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IRC (Trusting A Stranger)

No matter what group they fall in, almost EVERY hacker uses (at one time or
another) IRC. Internet Relay chat is the primary means of communication for
most hackers. It is on IRC that hackers often get their initial "training"
(in the form of talking with more knowledgeable hackers, and in some cases,
where actual "hacking classes" take place), where they meet individuals to
form groups, where they develop and exchange information on the latest
exploits, and where they gloat about their latest attacks. It's a place
where the less technical come to find others that can do their "dirty work"
for them, and a place where a "hacker profiler" can acquire valuable
intelligence.

What makes IRC a great way to gain intelligence about the hacker community
as a whole, or about any particular hacker or hackgroup, is the "anonymity"
of it all. Every individual appears as the same simple stream of text on a
screen. The only things that anyone on there knows about you, are the
things that you tell them. And, of course, you can tell them anything,
without them being able to check up on it easily.

Let's go back to my analogy of a gang. If an organization wants to find out
more information about any given gang, they must do one of two things.
Either find someone in the gang that's willing to talk to you, or become a
member of the gang yourself. Neither of which would be an easy task. Each
"gang" has its own type of members, who look a certain way, talk a certain
way, believe certain things, and live in a certain area. It can be very
difficult to come up with the perfect "operative" which could blend in
seamlessly with that group.

Now, let's go back to hackers. Communicating on irc, you can become anyone
you want to be, and gain trust with any given group very quickly. By first
studying a group, you can learn what their ideals are, how they act, how
they "talk", and how they interact with each other. Then, you can simply
"invent" someone to become their best friend. Someone who believes the same
things they do, acts the same way they do, and someone who can very quickly
gain trust, until they are simply assimilated as the next member. You'll
find that this can be done in a relatively short period of time, and can
lead to gathering VERY valuable and reliable "intelligence". In this
"digital realm", any one profiler could take on the identity of a dozen or
more different "people". Each one with different personality, lifestyle,
and set of ideals. If one of your "people" becomes untrusted by the group
that "he's" a member of, you can simply make him disappear and invent
someone new. This is one area where gathering "intelligence" can be much
easier of a thing to do in a "digital realm", than in a physical one.

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