My Why
I have always been interested in cybersecurity, ethical hacking, and penetration testing. Many times I have started my journey into those subjects, but I’ve always faltered. In my early days I thought I’d be part of a red team, doing some elaborate hacks, doing pentesting for a large company. As I grew older, my views have changed. Seeing the struggles of others, it felt like working for a large corporation wouldn’t align with my values. I now believe OSINT skills (and other types of intelligence gathering) will be a lot more useful. I’m hoping to use my knowledge to help those who aren’t able to help themselves. I want to be able to make an impact and help prevent exploitation in all its forms.
Setup
To help me learn on the go, I’ve set up a virtual lab on my MacBook Pro M1. I’m using Parallels to run ARM-based Kali Linux. I know that distribution is more geared toward ethical hacking, but there are certain tools that are helpful for OSINT. I know there are other tools that can help with gathering other types of intelligence as well, for example SIGINT.
Surprising Finds
As part of my learning, I did some queries to determine my own digital footprint. The results included some usual items: LinkedIn profile, social media accounts, etc. What surprised me, though, were results that included details about my connections to my siblings and spouse. On the other hand, the email I use for junk sites and registration didn’t pop up anything. I had expected things to be the opposite.