What Is Dumpster Diving?
If you're in the IT world, dumpster diving isn't a phrase you hear daily. But it's something you should know about—and why not? After all, it's an exciting way to get information about your target. Dumpster diving is a way of getting information by searching through trash or garbage and looking for something useful. It is often done to uncover helpful information that may help individuals access a particular network. So, while the term can refer to looking through trash, it is used more often in any method (especially physical methods) by which a hacker might look for information about a computer network. So how do you go about doing this? First, you'll need to know where your target lives or works. If they work from home or live alone on a farm far from civilization, this might be easier than living in an apartment building with many other people around them! Once you have their address (or even their name), research online—you'll probably find some interesting things about them that will make your job easier! Then start planning: when are they most likely going to be? Whoa? Who's that? It's you, of course! You're standing in front of a dumpster. But what are you doing here? You're dumpster diving. You've come to the trash heap to find anything to help you get into restricted areas online. Maybe it's your boss' files. Perhaps it's your friend's private messages. Whatever it is, you know it's there somewhere; this isn't your first time on the job. The problem is that there are so many kinds of trash: paper, plastic bottles, and bits of metal. What might be helpful? And who knows what kind of crazy stuff others threw out? Maybe they're into some weird stuff! Perhaps they've got photos of their kids with no clothes on or something like that. No one wants that kind of information getting out! So if you want to be successful at dumpster diving (and trust us: we know how hard that can be! ), here are our top tips for keeping yourself safe and clean while hunting down the treasure. Look before you leap! Make sure there aren't any security cameras nearby or anyone else.
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