Getting Your Start Because You Got Hacked

[dgcombs at gmail.com (Dan McGinn-Combs)]

Nice stories so far. Here's mine.
I worked for a large mainframe software company in the late 90's. We were
tracking Internet usage using a proxy-based server. One late Friday, we saw
an IP address start hitting all kinds of pr0n sites, one right after
another. Downloading picture after picture after picture. It was incredible.
And it was eating all our bandwidth. My boss decided a heavy handed approach
was required and told me to track down who was using that IP address. We
looked through the DHCP server and found the host name and tracked it back
to... a girl. Well, she *was* a little manly. Stranger things have happened.
So he called her and read the riot act to this senior director of finance.
Holy mackerel! The back lash was fierce! I thought the whole IT department
was going to get whacked. It turns out she does *not* swing that way. She
was using PPTP to connect from home. Apparently the real pr0n addict had
just jumped off. But since it was a Windows PPTP server, the time/date stamp
didn't indicate how recently she had picked up the IP.

And *that* is how I decided that security was a lot more fun than replacing
the occasional broken mouse or re-formating hard drives.
Dan


On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 2:30 PM, Paul Asadoorian <paul at pauldotcom.com>wrote:

> All:
>
> I'd like to start a new thread where we all share our experiences on how
> we got into computer security.  Specifically I want to hear about people
> whose boxes got hacked, and sparked a life-long career in infosec.
>
> I may use your story in an upcoming piece I am working on, if I do I
> will contact you off-list for permission and such.
>
> Larry, I know you got a good story here ;)
>
> Thanks!
>
> Cheers,
> Paul
>
> --
> Paul Asadoorian
> PaulDotCom Enterprises
> Web: http://pauldotcom.com
> Phone: 401.829.9552
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-- 
Dan McGinn-Combs, Security+, GSEC, CISSP, CISA
dgcombs at gmail.com
Grand Central: +1 404 492 7532
Peachtree City, Georgia USA
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