Open-source intelligence is best described as which of the following?

• A. Information found in private corporate databases
• B. Publicly available information that can be used for decision making
• C. Data from the dark web only
• D. Classified government information

Answer: (B)

Open-source intelligence is the collection and analysis of information that is publicly available and accessible to anyone, then turning it into information you can act on. It uses sources like news articles, company and government websites, public reports, open data portals, academic papers, forums, blogs, and social media, with steps to verify and triangulate the data. This approach is used to inform decisions in security, risk assessment, or investigations. The reason this matches the description is that OSINT is defined by its public nature and its goal of informing decisions; it does not rely on private databases, data from the dark web, or classified government information, which are restricted.