Section 1.7. A Network Neighborhood Watch

1.7. A Network Neighborhood Watch

Taking back the Internet from the con artists will require more than the efforts of computer security professionals. If it were that easy, then the problem would already have been solved. Educating consumers has undoubtedly helped, but people still fall victim to these scams every day.

I view myself as part of the global community of programmers and systems administrators, the power users of computing and the Internet. I suspect most readers of this book would feel the same affiliation. Given the technical skills that we possess, I feel that we have a collective responsibility to guide the development of the Internet and ensure that the values of freedom and openness are preserved as it continues to evolve.

We have the potential to make life very difficult for those behind Internet scams. With thousands of us working to reveal them, their sense of security will be threatened. I believe that this sense that nobody can touch them is a major reason for the growth of Internet crime. A community-based effort to uncover these scams has the potential to have a major impact. We need an effort similar to that of ordinary people who take part in a Neighborhood Watch to keep crime away from where they live simply by keeping an eye out for each other. We need a Network Neighborhood Watch.

This book will show you how to uncover information about web sites, servers, and email messages. It was written for anyone with modest computer skills, as opposed to the professional computer security expert. Anyone can apply these techniques. They use the basic tools and protocols of the Internet in creative ways to reveal clues that mostly go unnoticed. I think most readers will be surprised just how much can be revealed.

I encourage you to learn and experiment with the techniques, scripts, and hacks that are described here. If your Inbox is anything like mine, then you already have plenty of targets. I hope that you build upon these ideas and go on to share your own with the rest of this community. And I hope that you will do your part to make the life harder for the bad guys and in doing so, make the Internet a better place for all of us.