Brute force attacks don’t work because after a certain number of tries the site quits looking.
So if you have an email account say after five tries it won’t let you try anymore. A brute force attack would not work.
As a system admin the biggest thing I found was people use the same password over and over.
So for instance, the people at the Straight Dope know my password. It would be very easy for them to log into say Wells Fargo and try the username Markxxx with my SD password and see if it works. Of course I know better, but most people don’t.
This is why you never use the same password for any important accounts like banks.
Did you ever go to a site and it asks you to register to read? In many cases they just want your password. Since most people use the same login name.
Phishing is the easiest way. When I worked at a temp agency they sent me to a bail bondsman. If we needed to locate someone I’d take the picture, (They always take pictures when they agree to bond you out) then put it on MySpace and sure enough someone always contacted ME thinking I was him. And it was very easy form that point on to locate someone.
If you’re really interested in learning to hack you need to learn how to code. For instance, MySpace is very easy to hack certain things, 'cause cold fusion is a very simple language to learn. MySpace often simply uses the command invisible to hide things. Well just copy the profile and change it to visible.
BTW MySpace has closed all the good hacks like viewing private pics with that so I wouldn’t waste much time trying it but it’s still good for seeing who a private profile has as a friend etc.
If you want to hack, learn to code. Once you see HOW they did it, you can see how to get around it. The thing about the Internet is it is designed to make information available to you. So it’s hard to hide things effectively, though certainly not impossible. The problem is the more security you use the longer the page waits to load and the less traffic you’ll get.
But social hacking is the easiest, you’d be shocked what your friends will reveal about you without even realizing they are doing it.