Identifying an individual on the internet is hard. Really hard. There has to be some uniqueness that you can identify to pinpoint down on an individual. That could be style of writing, phrases, icons, avatars, nicknames, names etc.
Currently the President of the US is also experiencing this issue. He suspects to have been monitored and so is trying to work out who it was.
Was it:
- The previous president (LINK)
- The previous administration (LINK)
- Nobody (LINK)
- MI6 (LINK)
- Nobody again (LINK)
- GCHQ (LINK)
Despite all your thoughts on Donald Trump, it does go to show that a hunch can lead you on a very wild ride till you get to the end of it.
“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
Published July 5, 1993 – New Yorker
And here-in lies the problem. Our main unique identifier on the internet starts with IP addresses but these can be changed, altered etc through proxies, so all of a sudden it looks like you are browsing the internet from China, North Korea, London etc. And that attribution is then made harder when Nation States and other sophisticated actors are in play as they have other tools and resources that they can use. So if you go chasing after that then you will quickly end up down rabbit holes. As this is a potential breach situation whereby private conversations have been leaked, this will be even harder.
So to have a bit of fun, I have created Attribution Bingo ! I have selected various Intelligence Agencies from around the world that you may want to use in this game.
Remember to shout “Beware Russia!” if you can get a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line and most of all …. have fun!!
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