Happy Day!
Since we are talking about IT Security if you think that only information stored in our computers, CD/DVDs, backup devices need to be protected, then I would request you to rethink. I would like you to read the extract of the following from The Art of Deception, By Kevin Mitinick to understand what IT security (or security and privacy) in general mean. This is a very long, but very important if you really want to understand security in general. If you are really serious about learning about security in general I would highly recommend reading this book and No Tech Hack by Johnny Long. These two books will give you very good insight how every one of us should develop new thinking habits and new ‘vigilant life style’.
The Engineers Trap
It is widely known that head-hunter firms use social engineering to recruit corporate talent. Here’s an example of how it can happen. In the late 1990s, a not very ethical employment agency signed a new client, a company looking for electrical engineers with experience in the telephone industry. The honcho on the project was a lady endowed with a throaty voice and sexy manner that she had learned to use to develop initial trust and rapport over the phone. The lady decided to stage a raid on a cellular phone service provider to see if she could locate some engineers who might be tempted to walk across the street to a competitor. She couldn’t exactly call the switch board and say, “Let me talk to anybody with five years of engineering experience.” Instead, for reasons that will become clear in a moment, she began the talent assault by seeking a piece of information that appeared to have no sensitivity at all, information that company people give out to almost anybody who asks.
The First Call: The receptionist
The attacker, using the name Didi Sands, placed a call to the corporate offices of the cellular phone service. In part, the conversation went like this: Receptionist: Good afternoon. This is Marie, how may I help you?
Didi: Can you connect me to the Transportation Department?
R: I’m not sure if we have one, I’ll look in my directory. Who’s calling?
D: It’s Didi.
R: Are you in the building, or… ?
D: No, I’m outside the building.
R: Didi who?
D: Didi Sands. I had the extension for Transportation, but I forgot what it was.
R: One moment.
To allay suspicions, at this point Didi asked a casual, just making conversation question designed to establish that she was on the “inside,” familiar with company locations.
D: What building are you in – Lakeview or Main Place?
R: Main Place. (pause) It’s 805 555 6469.
To provide herself with a backup in case the call to Transportation didn’t provide what she was looking for, Didi said she also wanted to talk to Real Estate. The receptionist gave her that number, as well. When Didi asked to be connected to the Transportation number, the receptionist tried, but the line was busy.
At that point Didi asked for a third phone number, for Accounts Receivable, located at a corporate facility in Austin, Texas. The receptionist asked her to wait a moment, and went off the line. Reporting to Security that she had a suspicious phone call and thought there was something fishy going on? Not at all, and Didi didn’t have the least bit of concern. She was being a bit of a nuisance, but to the receptionist it was all part of a typical workday. After about a minute, the receptionist came back on the line, looked up the Accounts Receivable number, tried it, and put Didi through.
The Second Call: Peggy
Peggy: Accounts Receivable, Peggy.
Didi: Hi, Peggy. This is Didi, in Thousand Oaks.
P: Hi, Didi.
D: How ya doing?
P: Fine.
Didi then used a familiar term in the corporate world that describes the charge code for assigning expenses against the budget of a specific organization or workgroup:
D: Excellent. I have a question for you. How do I find out the cost center for a particular department?
P: You’d have to get a hold of the budget analyst for the department.
D: Do you know who’d be the budget analyst for Thousand Oaks – headquarters? I’m trying to fill out a form and I don’t know the proper cost center.
P: I just know when y’all need a cost center number, you call your budget analyst.
D: Do you have a cost center for your department there in Texas?
P: We have our own cost center but they don’t give us a complete list of them.
D: How many digits is the cost center? FOr example, what’s your cost center?
P: Well, like, are you with 9WC or with SAT?
Didi had no idea what departments or groups these referred to, but it didn’t matter. She answered:
D: 9WC.
P: Then it’s usually four digits. Who did you say you were with?
D: Headquarters–Thousand Oaks.
P: Well, here’s one for Thousand Oaks. It’s 1A5N, that’s N like in Nancy.
By just hanging out long enough with somebody willing to be helpful, Didi had the cost center number she needed – one of those pieces of information that no one thinks to protect because it seems like something that couldn’t be of any value to an outsider.
The Third Call: A Helpful Wrong Number
Didi’s next step would be to parlay the cost center number into something of real value by using it as a poker chip.
She began by calling the Real Estate department, pretending she had reached a wrong number. Starting with a “Sorry to bother you, but …. ” she claimed she was an employee who had lost her company directory, and asked who you were supposed to call to get a new copy. The man said the print copy was out of date because it was available on the company intranet site.
Didi said she preferred using a hard copy, and the man told her to call Publications, and then, without being asked – maybe just to keep the sexy-sounding lady on the phone a little longer – helpfully looked up the number and gave it to her.
The Fourth Call: Bart in Publications
In Publications, she spoke with a man named Bart. Didi said she was from Thousand Oaks, and they had a new consultant who needed a copy of the company directory. She told him a print copy would work better for the consultant, even if it was somewhat out of date. Bart told her she’d have to fill out a requisition form and send the form over to him.
Didi said she was out of forms and it was a rush, and could Bart be a sweetheart and fill out the form for her? He agreed with a little too much enthusiasm, and Didi gave him the details. For the address of the fictional contractor, she drawled the number of what social engineers call a mail drop, in this case a Mail Boxes Etc.-type of commercial business where her company rented boxes for situations just like this.
The earlier spadework now came in handy: There would be a charge for the cost and shipping of the directory. Fine – Didi gave the cost center for Thousand Oaks: “IA5N, that’s N like in Nancy.”
A few days later, when the corporate directory arrived, Didi found it was an even bigger payoff than she had expected: It not only listed the names and phone numbers, but also showed who worked for whom – the corporate structure of the whole organization.
The lady of the husky voice was ready to start making her head-hunter, people-raiding phone calls. She had conned the information she needed to launch her raid using the gift of gab honed to a high polish by every skilled social engineer. Now she was ready for the payoff.
LINGO
MAIL DROP: The social engineer’s term for a rental mailbox, typically rented under an assumed name, which is used to deliver documents or packages the victim has been duped into sending
MITNICK MESSAGE
Just like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, each piece of information may be irrelevant by itself. However, when the pieces are put together, a clear picture emerges. In this I case, the picture the social engineer saw was the entire internal structure of the company.
Analyzing the Con
In this social engineering attack, Didi started by getting phone numbers for three departments in the target company. This was easy, because the numbers she was asking for were no secret, especially to employees. A social engineer learns to sound like an insider, and Didi was skilled at this game. One of the phone numbers led her to a cost center number, which she then used to obtain a copy of the firm’s employee directory.
The main tools she needed: sounding friendly, using some corporate lingo, and, with the last victim, throwing in a little verbal eyelash-batting. And one more tool, an essential element not easily acquired – the manipulative skills of the social engineer, refined through extensive practice and the unwritten lessons of bygone generations of confidence men.
MORE “WORTHLESS” INFO
Besides a cost center number and internal phone extensions, what other seemingly useless information can be extremely valuable to your enemy?
Have Fun!
