched with geolocation and behavioral data, for investigative profiling and threat detection.
Findings
Torrent metadata reveals user clustering and co-download patterns.
Enriched data can identify users involved in illicit content.
The method supports automated, scalable digital investigations.
Abstract
This work investigates the potential of torrent metadata as a source for open-source intelligence (OSINT), with a focus on user profiling and behavioral analysis. While peer-to-peer (P2P) networks such as BitTorrent are well studied with respect to privacy and performance, their metadata is rarely used for investigative purposes. This work presents a proof of concept demonstrating how tracker responses, torrent index data, and enriched IP metadata can reveal patterns associated with high-risk behavior. The research follows a five-step OSINT process: source identification, data collection, enrichment, behavioral analysis, and presentation of the results. Data were collected from The Pirate Bay and UDP trackers, yielding a dataset of more than 60,000 unique IP addresses across 206 popular torrents. The data were enriched with geolocation, anonymization status, and flags of involvement…
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Taxonomy
TopicsDigital and Cyber Forensics · Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies · Stalking, Cyberstalking, and Harassment
