Dumpster Diving

We are well aware of taking all the necessary precautions in order to avoid our personal information landing in the hands of a malicious attacker. Now imagine the attacker going the extra mile sifting through your trash in hopes of finding something valuable. Dumpster diving is a social engineering attack that allows hackers to gain all sorts of interesting information from discarded materials such as CDs, DVDs, hard drives, company directories, and so much more. This article aims to explore the dumpster diving technique and the different ways you can use it to prevent your valuable information from getting exploited by malicious entities.

What is Dumpster Diving?

The dumpster diving technique is used by attackers to search through the garbage of a target individual or a company. The goal of dumpster diving is to steal sensitive information related to the target, such as confidential documents, discarded credentials, financial records, or any other data that can be exploited for malicious purposes. The attacker can use the collected data to gain further information about the target or craft a specialized attack, such as a spear phishing attack. This technique takes advantage of a company’s poor security practices and capitalizes on improper disposal of data.

Dumpster diving is not exclusive to the world of information technology. In the past, it has been employed by investigation and law enforcement agencies to gather information concerning individuals or organizations. It’s just that people nowadays don’t store their information on paper. Instead, they store their sensitive information in digital form on their computers or other devices. The problem arises when people don’t properly discard the data stored on these devices when they no longer need them. Therefore, dumpster diving helps malicious entities find sensitive information that was thrown away by others and use it against them.

Ways to Prevent Dumpster Diving:

In order to prevent this form of attack, consider implementing the following measures:

• Organizations must have proper policies and procedures regarding disposal and destruction of confidential data.

• Documents containing sensitive information must be shredded before disposing of them. Using a cross-cut shredder ensures that the data in the shredded documents cannot be easily reconstructed.

• Organizations must take measures to educate their employees about the importance of proper document disposal and the risks associated with dumpster diving.

• Organizations should take measures to secure the trash receptacles, preventing unauthorized individuals from rummaging through its contents. Restrict access to these areas using locked gates, fences, or enclosures. Limiting physical access helps deter unauthorized individuals from attempting to retrieve discarded materials.

• Consider installing security cameras and monitoring the area around dumpsters to deter potential dumpster divers and gather evidence if an incident occurs.

• Enforce a clean desk policy in your organization. A clean desk policy requires employees to keep their workspaces clear of sensitive documents, notes, or other materials containing valuable information. By removing these items from the desk when not in use, the chances of them being mistakenly discarded and subsequently targeted by dumpster divers are significantly reduced.

Conclusion:

Dumpster diving poses a significant threat to individuals and organizations as it provides malicious actors with access to sensitive information. In order to mitigate this risk, it is important to apply the preventive measures listed in this article.