2025-12-06 –, Track 1
When was a webpage created?
BetaMeta is a free and open-source research tool designed to answer that question by combining multiple forensic techniques into a single workflow. From parsing HTML for multi-format embedded timestamps and comments, to inspecting SSL certificate chains, EXIF data of images, sitemap histories, server headers, and archive captures, the tool triangulates the likely “birth date” of a web page.
This session shows how BetaMeta works under the hood and demonstrates how journalists, investigators, and researchers can use it to place online content into context. Whether the challenge is disinformation, fraud investigations, or historical web research, the aim is to reverse entropy on the web and recover what time has effectively redacted.
We will also spend a few minutes on the journey of building the tool by vibe coding, before closing with a live demo on real pages that should deliver some surprising results.
The web is ephemeral, but investigations often hinge on a single question: When did this appear? Simple “view source” checks only scratch the surface. BetaMeta is a tool that systematically applies a spectrum of techniques to extract temporal and contextual signals from a web page.
Timestamping:
Parses inline dates and meta tags in multiple formats.
Checks SSL/TLS certificate issue and expiry dates.
Reads EXIF metadata from images embedded on the page.
Looks at sitemap.xml and robots.txt for last-modified hints.
Cross-references first-seen dates from indexing services and archive.org snapshots.
Contextual analysis:
Inspects server headers and HTML/JS comments.
Identifies external references, libraries, and CDNs.
Maps these to geographic locations to understand infrastructure and hosting distribution.
Use cases:
Journalists verifying the origin of disinformation content.
OSINT practitioners linking web content to infrastructure operators.
Digital forensics teams reconstructing timelines of online activity.
Researchers studying the evolution of websites or content ecosystems.
The talk will include a live demonstration of BetaMeta, walking through real-world examples where multiple signals combine to triangulate the true creation date of content. It will also highlight limitations and “false positives”, why no single signal is sufficient, and why layering is essential.
Attendees will leave with:
An understanding of the challenges in dating online content.
Practical techniques they can use even without the tool.
Awareness of how infrastructure dependencies reveal hidden actors.
The presentation is accessible to anyone doing investigative work online, with technical depth for those curious about implementation details.
PS: want to see it work (it's in beta. it's ALWAYS in beta); https://meta.narka.io/analyze?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbsidescapetown.co.za%2F
Urgh. OK then.... Roelof Temmingh has worked in cybersecurity and Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) for more than 25 years. Trained as an engineer (B.Eng, 1995), he began his career in IT security and penetration testing, co-founding SensePost, one of the early security consultancies, which later became part of Orange Cyberdefense.
He went on to start Paterva, the company that created Maltego, widely used for data visualization and relationship mapping in OSINT investigations. More recently, he founded Vortimo, a tool for improving web research workflows, and is currently building Ubikron, which focuses on applying AI to investigation and intelligence tasks.
Over the years, Roelof has given talks and training in many countries, sharing practical approaches to security and OSINT. He is known for creating tools that emphasize usability and real-world application rather than hype.