National Cyber Warfare Foundation (NCWF)

Welcome back, aspiring cyberwarriors! In our line of work, maintaining anonymity while conducting investigations is often critical. Whether you’re researching a potential security threat, investigating suspicious activity, or simply gathering intelligence without revealing your identity, the ability to operate undetected is a valuable skill. One of the most effective tools in our arsenal for this […]

The post Sock Puppets: Creating Fake Accounts for OSINT Operations first appeared on Hackers Arise.

Welcome back, aspiring cyberwarriors!

In our line of work, maintaining anonymity while conducting investigations is often critical. Whether you’re researching a potential security threat, investigating suspicious activity, or simply gathering intelligence without revealing your identity, the ability to operate undetected is a valuable skill. One of the most effective tools in our arsenal for this purpose is the creation and management of what are commonly called “sock puppets” – carefully crafted fake online identities.

Let’s explore how to create and maintain effective sock puppets for your OSINT operations, ensuring your real identity remains protected while you gather the intelligence you need.

Why Use Sock Puppets in OSINT?

Before diving into the technical aspects, let’s understand the primary reasons for using sock puppets:

Security: If you’re investigating potentially dangerous subjects like criminal organizations, your personal safety could be at risk if your real identity is discovered.

Concealing Intentions: When you show interest in a target using your real identity, they may become suspicious and begin covering their tracks or changing their behavior.

Social Engineering: Sometimes you need to make contact with a target or their connections, and they might not respond to your real identity.

Operational Security: Keeping your OSINT activities separate from your personal digital footprint is simply good practice.

Step #1 Obtaining Your Sock Puppets

There are two primary approaches to acquiring sock puppets: buying them or creating them yourself. While purchasing accounts from different services is an option, it’s recommended to create your own accounts. This gives you complete control over the registration data and account history.

When creating sock puppets for OSINT work, you’ll need to consider several key factors:

The most fundamental rule when creating a sock puppet is that it should never be connected to your real identity or to your other sock puppets. This means you should never use these accounts on your primary operating system.

Instead, use virtual machines – ideally one VM per virtual identity. This allows you to maintain separate digital environments for each of your sock puppets, preventing cross-contamination of identifying information. Within each VM, you can register accounts across multiple platforms for the same virtual identity, creating a consistent and believable online presence.

Step #2 Registration Essentials

To create convincing sock puppets, you’ll need some basic registration data:

Email Addresses

The simplest option is to use proton mail, which offers straightforward registration requiring only a username and password. Social networks generally don’t flag these accounts, reducing your risk of being banned.

When choosing an email provider, consider what would be most realistic for the persona you’re creating. If your sock puppet is supposed to be from a specific country, using that country’s popular email service adds authenticity.

Phone Numbers

For phone verification, you have two options: purchasing online numbers or using real SIM cards. If you need a number from a country that would be difficult to obtain a physical SIM for, online services can be useful. However, these numbers typically have limited lifespans unless you pay subscription fees.

A physical SIM card can remain active for years with minimal maintenance – just make a call every six months or so and add a small amount of credit occasionally.

Remember that many social networks will show partial phone numbers during password recovery, potentially revealing your sock puppet’s supposed country of origin. This can be either a benefit or a liability depending on your operational needs.

Step #3 Creating a Convincing Profile

The most important principle when building your sock puppet is that it should blend in completely with the mass of ordinary accounts. It should be utterly unremarkable – the digital equivalent of a gray man.

Personal Information

For names and personal details, research the most common names in your target country. Google “most common names in [country]” and select something from the top results – but perhaps not the absolute most common to avoid being too obvious.

For birthdate, avoid using your own and double-check that the date is valid (e.g., don’t use February 29 in a non-leap year). Small details like this can expose your sock puppet as fake.

After creating your basic identity, use tools like https://seintpl.github.io/NAMINT/ to check how your name combinations appear in search engines and social networks. This helps you select appropriate usernames and evaluate how many “namesakes” exist across different platforms.

Profile Photos

Profile photos present several options, each with pros and cons:

AI-generated photos: Services like thispersondoesnotexist.com can create realistic-looking people who don’t exist. However, these can be detected by certain patterns (eyes always on the same line, consistent distances between facial features).

Objects or abstract images: Using a car for a male persona or flowers for a female one avoids the risks of facial recognition but may reduce the account’s perceived authenticity.

“Donor” accounts: Finding abandoned accounts and borrowing a couple of photos can be effective, especially if the donor account doesn’t contain real names or location information.

Edited photos: If you have basic Photoshop skills, you can modify real photos by changing backgrounds, clothing, adding glasses, or altering facial features to create unique identities.

Whatever approach you choose, ensure your profile’s overall content matches the persona you’re creating. If your profile picture shows a car enthusiast, your account should reflect that interest through group memberships and occasional posts about automobiles.

Step #4 Building Account Credibility

To make your sock puppet appear legitimate, consider adding these elements:

Location and Employment

If you include a residence address, verify that it actually exists. Join a few local groups related to that area for authenticity.

For employment, choose organizations with many employees but low public profiles. This reduces the chance of being caught in a lie while maintaining plausibility.

Interests and Activities

Select interests that are common among average users – nothing that would make the account stand out. Importantly, you should have at least basic knowledge of any interests you claim. If you know nothing about nuclear physics, don’t pretend to be a professor in the field.

Join relevant groups and follow appropriate pages based on your claimed interests. This creates a consistent digital footprint that reinforces your sock puppet’s authenticity.

Connections

Having some friends and followers is an important element of realism. You don’t need hundreds – just enough to appear legitimate. The easiest approach is to find these connections in the local and interest-based groups you’ve joined. Send friend requests to members, focusing on those who share your supposed interests or location.

Summary

While casual OSINT hobbyists might not need such elaborate precautions, there are situations where properly constructed sock puppets are invaluable – particularly when investigating sensitive subjects or when you need to avoid revealing your interest in a target.

To improve your OSINT skills, check out our OSINT Investigator Bundle. You’ll explore both fundamental and advanced techniques and receive an OSINT Certified Investigator Voucher.