Maltego Community Edition Guide
A comprehensive guide to mastering Maltego Community Edition for OSINT investigations
Core Concepts
Maltego's workflow revolves around Entities and Transforms. An Entity is a piece of information (domain, email, person). A Transform is code that takes an Entity as input, queries a data source, and returns new Entities. Results are displayed on a Graph, visually mapping connections.
Installation
Register for a free community account on the Maltego website. Download and install the software for your OS (pre-installed on Kali Linux). On first launch, select "Maltego CE (Free)" and log in to activate.
Step-by-Step Usage Guide
Start a New Graph
Open Maltego and click the "New" graph icon to create a blank workspace for your investigation.
Add an Initial Entity
From the Entity Palette on the left, drag a "Domain" entity onto the graph. Double-click to set its value to your target (e.g., `maltego.com`).
Run Transforms
Right-click the entity to open the context menu listing available transforms.
**Single Transform:** Select a specific transform like `To IP address [DNS]`.
**Run All Transforms:** Select "Run All Transforms" (star icon) to run every applicable transform and gather maximum information.
Pivoting on New Information
The power of Maltego is in pivoting. After discovering an IP address, right-click it and run transforms like `To Netblock [Using routing info]` to find the network range it belongs to.
Using Machines
Machines are automated sequences of transforms.
1. Go to the "Machines" tab and click "Run Machine" 2. Select a machine like **Company Stalker** 3. Enter the target domain and click "Finish"
Maltego will automatically run a series of transforms and populate the graph.
Practical Tips
Start with a single entity and gradually expand. Use layout options to organize complex graphs. The Community Edition limits entities per transform, so be strategic about which transforms you run.
Legal Considerations
The Community Edition cannot be used for commercial purposes. Always respect privacy and data protection laws when gathering and analyzing personal information.