Several free and open source tools are available to create word lists that can be used for brute-force attacks to obtain passwords of social network users. They include:

>> Custom Word List Generator: Security researcher Robin Wood created CeWL as a way to create a custom word list based on spidering a Web site. This functionality is perfect for quickly determining unique words on a social network profile. CeWL is available for download from Wood's Web site, in the Samurai Web Testing Framework, and within the popular BackTrack 4 penetration testing distribution.

>> RSMangler: Robin Wood's RSMangler complements word-list-generating utilities like CeWL. It takes a word list and generates mangled combinations and manipulations of those words. For example, from "tom, eston, social" RSMangler would output: tomeston, tomsocial, estontom, socialeston, socialtom. It can be downloaded from the RandomStorm site.

>> Associative Word List Generator: This site generates word lists based on search terms that are queried from the Web site using typical search engine techniques. For example, if you search for "tom, eston, agent0x0, zombies, spylogic, security, justice," AWLG will search the Internet for those terms and give you back a listing of relevant keywords.

>> Common Users Password Profiler: Muris Kurgas created this word-list-generation script that uses information gathered online to answer a series of questions CUPP asks. Based on those answers, CUPP generates a custom word list. This tool can be quite handy if an attacker has already found out significant information about a potential victim from a social network profile. CUPP is preinstalled in the BackTrack 4 penetration testing distribution.

>> Userpass.py Script: Created by Mark Baggett, this script automatically generates customized word lists for specific targets. For example, a Google search is launched to find LinkedIn profiles of employees at a target company. Then the script spiders any Web sites found in a user's LinkedIn profile. It pulls the user's profile picture and checks a Web site called "tineye" to determine if the picture matches others on the Internet. If it does, those sites are spidered for keyword information. Finally, all the spidered sites are run through CeWL to generate custom word lists. Userpass.py script can be downloaded from the PaulDotCom Web site.

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Social Networks' Threat To Security