Bounty Hunting in Cyberspace

Last weekend I went bounty hunting in Cyberia. It was an exciting adventure, but I don't think I'll go back unless I must. If you don’t know the culture of hunting in cyberspace, you are in for an awakening.

A friend of mine contacted me several weeks ago and asked that I assist him in locating a fugitive. After several road trips and sleepless nights we were out of leads. We had heard that the fugitive was a known computer hacker and whiz on the Internet. I thought it would be worthwhile to follow this lead.

I located the fugitive on several social networking sites, found his user ID on another site and we began our hunt in Cyberia. We were able to contact the fugitive through a chat site. BIG MISTAKE! While the fugitive chatted about how he was able to hack anyone, he recognized my presence on his social networking site. Although I still do not understand how he accomplished the hack, the fugitive was able crash the operating system on my computer.

Here’s what you can do to learn from my mistakes. Social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, etc. are a great resource for learning about people, their interests, friends and contacts. Savvy computer users can gain useful information on sites which host personal information. However, explore these sites with caution and be aware that there also risks to using these tools. Hackers are finding new ways to exploit these sites. And beware that as you are collecting informtaion on a site, someone may also be collecting information from you.

(I know you are wondering-did we get the fugitive. The answer is yes! The fugitive made one mistake when he left Cyberia.)

For more reading see: Social Network Sites Could Become a Hacker's Playground