Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter 2 Information Security Fundamentals 51 When an individual goes online, he or she often leaves personal information behind. This may happen despite precautions taken by the individual. A digital footprint is information about a person left behind by his or her actions on the Internet, as shown in Figure 2-10. Data may be left behind in many ways: • review left on Yelp • question on a support forum • account on a gaming site • online console gaming • video uploaded to YouTube • e-mail • online searches • social media posts • governmental databases A hacker will use these sources and many others to obtain information about a person. The hacker wants to fi nd out as much about a target as possible to prepare for an attack. Hackers who use social engineering have several techniques to fi nd infor- mation. One is known as pretexting. Pretexting is using a lie or scam to obtain private information. Other techniques include: • convincing people to reveal information • looking through social media sites for information • using public records stored online or available via public-library searches • using advanced web-search techniques and • dumpster diving. Convincing People One of the easiest ways to get information is to simply ask for it! Of course, going to an employee and asking for an account number is not likely going to Want to see some old archived sites? Check out this cool site: www.waybackmachine.org. Try it, and see if some of your information appears on sites that have been archived! FYI Goodheart-Willcox Publisher Figure 2-10. Social media posts contribute greatly to a person’s digital footprint. This is not limited to posts on the individual’s own pages. When a person posts on a business’s page, he or she has added to his or her digital footprint.