Abstract: The subject of the study is the results of scientific research of a theoretical and applied nature, which are devoted to the disclosure and investigation of crimes related to the acquisition, storage and smuggling of timber, the search, fixation and analysis of digital traces, methods of working with computer information. Within the framework of the study, the author puts forward a hypothesis about digital criminalistically significant information that remains out of the field of view of preliminary investigation bodies and operational units, sets the task of finding the optimal method of working with digital traces in the disclosure and investigation of this category of crimes, substantiating the possibility of its use in this activity, identifying the specifics of digital traces that can be found on electronic media servers and other devices connected to the Internet. The methodological basis of this research is the general dialectical method of scientific cognition, methods of logical deduction, induction, cognitive methods and techniques of comparison, analysis, generalization, description, and the method of hypothesis. The scientific article considers open source intelligence (English OSINT, Open Source Intelligence) as a method of remote (remote) work with digital traces in the detection and investigation of crimes related to the acquisition, storage, sale and smuggling of timber, its advantages over forensic computer examinations are revealed. In addition, the author highlights the main stages of illegal timber export, based on the content of which the task of searching for digital traces is simplified, examples are given, and the main software tools that allow searching for such traces are listed. It is also concluded that it is advisable to conduct further more detailed scientific research and include the use of open source intelligence in the private forensic methodology for the disclosure and investigation of crimes of the studied category.