Tag: Information Security

Capture the Flag

TryHackMe Room Walkthrough: OhSINT

What the starting image looks like for the roomToday’s room is called OhSINT. It is another Free Room on TryHackMe, which means that anyone can follow along with me as long as you sign up for a free account. The point of this room is to show you some of the very basics of OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence), which is the process of gathering and analyzing publicly available information to gain insights and intelligence on a subject or target.

Note: This room was updated 2/1/2024, so this walkthrough will probably be different from others if you’re Googling around and found someone who did it closer to release date. This is noted in the room itself.

In this one, we only have an image to go off of. Let’s start with the basics and read the metadata on the image.

$ exiftool WindowsXP_1551719014755.jpg
ExifTool Version Number         : 13.00
File Name                       : WindowsXP_1551719014755.jpg
Directory                       : .
File Size                       : 234 kB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2025:03:08 15:53:27-05:00
File Access Date/Time           : 2025:03:08 15:54:52-05:00
File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2025:03:08 15:54:52-05:00
File Permissions                : -rw-r--r--
File Type                       : JPEG
File Type Extension             : jpg
MIME Type                       : image/jpeg
XMP Toolkit                     : Image::ExifTool 11.27
GPS Latitude                    : 54 deg 17' 41.27" N
GPS Longitude                   : 2 deg 15' 1.33" W
Copyright                       : OWoodflint
Image Width                     : 1920
Image Height                    : 1080
Encoding Process                : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample                 : 8
Color Components                : 3
Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling            : YCbCr4:2:0 (2 2)
Image Size                      : 1920x1080
Megapixels                      : 2.1
GPS Latitude Ref                : North
GPS Longitude Ref               : West
GPS Position                    : 54 deg 17' 41.27" N, 2 deg 15' 1.33" W

Question 1

Searching for the user that has the copyright, “OWoodflint”, I found this Twitter/X profile here.

What is this user’s avatar of? – Cat

Question 2

In this person’s tweets, they have one that says: 

From my house I can get free wifi ;D

Bssid: B4:5D:50:AA:86:41 - Go nuts!

BSSID is “Basic Service Set Identifier” and is a unique ID to identify a wifi access point.

If I search bssid lookup, the first result is WiGLE: Wireless Network Mapping at https://wigle.net. Okay, let’s check that out. I put the BSSID in the search on the right of the page and hit Filter and my map didn’t change (except all of the dots that had been on there are now gone). My guess was maybe this left *ONLY* that network on the map, so I zoomed all the way out and saw a dot in Europe. I zoomed in and it is in London. This could be me not knowing how to use the site, but it worked.

What city is this person in? – London

Question 3

Same site, just get the info of that point.

What is the SSID of the WAP he connected to? – UnileverWiFi

Question 4

Back to googling the username. The first result for me was https://github.com/OWoodfl1nt/ I know people associate their emails on GitHub sometimes, so I went into there. In the readme of his people_finder project, it says “Project starting soon! Email me if you want to help out: OWoodflint@gmail.com”

What is his personal email address? – OWoodflint@gmail.com

Question 5

What site did you find his email address on? – GitHub

Question 6

I didn’t see anything about a holiday/vacation on X/Twitter or GitHub, so back to the google search. It also returns his blog at https://oliverwoodflint.wordpress.com/ His first – and apparently only – post has the answer.

Where has he gone on holiday? – New York

Question 7

I actually found this one multiple places on the internet because of this challenge, but not the intended places. So I’m going to work this as intended. From google, basically I just have these three sites: X/Twitter, GitHub, and his blog. Since this is an OSINT challenge, I don’t expect they want us to try to crack his wordpress site. So, in true CTF-style thinking, I went looking for clues in his blog’s HTML source. I scrolled down and found this:

<p style="color:#ffffff;" class="has-text-color">pennYDr0pper.!</p>

Given the HTML, that would mean that it is actually on his site visible except that the text is the same color as the background. And sure enough:

An image showing that the password is actually on the blog post screen all along

What is the person’s password? – pennYDr0pper.!

That’s it. Just a fun little very introductory primer on using search engines and social profiles to do some very basic OSINT and show you the beginning of what’s possible. Any questions, let me know.

InfoSec

A Primer on Information Security

Picture of a Safe Door
I’ve been spending a lot of time at work recently being involved in audits of our company’s security. Some of them we are paying for (3rd party pentesting), some are voluntary compliance (SOC 2), and some are from clients doing their due diligence on vendors. In conducting and discussing the requests and our answers, it occurred to me just how vital that having a good understanding of Information Security is becoming table stakes to be in the industry, whether you’re a budding programmer, an aspiring entrepreneur, or just someone curious about the tech world. Let’s dive into the basics in the first post of what I hope will become a series.

What is Information Security (Infosec)?

At its essence, information security (infosec) is about safeguarding data from unauthorized access and alterations. It’s the practice of defending our digital valuables – be it personal information, business data, or governmental records. We live in a world where data flows everywhere, and just like dams ensure water flows in controlled and safe ways, infosec ensures data remains confidential, intact, and accessible only by those meant to access it.

Why is Infosec Important?

Imagine writing a personal letter and leaving it at a coffee shop. Anyone could read it, modify it, or take it away. That’s what the digital world is like without information security. With the invention and expansion of the internet, we’re more connected than ever. That means that our data – from emails to credit card numbers – is exposed to potential misuse.

The CIA Triad is a common model to use to talk about information systems. CIA doesn’t stand for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, rather it is an acronym for these concepts:

  1. Confidentiality: This principle ensures that sensitive information is only accessed by those who have the right to view it. Think of it like putting a letter in a sealed envelope rather than leaving it open for all to see.
  2. Integrity: Ensuring data remains unaltered during storage or transmission is vital. It’s like ensuring that the letter you wrote reaches its destination without anyone changing the words inside.
  3. Availability: Data needs to be accessible when needed. Imagine sending a letter and ensuring it reaches its destination on time for whenever the recipient wants to read it. Availability in infosec ensures that systems and data are available when required.

What’s at Stake?

Every day, new vulnerabilities and threats emerge. From ransomware attacks holding data hostage to data breaches leaking sensitive information, it can seem like we’re in a Wild West scenario. Companies of all sizes heavily invest in securing the data that they generate and are entrusted with by having dedicated security teams (both offensive and defensive) to constantly remain vigilant while finding their own weaknesses to fix before the adversaries do. This can take many forms, including monitoring, proactive Bug Bounty Programs to engage ethical hackers, simulated attacks, and tabletop exercises, to name a few.

If these companies fail, the results can be disastrous. Compromising one or more points of the CIA Triad can directly affect a company’s revenue and reputation. One great example of this is what happened to LastPass after they had a large security incident. Customers left in droves for other alternatives like BitWarden, 1Password, and KeePass. That certainly will hurt LastPass’ revenue, but even worse is that the attack directly harmed their customers’ finances. The Verge reported that there was a potential link was made between the 2022 data theft and a total of more than $35 million in cryptocurrency that had been stolen, due the fact that almost all victims were LastPass users. Those are sobering consequences.

Why Should You Care?

As we plunge deeper into the digital era, infosec isn’t just a concern for IT departments but is everyone’s responsibility. Understanding infosec can not only make you a more informed digital citizen but can also open doors to a thriving career path. Even if you’re not interested in becoming a cybersecurity specialist, you should look to secure your online presence. Your security is only as strong as the weakest link and you should do all that you can to not be that weak link, and the journey into information security can be rewarding and eye-opening.

What’s Next?

Embarking on the infosec journey equips you with the knowledge to protect not just your data but also contribute to a safer digital ecosystem. From teaching to policy-making to ethical hacking, the field is vast and ripe with opportunity. Over the next few posts, I hope to explore these points more in depth and talk more about what we in technology can do to sharpen these tools in our own toolkits.