Welcome again to Cyber-Jot. Today we will be solving our third OSINT exercise from Sofia Santos. As we dive into this exercise, we will not only apply what we have learned from previous exercises but also explore new techniques and tools that can aid in our research.
Task briefing:
In April 2017 Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, the then president of Somalia, visited Turkey. A news agency published a photo where he was seen shaking hands with Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, the country’s president. The article did not disclose where the photo was taken. Your task is to find out the name and coordinates of the location seen below.
OSINT Exercise #003
I started my investigation by doing a reverse image search. Combing through the results, I found an article about a different president who visited “Turkey’s Presidential Complex,” and the background was essentially the same. I used this name to search for it on Google.
If you scroll down enough, you start seeing results of more presidents with the same background, which led me to believe I had found the right place. Now I needed to find where in the complex the picture was taken.
I went to Google Earth thinking I would look for the golden walls beside the doors, and that would be it. To my surprise, there are no 3D images of the complex, so I was stuck looking at it from a bird’s-eye view.
I went back to Google Images and stumbled upon this picture.
If you don’t pay enough attention, you may miss the reflection on the doors behind them. It is a very distinguished shape: a star. It seemed to be some kind of monument, so I went to Google Earth and started looking for anything that looked similar to what is seen in the reflection. There was only one location, right across from the presidential complex.
Now that we have a better look, we can see this is the moon and star from the Turkish flag.
Now we know the location. The presence of what seems to be some sort of water fountain and the lack of golden walls confirm that the picture was not taken on the opposite side of the symmetric building.
Task: Your task is to find out the name and coordinates of the location seen below.
Solution: Based on this I believe the picture to have been taken around 39°55’52″N 32°47’58″E
I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did. Feel free to share it with your friends, as I believe they would appreciate it too, and don’t hesitate to drop a like or comment to let me know your thoughts. Engaging with you in this way makes the whole experience even more rewarding.
I would genuinely love to hear your insights, opinions, or any feedback you might have. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts, and see you next time for more exciting content!
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