Gathering info on a computer user without social engineering

[ampakine]

Excluding social engineering techniques and delivering payloads via vulnerable services, how would you go about gathering information on an internet user you know absolutely nothing about? First thing I would do is get their IP by directing them to my webpage (alright that bit involves a bit of social engineering) then I'd run a whois on their IP to find out about their ISP. Then I'd run various nmap scans on their IP to start finding out about their router. Thats pretty much all I would know how to do at the moment.

BTW heres a story involving info gathering if you wanna read it: About a year ago I got in an argument on youtube with someone on youtube and the guy told me "I'm a hacker, I'm going to hack youtube to get your IP then use it to find out where you live and kill you and your family" or something to that effect so I decided to play a little prank on him. I gave him a link to a dummy website to get his IP then ran a whois on it. To my surprise his ISP was located in Zagreb, Croatia. Found that strange because his English was very good but he didn't seem like he knew enough about IT to be using a proxy. Anyhow I sent him a PM saying "by the way whats the weather like in Zagreb?" and he replied saying "How the fuck did you know I'm in Zagreb?" and started apologising for threatening me and he seemed to genuinely think I knew where he lived and was frightened for his life. I felt bad and told him I was only joking and tried to explain to him that having someones IP doesn't mean you can get their address but he didn't reply after that lol.

[mShred]

Excluding social engineering techniques and delivering payloads via vulnerable services, how would you go about gathering information on an internet user you know absolutely nothing about? First thing I would do is get their IP by directing them to my webpage (alright that bit involves a bit of social engineering) then I'd run a whois on their IP to find out about their ISP. Then I'd run various nmap scans on their IP to start finding out about their router. Thats pretty much all I would know how to do at the moment.

For learning about someone's computer, there are many different ways. Keep in mind that a lot of house computers won't be running vulnerable services compared to a webserver. For a webserver, there are various enumeration and blackbox techniques to try to see what's goin on with the computer. But for a person, social networking is a good way to find out about them. But without social engineering, all you could do is look at their profile and whatnot. Even posing as someone else would be considered social engineering.

[tremor77]

You can do a lot without social engineer. You can also do a lot without getting someone to visit a site with an IP/info logger (which can return invalid results if they use proxies)

It's called Doxing... and if you ask the right people here on HTS they'll tell you that I'm pro - actually it's just so damn easy. First off, you start with a simple, organizational strategy and collect information. From something as simple as a screen name on Youtube or even a forum like HTS - you can track down, collect and sort out information on an individual simple by using Google and other various resources (facebook, youtube, intellius, spokeo and a whole lot more)

For example I took your screen name "ampakine" and did quick cross check. I found a Twitter user named Stephen B-------, also found the same SN ampakine on Klout, also on zoklet.net and sciforums.com. I found photobucket, kongregate and other profiles that offered some different directions... but I went with our Stephen potentially a male, 21 years old from the Boston area. That took less time that it has to write this post. I could be lightyears off however - I was tempted to check a lead on another guy in Ireland

To do it all properly I would have to review all your posts on this forum, track any links that you posted and cross reference some other info.. if I stalled out at any point I would resort to sending you a PM to a PURL and hoping you might visit it to kick start the investigation (which would be social engineering) but the whole point behind Doxing is to do as much as you can without letting on to the target that you are doing it. It's all research.. and it's hella-fun.

[rajival]

I didn't know you can actually do that without social engineer. I'm not a pro hacker, I'm a noob trying to learn from time to time. What are the limitations though? I mean, is it just the location and ISP that you can find out with someone's IP? I'm pretty scared with what's happening online especially finding personal information here which can be used to threaten or actually put lives at risk. I'm also trying to find solutions to stuff like that for myself and especially my family's safety.

I'm a bit frustrated on how "good" technology is now which on the other hand can be disturbing as well. I hope somebody develops something that would give me back that secured feeling.

[mShred]

I didn't know you can actually do that without social engineer. I'm not a pro hacker, I'm a noob trying to learn from time to time. What are the limitations though? I mean, is it just the location and ISP that you can find out with someone's IP? I'm pretty scared with what's happening online especially finding personal information here which can be used to threaten or actually put lives at risk. I'm also trying to find solutions to stuff like that for myself and especially my family's safety.

I'm a bit frustrated on how "good" technology is now which on the other hand can be disturbing as well. I hope somebody develops something that would give me back that secured feeling.

Yeah well it all depends on how you distribute your information. Sometimes all it takes is a website, or an IP, or another username, for someone to figure who you are. With that, they can figure out where you live, social networking, things like that. As tremor77 said, it is pretty damn fun though.

[ampakine]

You can do a lot without social engineer. You can also do a lot without getting someone to visit a site with an IP/info logger (which can return invalid results if they use proxies)

Highly informative reply, nice one. Hadn't even heard of doxing before reading that.

For example I took your screen name "ampakine" and did quick cross check. I found a Twitter user named Stephen B-------, also found the same SN ampakine on Klout, also on zoklet.net and sciforums.com. I found photobucket, kongregate and other profiles that offered some different directions... but I went with our Stephen potentially a male, 21 years old from the Boston area. That took less time that it has to write this post. I could be lightyears off however - I was tempted to check a lead on another guy in Ireland

I watched a video on irongeek.com on "google stalking" that talked about similar things. I seem to have been born with awareness about stuff like this which is why ever since I started using the internet I have gone out of my way to make sure I never provide any personal information and methods to relate my account on one site to accounts on others. That twitter account isn't mine but the zoklet account is. Although I consciously consider what information I post knowing that anyone can start connecting dots like you did, you can probably learn a lot about me by reading my threads on this forum as well as zoklet. That sciforums account is also mine. My defense mechanism is I create personas/identities for people to uncover. I will use the same username on a few different forums and provide leads which I know someone stalking me will follow. Like this I can easily send a google stalker on a wild goose chase. Your reply gave me a lot of insight, thanks.

BTW what search term did you use to find forum members with the username ampakine?

[tremor77]

BTW what search term did you use to find forum members with the username ampakine?

I particularly like these google searches: "profile ampakine" & "user ampakine" - which grab a quick and narrow slice of the web.

[ampakine]

Even better is "allintitle:ampakine profile" because member profile pages usually contain the username in the title.

[VPR3]

Are you on shroomery as well and a few other forums for what appears to be reacreational drug users?
Your also appear to be a undergrad student at ********** too.

[tremor77]

I did this for myself and apparently I have a profile on an amateur euro porn blog... sad thing is, I can't be sure if it's actually my account or not... I do some wierd things after 3 or 4 days of sleep deprivation.