Finding a person is easy. Finding their digital footprint across 10 years of internet history is hard. Or it used to be. Tools like Sherlock and Maltego make it trivial to correlate data points.
Sherlock (Username Enumeration)
Humans are lazy. We reuse usernames.
If your Reddit name is `CoolGuy123`, chances are your dormant MySpace, your eBay, and your Tinder use the same name.
python3 sherlock.py CoolGuy123
It checks 300+ websites and returns valid profiles. Suddenly, a target is no longer anonymous.
1. Maltego (Link Analysis)
A visual tool used by the FBI and private investigators.
You put in an email address.
It runs "Transforms" (scripts).
Email -> Domain -> Owner -> Phone Number -> Facebook Profile -> Friends List.
It graphs these relationships visually.
2. Image Intelligence (IMINT)
Reverse Image Search: Google, Yandex (best for Russia/Europe faces), TinEye.
GeoEstimation: AI tools that look at a photo (vegetation, road signage, architecture) and guess the country/city.
3. Breached Data
HIBP (Have I Been Pwned) tells you if you were hacked.
Criminals use "Dehashed" or "Snusbase" to actually SEE the cleartext passwords from those breaches.
OSINT investigators use this to find an old password, then check if the user is reusing it elsewhere.
Countermeasures
Use a password manager (unique passwords everywhere). Use alias services (SimpleLogin) to generate unique emails for every service. Never reuse usernames.