Hacking of mailboxes (Algorithm)

The idea of ​​writing this article arose in the light of the recent active discussions in the forum of the portal of problems related to the hacking of mailboxes; Their methods and approaches.

So, what do we mean by the term "social engineering" (hereinafter SI). In general, SI is part of social psychology aimed at changing human behavior under the influence of artificially created factors. We will treat it in this article as a non-technical method of hacking, which relies on revealing all sorts of information about the victim. I will make a reservation that under the term "hacking a mailbox" we mean a password change, and not its detection (selection). Our goal in this case is the impossibility of further use of the box by the victim.

Let's start. "From what?" - you ask a question. From the collection of information, of course. After all, and ultimately the whole of the SI relies on the number, accuracy and reliability of information about the victim. Not unimportant and methods of collecting this information. We need to find out the information that interests us so that the person who is in the center of our attention does not notice anything suspicious and tells us about their secrets, such as about a new disc.

What are the sources of information about a person?

The first source is his site / page, in which in most cases we can see the victim's autobiography, learn about his hobbies and preferences. Also on most of these pages there are different kinds of coordinates for communication: telephone, address (rarely), e-mail (always), ICQ, etc.

The second source is a chat / forum where the victim constantly / often happens. In a chat you can get to know him, use a few nicknames. It is desirable to use nicks both female and male. Look at how the victim behaves when communicating with the opposite sex. It's no secret that a person communicating with the opposite sex can tell a lot more ...

The third source is ICQ. First, we can learn much from the information left about ourselves. Secondly, ICQ - the same chat, only fewer witnesses, which means that a person can be "fully disclosed".

Having studied all these sources, we recognize the person from all sides, if one can put it this way. Now we will aim at the mailbox itself. First, from the collected data, we will try to extract the probable password to the victim's box. Remember: induction, deduction ...

Did not work out? Well, do not worry. The next option is the answer to the security question for password recovery. Here the scope of our research is narrowed. Of all the information received about the victim, it is not so difficult to calculate, for example, "Your favorite dish" ...

The main thing is to think, think and think again. After all, with such simple things, the path to hackers begins :) )).