Find hidden information. Save time. Stay invisible.
November 7-8, City University London
While the motives and outcomes may be different, there are many similarities between investigative journalism and computer hacking. In addition to sharing the thrill of the hunt for new information, both groups are hungry for the latest fact-gathering techniques.
Mike Schrenk will guide you through these practical, hands-on training sessions that will identify a few hacker-tricks of particular use to journalists.
venue details
The course will take place in computer lab EG07, Drysdale Building. Please use the main entrance from Northampton Square. Ask reception or follow the signs for Drysdale Building and then follow arrow signs to EG07. The computer lab is on the lower ground floor.
Course cost
Full cost of course: £300
NUJ members: £200
Students: £150
online anonymity
The ability to remain anonymous becomes more important as regimes place added restrictions on journalists’ ability to speak freely. Regardless of the measures governments take, however, journalists are still able to publish stories through the use of “proxies”. This session will describe circumvention proxies and multiple-proxy anonymity networks and in particular how to download, install and use The Tor Network. Tor is the proxy network that facilitates journalism from some of the most hostile environments in the world. In addition, you will also learn how anonymity is lost online and how to virtually transport yourself inside government firewalls.
automating data gathering with iMacros
Sometimes there is just too much information online to be useful. At other times, online information is presented in awkward formats that don’t facilitate real analysis. These problems can be solved with a browser add-on called iMacros. iMacros presents a non-technical method to: navigate websites, download web pages, fill-in forms and extract data (from multiple web pages) into a spreadsheet.
predict tomorrow’s news (or better understand today’s news)
DNS is a database of domain names. In normal use, DNS is used to route you to the correct website. In web-savvy hands, however, the domain name system can help journalists to predict the future, or review how people foresaw their future in the past. This is an entertaining session that concludes with a digital scavenger hunt.
unintentional information
People often leave sensitive and confidential information online. Sometimes this information is carelessly deposited in forums and social networking websites. At other times, information is made available because of system errors or carelessly configured servers. In any case, search engines find it – and so can you, if you know how to look for it. In this session, you’ll learn how to find: video feeds from private security cameras, confidential medical records, personal resignation letters, and a host of other information unintentionally left for you to find. This session will be very hands-on and group orientated (read fun!).
using Google alerts as a reporting agent
One of the more interesting tools for journalists is Google Alerts, a tool that tells you when Google discovers things online. With Google alerts, you can receive automatic notifications when: websites change, specific people or things are mentioned, or a variety of other online events happen. You can also combine Google Alerts with the Google hacking techniques unearthed in the unintentional information session for added utility.
lesser known – but high value, search engines
We’re all familiar with Google, Yahoo! and other general search engines, but did you also know that there are specialised search engines that do specific things of interest to journalists? This session reveals some of the lesser known – but no less spectacular, search engines on the internet.
how hackers rule the world
Mainstream news reports of hacking exploits only reveal part of the story. Most hacking is actually done on the human level – with the ability to read between the lines for hidden information, and to convince people to willingly hand over even the most confidential secrets. This session will explore how hackers exploit not just the internet, but fax machines, security systems, phones and newspapers as well. You’ll leave this session with more knowledge of human nature and ideas to protect yourself from becoming a hacking victim.