When you think of a hacker you think of some really smart, super genius outcast type individual probably between 17 and 25 years old living in his grandma's basement "cyber cracking" his way into peoples bank accounts, or capturing credit card numbers. That is certainly what Hollywood would have you think. Actually, sometimes it is true I have to admit.
More often than not though, a hacker doesn't always have to use their cyber hazard skills to get the information they need. Sometimes all they need is to do a little dumpster diving, or some social engineering to accomplish their goals. Sometimes they don't even need that. Sometimes all they need is to take a stroll through a parking lot. Or maybe you just need to watch employees come and go from a building on their lunch breaks. You know, some secret agent stuff.
At last year's DefCon which is one of, if not the biggest hacker conventions in North America, one of the keynote speakers, Johnny Long gave a presentation on the art of no-tech hacking. You may know Johnny better for his books on
Google hacking.
Well, here for your viewing enjoyment, is his speech at DefCon explaining all the little no-tech ways you can find out all sorts of information about people. His intro is a little long, so just bear through it:
The next time you are out in public take a look around and start asking yourself, "What does a hacker see?" You may be surprised at all the information you will find.
1:00 AM
Paul B
