The Internet is a fertile breeding ground for all kinds of scams and schemes, because it's so large and unregulated. Usually it's your credit card number they're after, and they won't stop there. Not just mere annoyances, these scams are real crimes, with real victims. Now, thanks to "Internet Forensics" from O'Reilly, there's something you can do about it. This practical guide to defending against Internet fraud gives you the skills you need to uncover the origins of the spammers, con artists, and identity thieves that plague the Internet. Targeted primarily at the developer community, "Internet Forensics" shows you how to extract the information that lies hidden in every email message, web page, and web server on the Internet. It describes the lengths the bad guys will go to cover their tracks, and offers tricks that you can use to see through their disguises. You'll also gain an understanding for how the Internet functions, and how spammers use these protocols to their devious advantage. This book is organized around the core technologies of the Internet-email, web sites, servers, and browsers. The chapters describe how these are used and abused and show you how information hidden in each of them can be revealed. The short examples illustrate all the major techniques that are discussed. The ethical and legal issues that arise in the uncovering of Internet abuse are also addressed. Not surprisingly, the audience for "Internet Forensics" is boundless. For developers, it's a serious foray into the world of Internet security; for weekend surfers fed up with spam, it's an entertaining and fun guide that lets them play amateur detective from the safe confines of their home or office.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. Introduction What Is Internet Forensics? The Seamy Underbelly of the Internet Pulling Back the Curtain Taking Back Our Internet Protecting Your Privacy Before You Begin A Network Neighborhood Watch 2. Names and Numbers Addresses on the Internet Internet Address Tools DNS Record Manipulation An Example-Dissecting a Spam Network 3. Email Message Headers Forged Headers Forging Your Own Headers Tracking the Spammer Viruses, Worms, and Spam Message Attachments Message Content Is It Really Spam? 4. Obfuscation Anatomy of a URL IP Addresses in URLs Usernames in URLs Encoding the Entire Message Similar Domain Names Making a Form Look Like a URL Bait and Switch-URL Redirection JavaScript Browsers and Obfuscation 5. Web Sites Capturing Web Pages Viewing HTML Source Comparing Pages Non-Interactive Downloads Using wget Mapping Out the Entire Web Site Hidden Directories In-Depth Example-Directory Listings Dynamic Web Pages Filling Out Forms In-Depth Example-Server-Side Database Opening the Black Box 6. Web Servers Viewing HTTP Headers What Can Headers Tell Us? Cookies Redirection Web Server Statistics Controlling HTTP Headers A Little Bit of Everything 7. Web Browsers What Your Browser Reveals Apache Web Server Logging Server Log Analysis Protecting Your Privacy 8. File Contents Word Document Metadata U.K. Government Dossier on Iraq Document Forgery Redaction of Sensitive Information 9. People and Places Geographic Location Time Zone Language Expertise Criminal or Victim? Hardware and Software 10. Patterns of Activity Signatures Searching with Signatures Problems with Simple Signatures Full Text Comparison Using Internet Search Engines for Patterns 11. Case Studies Case Study 1: Tidball Case Study 2: Spam Networks 12. Taking Action What Is Being Done to Tackle Internet Fraud? What You Can Do to Help Getting in Over Your Head Vision of a Community Response Index