Social Engineering Task 10

This week’s task was to “Pick a random stranger, get their name and then using public sites, create a report on everything you learned about them.”

There was no mention on how to pick the random stranger therefore I got on Linkedin and did a search on my city and selected someone who is a stranger to me. I was able to acquire a lot of information about this person. I do not want to invade their privacy therefore I will not provide their real name or specific details. I never knew you could search Linkedin by city.

Mr. X works for my city. He has been employed by the city for 15 years. There is a web page where the annual salary for everyone that works for the city is posted. I even saw the names of some of my relatives that work for the city. The city web site provides you with his office hours, contact information such as phone number and email address. I know where he went to college and when he graduated. It looks like he started working for the city two years after graduation. 

From looking at his Linkedin connections I see he knows some people that I know very well. This is useful because if I want more information about him I can talk to the people I know that he is connected to. It’s a small world after all. From his photo and year of graduation I can determine his approximate age. On whitepages.com I found someone with the same exact name and within the same age range. Now I know his phone number and address and perhaps the name of his wife. There is a link that will provide much more information but you have to pay for it. The information for pay site will give you his birthday and any criminal record.I found Mr. X listed on a professional web site which reveals the name of the organization he belongs to. It also reveals how long he has been certified/licensed. It also states that he is in good standing.

My strategy was very effective. I was able to get a lot of information. Normally I would feel creepy doing this sort of thing but given that I have done this before in previous investigations for court cases I consider this just another day at the office. The information I gained tells you a lot about the person. The web sites are like an open book into someone’s life. What I learned is that if someone works for the government there is a lot of information that is considered public domain. Under the Freedom of Information Act I can probably find out more about the person and his department. I did look at last year’s city budget to see how much money was allocated to his department. The entire exercise reinforces that fact that depending on who you are, there is a lot of information out there in the public domain