What is a crawling profile?
Maltego Evidence crawls data using Sock Puppet accounts known as crawling profiles. Crawling profiles enable an investigator to collect data from the person of interest’s social media profile without the risk of revealing the investigator’s identity.
Evidence uses your login credentials to log in to the social network. You can use the same crawling profile in different projects. Each social network requires its own crawling profile.
Overview of a crawling profile
The network icon of a profile indicates the social network for which the crawling profile was created. Each crawling profile has its own profile name, login data for the selected social network and a login status.
In which projects can I use my crawling profile?
Crawling profiles can be used in all projects you create.
Note: If you use the same crawling profile too often or collect too much data in a short period of time, your social network account may be suspended. Therefore, use multiple crawling profiles in a single crawling task or rotate them between tasks.Which social networks are supported?
Currently, you can create a crawling profile for the following social networks: Facebook, Instagram, X, Telegram, Youtube, Odnoklassniki, TikTok, VKontakte, LinkedIn.
Crawling profile management
How do I create a crawling profile?
There are two ways to create a crawling profile: directly in one of your projects or in the settings menu. In both cases, the crawling profile can be used across projects.
Option 1: Creating a crawling profile in the project.
Starting from the home screen of your project, first click on the Collection icon to open the Collect tab.
Home screen of a project
To create a crawling profile within a project, first select the "Collection" icon in the menu on the left side of the screen. Then select the "Add Crawling Profile" button.
Collect Data view of a project with open sidebar for creating a new crawling profile
Option 2: Opening the crawling profile in the settings.
You can access the settings by clicking on the settings icon in the upper right corner of the screen. Under "Crawling Profiles" you will see all the crawling profiles that have already been created. Click on "Create new crawling profile" to input the crawling profile details.
Overview page of all created crawling profiles within settings
Information for new crawling profiles
Enter the following data in the menu that opens:
Name (irrelevant for login) | You define this name yourself to be able to identify the profile later in the software. For example, "Max Mustermann". |
Username | This is the username or email address, or occasionally the phone number, that you would use to log into the network if you were also logging into the browser. |
Password | This is the password you use to log in. In special cases (e.g. Telegram or TikTok) the password can be left blank because other login methods are used. |
Network | Select here for which network the crawling profile is valid. |
After selecting a network, you can choose to check the login status by clicking the checkbox labeled 'Check login status after saving.' Maltego Evidence will then verify whether a login to the selected network is possible using the provided credentials once the crawling profile is saved
If you have initiated a login status check, it runs in the background and may take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on your internet connection and the selected network. In some cases, Maltego Evidence may require your assistance to complete the authentication process—for example, scanning a QR code for TikTok or entering a confirmation code sent via SMS or email for other networks. If this is necessary, a non-closable popup will inform you.
If the login with the crawling profile is not successful, check that the entered data is correct. If the credentials are correct, but you cannot log in, it is likely that your account has been blocked by the social network. In that case, try another profile.
How do I test the status of a crawling profile and what does it mean?
In the settings you can see the status of your crawling profiles. To do this, click on the gear wheel in the upper right corner of the program. The overview of your saved crawling profiles will open. Each tile corresponds to a crawling profile.
Overview of all available crawling profiles
There are three different login statuses. Their meanings are the following:
| The last login was not successful. This can either be due to incorrect login data or the profile was blocked in the social network. |
| The login status is unknown and must first be determined. |
| The last login was successful and the profile can be used. |
 | Clicking the refresh icon requests Evidence to login to try to validate the login information again. |
Renewing the login status takes one runner. If all your runners are occupied with tasks, you must wait until previous tasks are completed.
How do I edit a crawling profile?
You can edit the login data and the name of your crawling profile at any time. To do so, click on an empty space within the tile of the corresponding crawling profile in the overview of your crawling profiles. A page will open, similar to the one used when creating a crawling profile.
The data of the crawling profile is already entered in the corresponding fields and can be edited. If you change the social network of the crawling profile, you can use a check box to decide whether the system should check the login status after saving the crawling profile.
Crawling profile information editing page.
You can save any edits by clicking the "Save" button.
How do I remove a crawling profile?
| You can delete a crawling profile by clicking on the trash bin icon. |
Deleting a crawling profile does not automatically delete the data collected with it. A deleted crawling profile cannot be restored and must be added again.
How do I import crawling profiles from SNH Classic?
You can import your crawling profiles from SNH Classic into Maltego Evidence. Follow the steps below to do so:
1. | In SNH Classic, open a project that contains a crawling profile that you want to import into Maltego Evidence. |
2. | Click on "Utilities" in the menu bar and then on "Profile Manager". |
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Menu bar within a project in SNH Classic |
3. | Click the Export button to export all created crawling profiles as a file. |
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Profile manager toolbar, with the button for exporting the crawling profiles in red.
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4. | In the window that opens, specify a location for the exported profiles. |
5. | Open the crawling profile overview in Maltego Evidence. To do this, click on the gear in the upper right corner. |
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Overview of all saved crawling profiles |
6. | Click "Import Crawling Profiles". In the window that opens, click "Select file". |
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Pop-up window after clicking the "Import Crawling Profiles" button
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7. | Now click on "Select file" and select the previously saved file. By default, the name of the file is: profilsnh1.snhpp |
8. | Select whether you want to overwrite already existing profiles with the same ID and whether you want the program to check the login status of the imported crawling profiles after importing. When you have made your selection, click the Import button to complete the import. |
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Closing window for import of crawling profiles
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9. | If the import was successful, your imported crawling profiles will now be displayed in the overview. You will also see the following message in the lower right corner of the screen: |
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Status message on successful import of crawling profiles |
