Tools that Help Information Gathering...

Hai friends, Its been quite a time I updated my blog. Eventhough I only have a very few daily readers I am extremely sorry for making delay in updating my blog..But today I bring an exciting post which I had got from a technical workshop 'HACKSEC' which was conducted in our college.. I am extremely thankful  to Mr.Saket Modi who has delivered us a wonderful session...
                  Now let me get into the topic.Information Gathering Is initial process as far as hacking & investigation is concerned. It is the process of profiling any organization , system , server or an individual using methodological procedure.
Information gathering is used by attacker as well as investigator to get more information about target.




Attackers point of view:
Attacker will first gather initial information like domain name , IPaddress , Network IP range , operating system , services , control panel information , vulnerable services etc before attacking into system.


                                Footprinting is required to ensure that isolated information repositories that are critical to the attack are not overlooked or left undiscovered. Footprinting merely comprises on aspect of the entire information gathering process, but is considered one of the most important stages of a mature hack.
Attacker will take 90% of time in information gathering & only 10% of time while attacking & gaining an access to the system


Investigator‟s Point of view:
Investigator will gather initial information like traces of criminal on an internet, about his name, occupation, address, contact number about his/her company/organization before taking any legal action.
This will help investigator to profile the criminal & his/her activities properly during interrogation.


Following are the various methodologies for information gathering.


1. Information Gathering using Search engine:
“One leaves footprints/information everywhere while surfing internet”. this is basic principle for investigators as well as hackers. the only difference is the way they use this information.
Attacker will gather information about the system, operating system, about vulnerable application running on them & later on exploit it.
Investigator will gather information on how he got an access to system & where he left his/her footprint behind on the same system & later on traced it.
Search engine are most powerful tool to search about any individual, organization & system
Following are the list of top 10 search engines:

1. Google Search –World‟s most powerful search engine: www.google.com
2. Yahoo Search: www.search.yahoo.com
3. MSN Live Search: www.live.com
4. AOL Search: www.search.aol.in
5. Ask Search: www.ask.com
6. Altavista Search: www.altavista.com
7. Fast Search : www.alltheweb.com
8. Gigablast : www.gigablast.com
9. Snap Search: www.snap.com

2. Information gathering using relational search engine.
These type of search engines gets results from different search engine & make relation or connections between those results.
Kartoo

Maltego

Maltego is an open source intelligence and forensics application. It allows for the mining and gathering of information as well as the representation of this information in a meaningful way.Coupled with its graphing libraries, Maltego, allows you to identify key relationships between information and identify previously unknown relationships between them. It is a must-have tool in the forensics.security and intelligence fields! Maltego offers the user with unprecedented information. Information is leverage.


People Search – Investigator can find personal information using people search.
People search will give information about phone number, address as well as background info about the organizations.
Yahoo People Search - www.people.yahoo.com

Intellius:

Whois Lookup:
WHOIS (pronounced "who is"; not an acronym) is a query/response protocol which is widely used for querying an official database in order to determine the owner of a domain name, an IP address, or an autonomous system number on the Internet. WHOIS lookups were traditionally made using a command line interface, but a number of simplified web-based tools now exist for looking up domain ownership details from different databases. Web-based WHOIS clients still rely on the WHOIS protocol to connect to a WHOIS server and do lookups, and command-line WHOIS clients are still quite widely used by system administrators. WHOIS normally runs on TCP port 43.
Presently ICANN is undertaking a study to determine the uses and abuses of WHOIS information. Other studies that are ongoing concern the accuracy of WHOIS information, and the effectiveness of the processes for reporting inaccurate public WHOIS information.




Querying Regional Internet Registries:
WHOIS servers belonging to Regional Internet Registries (RIR) can be queried to determine the Internet Service Provider responsible for a particular IP address. These servers are:
ARIN - http://whois.arin.net
RIPE NCC - http://www.ripe.net/whois/
APNIC - http://whois.apnic.net
LACNIC - http://whois.lacnic.net
AfriNIC - http://whois.afrinic.net
The records of each of these registries are cross-referenced, so that a query to ARIN for a record which belongs to RIPE will return a placeholder pointing to the RIPE WHOIS server. This lets the WHOIS user making the query know that the detailed information resides on the RIPE server. Apart from the RIRs mentioned above, there is also a commercial global service: Routing Assets Database used by some large networks (eg. large internet providers that acquired other ISPs in several RIR areas).


Domain Tools:

Whois.net

Reverse IP Mapping:
Reverse IP mapping is the method to find number of websites hosted on same server.
Here by selecting the Reverse IP link we can get list of websites hosted on an IP address.
Trace Route:
Traceroute gives useful information regarding number of servers between your computers & remote computers.

EXCITING EXTENSIONS FOR GOOGLE CHROME

Few months back, it was Mozilla Firefox was the most leading browser that users prefer and other browsers such as opera or IE never ever questioned its popularity among users... But with the advent of Google chrome it has started to change little by little...At the dawn of Google Chrome browser ,it was buggy and crashed frequently.. But later it has updated the browser frequently so that it has got a rise in the market.. Now even though Mozilla Firefox users are more than Google chrome users, Google chrome has improved a lot from its initial state and hope that one day it ill completely conquer the market..

   One of the Most attracting feature of Mozilla Firefox from other browsers were its addon facility and this same idea has been introduced in Google Chrome and is known as Google chrome Extensions..One of the main difference Mozzilla addons and google chrome extensions are that google chrome doesnot need to restart each time a extension is installed as in Firefox... Now I would like to Introduce some of the cool extensions in Google chrome that will make your browser different from others both in looks and functionality.....

Access Bookmarks and Closed Tabs Easily with Incredible Start Page

Incredible StartPage is a featured chrome extension which claims to give you a productive start. It makes accessing bookmarks and closed tabs very easy by putting them in a beautiful list at the center of the page. You can also write notes in the new tab and post them directly to Gmail. If you are a bookmark person and keep using closed tabs frequently then use this handsome extension from here.

Customize New Tab with Predefined Sites by SpeedDial

Normally, Chrome shows you most visited sites on opening a new tab. You can change this behavior, in fact make is better and attractive by SpeedDial. With this extension, you can predefine your tab sites instead of most visited one when opening new tab. You can also change tab background image, number of blocks and use site logos. This is the best extension to beautify chrome.

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Keep Track of Time with Modest Digital Clock

If you like to follow time, then this clock extension will help you with your punctuality. It is simple and minimalist but yet very useful. It de-clutters the new tab with the most precious thing.

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Get Google Tasks on New Tab

This simple extension helps you to be more productive. Remember Google Task? It is a simple to-do list available in Google calendar and Gmail. Now you can use it more effectively and frequently with this extension. The new tab will now display all your tasks with this extension. And you can easily add new or delete old ones with its intuitive interface. The developer hopes that with this, we will see more and do them more often.

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Set Beautiful Flickr Pics as New Tab backgrounds

The last extension in the series to beautify your new tab is VisivoTab. This one gets hand selected pictures from Flickr’s visivo and sets it as a tab background. Idle for artistic people with fast internet connection.

If you observe carefully, opening new tab is the most frequent thing we do on Google Chrome. With the above 5 ways we can change its behavior and layout and hopefully make this activity more useful.

11 GTALK TIPS

As I am a Btech Computer science student, I hav to submit a mini project and for that purpose I selected the topic instant messenger and tried to create a better instant messenger... for that purpose I searched about the current messenger I am using that is Gtalk ( i am a google fan)  and studied a lot about it... And Interestingly I found these features ( in other words some trick)s which will really enhance your Gtalk chatting experience...

1. Use Gtalk in Your Mobile

Do you know, you can even use Google talk in your mobile phone and stay connected with your friends on the go? The official Google software for chatting with your friends works with only iPhone and Android. There is another way to use Gtalk by use of SIS or JAR software for generic phones. You can download this J2ME client here.

2. Exploit Keyboard Shortcuts to Save Time

Using keyboard shortcuts is the great way to maximize your productivity. You save your time by doing variety of functions without even touching mouse  just by pressing few buttons.
The following keyboard shortcuts are must for any Gtalk addict:

• Ctrl + E                – It centralizes the selected text, or the current line.
• Ctrl + R                – It justifies to the right the selected text, or the current line.
• Ctrl + L                – It justifies to the left the selected text, or the current line.
• Ctrl + I                 – The same thing does that Tab.
• Tab                       – It is giving the area to each of the windows opened by Google Talk.
• Ctrl + Tab             – The same thing does that Shift + Tab .
• Shift + Tab            – The same thing does that Tab but in reverse.
• Ctrl + Shift + L       -Switch between points, numbers, letters, capital letters, roman numbers and capital roman numbers
• Ctrl + 1 (KeyPad) – It does a simple space between the lines.
• Ctrl + 2 (KeyPad) – It does a double space between the lines.
• Ctrl + 5 (KeyPad)  – A space does 1.5 between the lines.
• Ctrl + 1 (NumPad) – It goes at the end of the last line.
• Ctrl + 7 (NumPad) – It goes at the begin of the last line.
• Ctrl + F4                – It closes the current window.
• Alt + F4                 – It closes the current window.
• Alt + Esc                – It Minimize all the windows.
• Windows + ESC   – Open Google Talk (if it’s minimized, or in the tray)
• F9                         – Open Gmail to send an email to the current contact.
• F11                       – It initiates a telephonic call with your friend.
• F12                        – It cancels a telephonic call.
• Esc                         – It closes the current window.

3. Hide your Gtalk Status – Make it Always Idle

We all love chatting. Google Talk gives us freedom to talk anywhere and anytime with our online friends. Message them instantaneously, transfer files, share photos – we love it all.
But what we don’t like is getting disturbed by some unwanted friend. We really don’t want to chat at that moment but we are forced for maintaining relations.
Can we trick Google Talk? Can we show idle status and be active at the same time?

The best way to keep unwanted friends away is to be invisible or keeping our status idle.Google talk has no provision of invisible status(however you can always choose invisible status in gmail embedded chat)
Idle status in gtalk means you aren’t using the feature for last 15 minutes.Being idle is more advantageous than it may seem. You can always make excuses to your colleagues. Didn’t you saw the idle status – I was having lunch, I was watching movie, – I was not in my chair, – My brother was playing some stupid game etc.
So far as many people know, you can’t make your status idle. Its an automatic update which ticks after 15 minutes of inactivity.
gAlwaysIdle is a small application which gets integrated with gtalk and forcibly sets your status to idle.

gAlwaysIdle is solution for your dilemma. Now chat with whom you initiate and remain idle to all others.4. Dress Your Gtalk Application with Additional Themes

Are you bored using the same white Gtalk every day? Now, you can dress your Gtalk application with custom and downloadable themes to add a little spice to boring Gtalk. You can download Gtalk themes from various sources such as  Gtalk.anthonysottile Googletalkthemes Customizetalk Gtheme.sravi

5. Create your own Gtalk theme

Google talk uses an Jabber protocol, a free open source protocol for communication. Since its open source, all its services are free and customizable. You can even view the code and API provided by Google.
In this tutorial, I will tell you to make your own custom theme for Google Talk.

Let us start with the Gtalk appearance customization:
1) Searching for Google Talk themes:
%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Google Talk\themes\system\chat
Copy and paste the above location in the My Computer address bar.
Press Enter and you will see the default location for themes.
2) Create a new folder and name it gtricks.
3) Let us choose theme ClassicPicture because of its simplicity. Go inside the folder ClassicPicture and you will find another folder named Contents. Copy it.
4) Navigate back to gtricks folder. Paste the Contents folder inside gtricks folder.
5) You will discover folder named Resources inside Contents. And inside Resources you will find few more files like main.css, status.html and others.
So your file structure should look like this :
….Google\Google Talk\themes\system\chat\gtricks\Contents\Resources
Next is providing your own background image:
6) Choose a image of size 300×250 which will act as theme background.
(Preferably a lighter color image). Name it aery.jpg .
7) Create a folder inside Resources folder and name it Images.
Put image Aery.jpg inside the folder Images.
So resultant cutomized backgroung will be
gtricks -> Contents -> Resources -> Images -> Aery.jpg
9) Navigate back to Resources folder and you will find main.css which specifies the style of theme.
10) Double click to open it and try to locate this code:

BODY {
margin: 6px;
}

11) Add background-image: url(“Images/Aery.jpg”); to above BODY class.
now it should look like :

BODY
{
margin: 6px;
background-image: url(“Images/Aery.jpg”);
}

Save it.
12) You are done for the first part. Close Gtalk from the system tray and restart. Go to settings and them appearance to select theme.
If you are familiar with CSS then you can continue editing main.css to modify fonts, colors, text alignments etc.
Here are the file descriptions that might help you :
main.css : This is the main CSS sheet in which you specify the class of styles as you do for HTML.
NextStatus.html : When you chat to someone, their changes in status will use the format specified in this file.
Status.html : When you chat to someone, their status will use the format specified in this file.
Incoming \ Content.html : When you chat to someone, their first reply will use the format specified in this file.
Incoming \ NextContent.html : When you chat to someone, their subsequent replies will use the format specified in this file.
Outgoing \ Content.html : When you chat to someone, your first message will use the format specified in this file.
Outgoing \ NextContent.html : When you chat to someone, your subsequent messages will use the format specified in this file

6. Make Your Chatting More Interesting by Text Decorations

Most instant messengers are very user friendly. They have a toolbar to format your text into different fonts, colors and sizes. You can also convert your important text into bold, italicized or underlined. Google talk provides some basic features but unexpectedly few things are hidden.


To type your message in bold, encapsulate it in asterisks (*) 
To italicize any word, write it between two underscores (_). 
Use combination of asterisk(*) and underscore(_) to create a dual bold italicized effect
This feature can be used in both google talk and Gmail embedded chat

7. Have Two or More Gtalk Running at Same Time.

If you have two or more Google accounts, and want to use both at same time for chatting with friends, then this is the perfect trick for you. With this trick, you can run multiple copies of Google Talk application in you Windows.

All you need to do is to right click on Google talk shortcut and select Properties. In the target field append the parameter /nomutex so that it becomes like C:/Program Files/Google/Google Talk.exe /nomutex. It’s done. Now whenever you double click on Google Talk Desktop icon, it opens a new instance for a new Google account.

8. Use Gtalk Bots to Make Your Life Easier

Google bots are automated robots that respond to your queries. For example, or the news bot will fetch you latest news on your preferred subject inside Gtalk window and the translation bot automatically converts the text to the specified language you have send. Following are few Gtalk bots to make life easier :
1) Transliteration Bots.
2) IBN News bot.
3) GK Answering bot.
(Add webtoim@gmail.com to contact list in Gtalk or Gmail chat module  Now, type your question to this newly added friend for quick answer. Type help for assistance and menu for details)

4) Listen Online Radio with this bot.
Add service@gtalk2voip.com as your friend in your IM. Example: Add/Invite to chat on Gtalk.
Now type help in the chat window and you will get list of available commands.Type radio to get list of available live statioNS. Now type radio number in chat window of the selected online station. Example “radio 101”.Finally, accept the call from gtalk2voip to listen to online streaming radio.

9. Amaze Your Friends with Hidden and Secret Set of Emoticons/Smileys

Here’s a list of utterly new emoticons/smileys: Classic Round Square Type this Cowbell Cowbell Cowbell +/’\ Crab Crab Crab V.v.V Devil Devil Devil }:-) Equal sad Equal sad Equal sad =( Equal slant Equal slant Equal slant =/ Equal tongue Equal tongue Equal tongue =P Nose sad Nose sad Nose sad :-( Smile Smile Smile :) Wince Wince Wince >.< Nose tongue Nose tongue Nose tongue :-P Pig Pig Pig :(:) Broken Heart Broken Heart Broken Heart Kiss Kiss Kiss :-x Kiss Kiss Kiss :* Mustache Mustache Mustache :{ . Classic Round Square Type this Heart/Love Heart/Love Heart/Love <3 It’s a monkey! It’s a monkey! It’s a monkey! :(|) Rock out. Rock out. Rock out. \m/ Shocked Shocked Shocked :-o Grin Grin Grin :D Frown Frown Frown :( Angry Angry Angry x-( Cool Cool Cool B-) Cry Cry Cry :’( Equal Grin Equal Grin Equal Grin =D Wink Wink Wink ;) Straight Face Straight Face Straight Face :-| Equal Smile Equal Smile Equal Smile =) Nose Grin Nose Grin Nose Grin :-D Big nose wink Big nose wink Big nose wink ;^) Nose wink Nose wink Nose wink ;-) Nose smile Nose smile Nose smile :-) Slant Slant Slant :-/ Tongue Tongue Tongue :P Remember that these secret emoticons works for only following flavors of gtalk: 1) Google talk gadget 2) Gmail integrated chat application 3) Google talk labs edition

10. Direct Shortcut to Chat

If you frequently chat with particular friends in Gtalk, then you can create direct shortcuts to chat window to start conversation. This is the quickest and direct way to start a chat with friend.
For this, right click on your desktop and select New > Shortcut. Now add the following line in the location of the item :

gtalk:chat?jid=username@gmail.com

Where username@gmail should be replaced by your friends gmail address.

11. Use Google Talk without Downloading and Installing

You can use and enjoy all the features of Google talk without even downloading and installing it on your computer. For this bookmark http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/popout in your internet browser. Using this bookmark, you can directly launch Google talk in gadget mode.