Penetration Testing mailing list archives
RE: Pentester convicted..
From: "Sahir Hidayatullah" <sahirh () mielesecurity com>
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 11:30:06 +0530
From TFA there are two cases:
1. Eric McCarty - Looks like he went ahead, accessed personal information including SSN's and then anonymously mailed them to a secfocus reporter. Personally, I don't see that this was the correct approach. He had no business actually accessing the records (this was a SQL injection hack, it's easy enough to confirm the lack of input validation without dumping tables). furthermore, he dug himself in deeper by mailing the information to a reporter instead of the legitimate authorities. What he should have done is a) confirmed the vuln in the least invasive way possible and then b) contacted the OWNER of the system and worked with them. If they'd busted him after that it would've been weird -- but you're talking about someone gaining unauthorized access to private information, forwarding it to a third party, and then crying fowl when he gets into trouble. "Professional security tester" -- I don't think so! To use the well flogged banking analogy - he robbed the vault, gave the swag to someone else to prove he did it, and then whined when the cops broke down the door. No pity from me! 2. Bret McDanel - An EX-employee goes and emails information about a security flaw to the CUSTOMERS of his previous company. The details are murky, but it appears he sent the mail through the company email system. If he had repeatedly been raising concerns about this security risk and they were not addressed, then he would be justified in going public; the article however, does not mention this anywhere. One assumes that he didn't inform his previous employer about the flaw before notifying the customers. Once again, it's ridiculous to expect any sort of gratitude for this -- business ethics notwithstanding. The keyword here is UNAUTHORIZED access. When are we going to stop condoning system intrusions as some sort of noble whitehat effort when it's apparent to anyone with a shred of common sense that the 'whitehat' wasn't interested in following a proper escalation process for the flaw? Cheers, Sahir Hidayatullah. References: http://www.wired.com/news/columns/circuitcourt/0,70857-0.html?tw=wn_index_6 http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11239 -----Original Message----- From: William Hancock [mailto:bill.hancock () isthmusgroup com] Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 7:50 PM To: pen-test () securityfocus com Subject: Pentester convicted.. Hey there pen-testers, take this with a grain of salt, it just got me excited. I am really interested in everyones opinion on the matter or corporate responsibility and ownership. <RANT> In an article posted to slashdot today (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/10/112259&from=rss) a man has been convicted of hacking when he casually and helpfully reported a security vulnerability to the owners of a web site, in this case The University of Southern California. It reads like it was some sort of simple SQL injection and upon gleaning the information he reported it. What are we to do as a community I ask? We should we, the good guys, who are paid for our knowledge and ability to exploit mistakes, oversights, and weaknesses then professionally report them to aid in the securing of information capital (or anyone who reports the flaw for that matter) worry about prosecution. It lends itself to a forcing the technical community to sit on their laurels and wait for the people who don't report issues to exploit them. Further it sounds very clear that had he not notified them, they would have never known. A security pro notices a flaw, checks to make sure he is not on crack by 'flipping a bit', deems the threat viable and is likely to be exploited, notifies the owners, then get arrested and charged with unauthorized access. We, as a or even The security community, should push corporations, governments, and organized body's to take responsibility and ownership of their problems. If they publish a site that is flawed or exposing information then they are authorizing the retrieval of that information. I'm not advocating that they laws should allow any jerk to try and brute his or her way in to a public or private web site, but come on. If someone leaves their wallet in the park with no guard or protection, I pick it up and bring it back to the owner, the owner didn't want me to have it but I brought it back to him. Why in the hell should I have to go to jail for returning it to him, why should I/we be punished for doing the right thing? I acknowledge this to be a rant but there must but some way to insist that when people make something available to the public that it is their responsibility to safeguard it and appreciate not persecute someone who let's them know (for free I might add) that a weakness exists. This is simple scapegoating, the University did something not advisable as a good practice and instead of owning up to it they villafied a professional pen-tester for offering valid advice. </RANT> Thanks, Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This List Sponsored by: Cenzic Concerned about Web Application Security? Why not go with the #1 solution - Cenzic, the only one to win the Analyst's Choice Award from eWeek. As attacks through web applications continue to rise, you need to proactively protect your applications from hackers. 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Current thread:
- Re: Pentester convicted.., (continued)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. Stuart Thomas (May 11)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. Jason Mayer (May 11)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. Art Cooper (May 11)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. lee . e . rian (May 12)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. Art Cooper (May 12)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. Karyn Pichnarczyk (May 12)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. Art Cooper (May 12)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. Phoebe Tunstall (May 12)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. lee . e . rian (May 12)
- Get out of jail cards (Statement of work authorizing access, was Re: Pentester convicted..) Michael Sierchio (May 12)
- Re: Get out of jail cards (Statement of work authorizing access, was Re: Pentester convicted..) Dana (May 12)
- Re: Get out of jail cards (Statement of work authorizing access, was Re: Pentester convicted..) Jeremiah Cornelius (May 12)
- Re: Get out of jail cards (Statement of work authorizing access, was Re: Pentester convicted..) Dotzero (May 12)
- Re: Get out of jail cards (Statement of work authorizing access, was Re: Pentester convicted..) Paul Asadoorian (May 12)
- RE: Get out of jail cards (Statement of work authorizing access, was Re: Pentester convicted..) Clement Dupuis (May 12)
- Re: Pentester convicted.. Dotzero (May 12)