RE: Social Engineering

["jpippin" <jpippin () gmail com>]

Davie-
Hackers2 and Takedown are Hollywood fluff and FUD. Interest in the subject
is certainly admirable, but if you want a more reasonable, educational, and
reality-based look at the events surrounding Mitnick's incarceration, may I
suggest you rent/borrow/buy "Freedom Downtime" by Emmanual GoldStein and the
folks at 2600. Here's the IMDB entry: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309614/.
Shimomura was an opportunist, not a hero. 

I hope you'll learn more about security from folks like Bruce Schneier and
not take what you see in Hollywood movies as even close to reality.
Schneier's "Secrets and Lies" is one of the most readable books on security
out there - and includes social engineering topics. Now that's a book worth
referencing in a thesis - as I did twice for my master's (risks of
biometrics).

-Joel Pippin


-----Original Message-----
From: coder [mailto:elite.coder () ntlworld com] 
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 1:07 PM
To: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Social Engineering

Hello everyone,

I am currently planning on writting a thesis on social engineering, I have
been fascinated with this subject since I watched Hackers 2/Takedown and
read Kevin Mitnick's book.

Now before I fully take on this idea, what products currently exist to
minimize/prevent social engineering? If anyone saw Hackers 2/Takedown,
Tsutomu Shimomura used a program that could tell him if the person on the
phone actually exists in a company, does this sort of software exist?

Sorry, if this is in the wrong mailing list, but I didn't see a "Social
Engineering" mail list ;)

Thanks

~Davie Elliott



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EARN A MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION ASSURANCE - ONLINE
The Norwich University program offers unparalleled Infosec management 
education and the case study affords you unmatched consulting experience. 
Tailor your education to your own professional goals with degree 
customizations including Emergency Management, Business Continuity Planning, 
Computer Emergency Response Teams, and Digital Investigations. 

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