Innernetz security question?

Codger_64

Codger_64

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I had a discussion with another member in which I stated that so much info was on the internet now that an interested, dilligent and knowledgable person could find a lot of personal information on just about anybody. He seemed to think that by sot subscribing to sites like facebook, twitter, my space that his personal information was pretty secure.

I related how I recently found an old college friend in a short time on the internet (30+ years since contact). Current home address, birth date, nickname, and home phone number. Am I correct that a half-proficcient geek could go way beyond my cursory efforts and drag up a pretty full dosier?
 
You do need an actual name. Some people allow their real names and internet names to connect. Especially with common names, it helps to have some location information.

There are services that will dig up real in-depth information for a price: legal records, employment, military, criminal, matrimonial.
 
He's saying he hasn't posted anything on the net about himself. He doesn't know what government records are available on the net.
 
There's no such thing as anonymity on the net. Basically there's no such thing as anonymity anywhere. You got a social sec number a name and a physical address, you're pretty much had. For a price, like thirty bucks, I can tell you your mother's grandma's maiden name. Read Stealing your life by the guy that the movie Catch me if you Can was based on. He's a big corporate fraud consultant now, since he knows the fraud bidness so well from his check kiting days. He's well versed in the criminal thought process. He can get your name and very little else from you and go online, come back the next day and tell you stuff that will blow you outta your socks. Read the book. It's in there. We all screwed. Happy thoughts! :)
 
A buddy in Europe sent me a sat picture of my house and told me how much I paid for it...he knows my name and address.

Some people I can find with just a google of their name, others require more. I believe I found the home town of a fellow BF member with just his email address one time.
 
Harry Callahan said:
There's no such thing as anonymity on the net. Basically there's no such thing as anonymity anywhere. You got a social sec number a name and a physical address, you're pretty much had. For a price, like thirty bucks, I can tell you your mother's grandma's maiden name. Read Stealing your life by the guy that the movie Catch me if you Can was based on. He's a big corporate fraud consultant now, since he knows the fraud bidness so well from his check kiting days. He's well versed in the criminal thought process. He can get your name and very little else from you and go online, come back the next day and tell you stuff that will blow you outta your socks. Read the book. It's in there. We all screwed. Happy thoughts! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on the book, I just bought myself a copy from Amazon UK, on the basis of your advice.
happy0034.gif
 
Put your name thru the White Pages online and prepare to be upset.
 
Today there are various sites - free ones - that provide

>in-depth "people searches" (based not only on public records, but also social media sites like Facebook, business networking sites like Linked In, and retail sites like Amazon - which often make public people's "wish lists" and other such information),

>property maps and property values,

>telephone number and email address details,

>"profiles" based on Zip Codes and other parameters,


in other words, all kinds of information that many folks still think is private.

___________

And then there are the paid sites such as Intelius...
 
names, dates, photos, newspaper articles of when you were in elementary school (ok, maybe just for us younger guys) school records, and that's just on the top. its like a ball of string, every time you pull out a bit more, it lets you connect to more things. Once a person starts hacking databases, a name and phone number can lead to buying habits (loyalty cards) DMV records, medical, some via actual attack, some by social engineering. its on the record that every facebook message is archived, even the deleted ones, and the staff can access that info. if the staff can, someone else can to, and I expect it is the same for most other sites. Also anything that is time stamped (everything in a server) and IP stamped, can then be linked together, that takes more horsepower, and I doubt anyone thinks I'm that important, but is is scary to know just what is out there.
 
For a small fee, you can get quite a bit of info on most people.

intelius.com, publicdata.com, lexusnexis and so on. Most of these you can not remove your data from unless you can show imminent threat.
 
zillow.com is another one about home data. many homes have interior photos from prior sales and can prove to be quite useful for burglars..
 
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