In OSINT, "white sources" represent publicly available information which can be gleaned from the news media, social media, satellite services and public databases. Information can be obtained from specialist sites such as the Security and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database, which offers free access to millions of corporate financial reports, OpenCorporates, an open database of global corporate records, and LexisNexis (paid) which gives access to legal records and court filings.

"Grey sources" represent information that is obtainable from murkier places. These include leaked materials or clandestine forums on the dark net that can be accessed through special software such as the Tor browser. Notoriously, the Silk Road marketplace enabled drugs and other illegal services to be traded with Bitcoin on the dark net. The FBI shut down the Silk Road in 2013, but founder Ross Ulbricht was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025.

Journalists can use the dark net to communicate with whistleblowers and activists, but are strongly discouraged from accessing it without permission from their editor. The Tor browser can be joined via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to preserve user privacy.

There are also millions of people logged onto gamer apps and chatrooms such as Discord and Steam, where users may be exchanging unlawful information. This was the case with U.S. airman Jack Teixeira.

Jack Teixeira shared Ukraine war secrets on Discord with his friends. A PBS Frontline/Washington Post documentary

"There is an edgy undercurrent to a lot of servers . . . People are gaming on Roblox and Discord, and there's this whole universe of activity where problematic stuff is happening"

Samuel Oakford, Senior reporter, Visual Forensics, Washington Post

Teixeira had enlisted in the U.S. Air National Guard in 2019 as an I.T. specialist at a base in Massachusetts. After receiving "Top Secret" clearance in 2021, he began smuggling out hundreds of classified documents on the Ukraine war and other sensitive topics and posting them on Discord. Because he was on a server with multiple people, the content was widely shared.

The U.S. and its allies were initially baffled by the leaks. Had Russia hacked into classified systems? The Visual Forensics team at the Washington Post began delving into the shady world of Discord. They found Teixeira had several profiles on different social media chatrooms and made use of his Steam ID to crosscheck his "Steam History" with his Discord profile, to see what he was talking about on both accounts.

"He was leaking on Discord. He was streaming from his base on Discord, all which is very illegal, but then also talking to his friends about stuff that was normal, or about guns, a lot of bad guns," said Oakford.

By persistently cultivating sources and digging deeper into this world, Oakford and his colleagues obtained video of Teixeira, evidence of his rantings about guns and race, and hundreds of classified documents. Teixeira was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2024.