Footprinting and Reconnaissance - Monitoring target using Alerts, Groups, Forums and Blogs

We have seen many methods of gathering information about the target system. But still some of them are left. Here, we are going to discuss about two new methods to spy on target in a complete legitimate way.

The first method includes spying on target system using alert services while the second one includes spying using online groups, forums and blogs.

Monitoring Target using Online Alert Service :

Before going into deep, I will tell you what actually an alert service means.! An alert service works the same way as a subscription service. Suppose that you have subscribed my blog for free articles (see the subscription box on the right side on window), then you will get daily updates of my posts in this blog. But the thing is, you will not get instant updates all the time.

An alert service works the same. You can see an alert in the way you place reminders in your mobile. When the time comes, it provides you with a reminder (alert) about whatever the task is to be done. An alert service provides you instant update when the server data gets modified in any way. Suppose that admin posted new data on the website, then you will get an immediate alert about the change.

In short, we can say that :

Alerts are content monitoring services that provide up-to-date information based on your preference, usually via email or SMS in an automated manner.

So, now as you know what is an alert, let us see how to use such services. Generally, an alert service works differently depending on the server that provides the service. That means, if we have two services available, one from Google and other from Yahoo, there is a lot of difference between the way they provide us with service. Also, some of the alert providing services are charged while the others are free.

Here are a few examples of Alert Services :

• Google Alerts - https://www.google.com/alerts
• Giga Alerts - http://gigaalert.com/

Information Gathering using Groups, Forums and Blogs :

Gorups, Forums and Blog provide sensitive information about a target such as public network information, system information, personal information, etc. Hence, it also becomes a part of Information Gathering though of a very little importance.

So, you need to gather this type of information. For that, Register with fake profiles in Google groups, Yahoo groups, etc. and try to join target organisation's employee groups when they share personal and company information.

Search for information like Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs), IP addresses and usernames in groups, forums or blogs.