đź’ˇ Check out Sofia's amazing blog and this exercise here
Challenge
“This is a photo of a resort located on an island. a) What is the name of the resort? b) What are the coordinates of the island? c) In which cardinal direction was the camera facing when the photo was taken?”
Bigger image here
First Look 🏝️
The image doesn’t give away a great deal so this could either be very hard or very easy. If we manage to get some decent hits with an image reverse search then this won’t take long. But if that doesn’t yield any results and there is no exif data in the image, this might take a while. We should keep in mind that we’re not looking for a random island, but per the task description, a resort. So chances should be relatively high that this is marketed somewhere.
Image Reverse Search
Lucky for us, the first result Google Lens shows us is a Facebook page of a so called Oan Resort which looks very similar to our island at hand.
Oan Resort on Facebook
In the Facebook page’s intro section we find a link to the resort’s official website: https://oanresort.wixsite.com/chuuk
The information we’re looking for from the resort’s Facebook page
The background image greeting us is completely identical to our island, so I don’t think I need to draw colorful boxes around landmarks to convince anyone.
Convinced?
Google Maps
Now that we know what our island resort is highly likely called, we pivot to Google Maps to get our coordinates. A query for “Oan Resort” takes us to the Pacific Ocean. Among the images for the location is one that matches our original photo. That confirms answer A is Oan Resort, part of the Chuuk Islands in Micronesia. While we’re here, we also grab the coordinates by right clicking in Google Maps. Answer B: 7.3626, 151.7563
Cardinal Direction
We put our coordinates into Google Earth Pro and line up the islands we see in the background to match our original picture. This is how we find out that we’re looking North-West for answer C.
Final Remarks
Just like with Sofia’s Challenge #003, Google Lens made quick work of this one. In order not to get too dependant on specific tools, try to include several options for image reverse searches in your OSINT repertoire. Check out the Resources page for some alternatives! 👀 🔍