Footprinting is something that you may think of when the topic of ethical hacking comes up. But this technique can also be used to explore the financial health of your current employer or of a potential employer. Footprinting is the process of gathering as much information about an organization as possible. 
While footprinting can be done for many different reasons, one is employees wanting to find out the financial health of their current organizations. The objective of footprinting is to gather this information in such a way as to not alert the organization. What you are seeking to obtain is publicly available information. This can be available from third parties and from the organization itself. Here are some basic steps to explore:
1. The company’s website – Look for news, recent financial reports, updates, or other happenings.
2. Financial sources – These sites will have information about the financial health of the organization. As an example, www.sec.gov has the Edgar database, which holds copies of 10-K and 10-Q financial filings. Other sites include Hovers, Dun and Bradstreet, and Yahoo finance.
3. Social networks – These sites should be examined to see what the employees are saying. You will want to search by employee name or company. Some sites to check include: www.blogsearchengine.com (specific postings from bloggers) and www.wink.com (searches social networking sites).
4. Newspapers and court cases – The best place to start is www.topix.net (regional news) and www.pacer.uscourts.gov/natsuit.html for court records.
I hope this information gives you a better understanding of footprinting and that you find these resources valuable.
From Michael Gregg
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