The first thing that I would like to talk about is reverse image search.
And reverse image search is basically a technique that allows you to search the internet using an image
instead of a certain text or a search term.
So far, we have learned how we can use search engines effectively by implementing and using some search
operators, but with reverse image search, you do not need to specify any search operators.
The only thing that you want to do is to upload a certain picture or an image, and then the search
engine will look for patterns, colors, shapes and other features within the image that you have uploaded
to identify potential matches.
And this has multiple uses.
In Osint, for example, you can use it to verify an image authenticity by checking whether an image
has been manipulated or used in different contexts.
In addition to that, you will also be able to identify where a certain picture or an image has been
posted or uploaded on the internet.
And lastly, you can check whether there is any similar content or pictures to the one that you have
uploaded to search engines.
The first search engine that I would like to show you to perform a reverse image search is Google.
Now Google has a huge database, and I always like to start with Google because it always searches for
the exact image that I have uploaded.
For example, if I uploaded Rishi Khabra profile picture, then I'm going to see where this profile
picture has been used on the internet.
And I'm not going to see any similar pictures to the one that I've uploaded, and we will see this in
a minute.
In addition to that, Google will only focus on one single object of the image that they have uploaded.
For example, if you have uploaded a picture of a person who is standing in front of a very popular
building, then Google might only focus on the building that is behind the person and not the person
himself.
Let me show you a real life example.
So if you would like to perform a reverse image search on Google, you want to go to google.com and
then you want to click on this little camera icon.
And here you can either upload an image or add a link of an image.
So in my case I would like to upload an image.
And here are Rishi Kapoor profile pictures that we have downloaded in the previous lecture.
And let's say that I would like to search for this picture on the internet.
So I'm going to select it and then Google will analyze this picture.
And it will check whether it's been posted on the internet or not.
And we can see here that we were able to find one account which is his GitHub account.
So I can click on his picture and this will redirect us to his GitHub account.
Now, we already know that Rishi Kabra is not only using this profile picture on his GitHub account,
but he also using it on his medium account.
So let me go to my notes and open his medium account, and we can see that he's using the exact same
profile picture.
But Google were only able to identify one account.
Now, for me this is still useful because if I were able to find one account like this account for example,
then I can perform a username Osint.
I can check the repositories and read information about him.
That might help me to find other accounts that he's using.
So one account will lead to other accounts, and we have learned multiple methods to do this.
Now let's go and upload a different image.
Let's say this one for example.
And we can see his account.
So we can keep doing this with all of his profile pictures to find all the accounts that he's using.
And from there, you can perform all the techniques that you have learned from previous sections.
Now let me go to my website here.
I have my profile picture.
I'm going to open it in a new tab.
And then this time I would like to copy or search for this image by URL.
So I'm going to copy the link and then go to Google and click on this camera icon and add the link in
here.
And then click on search.
And as you can see Google were able to find this image on my website.
The last thing that I would like to show you is a browser extension called Search by Image.
That will make your job much easier.
So it will basically perform reverse image search or multiple search engines like Bing, Yandex, Baidu,
etc. so all I have to do is just to click on Add to Firefox And then click on add again.
And now it's added to my browser.
And now let me go to my website, for example.
And when you find a certain profile picture or any picture, for example, you can right mouse click
and here you will see an option called Search by Image.
And you can search on all search engines or select only one search engine.
In my case I would like to search for this image on Google.
And as you can see we did not get any search result.
So this is why it's also very important to perform this manually, because sometimes these tools might
not show you any results.
Although this picture is already indexed by Google.
So let me search for this image on Bing.
For example.
Here I were able to find my profile picture on my website cyberstalk.
So in this lecture you have learned what reverse image search is and how you can use Google to find
the original source of an image or a picture.