Re: disabling some phishing forms

[Drew Perry <aperry () MURRAYSTATE EDU>]

Bob,
I'd be curious as to the legal implications of making changes to an
external server you do not control, even if it were suspected to be
compromised. Unauthorized access of a computer system can be interpreted
many different ways in different jurisdictions. As an alternative, I'd
recommend a quick call to your firewall admin (who may also be you) to
temporarily block access from your campus to the offending system while you
investigate with the owner. That doesn't protect your remote users, but it
may be the safer choice from a legal stance.

Drew Perry
Security Analyst
Murray State University
(270) 809-4414
aperry () murraystate edu

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On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 10:00 AM, Bob Bayn <bob.bayn () usu edu> wrote:

>  When a user reports a phish message with a "click here" link that goes
> to a google doc, it's easy to submit an abuse notice using the link at the
> bottom of the doc form.  If a webserver is compromised, the phisher may
> install a SourceForge phpformgenerator.  I've found in several instances
> that you can go to the first level directory in the link to the form and
> see the phpformgenerator management screen.  And it often lets anyone who
> sees the page delete any of the forms created by the formgenerator.  That
> at least temporarily disables the mischief while I contact the site owner
> to check for the compromise.
>
>    Bob Bayn          (435)797-2396            IT Security Team
>        http://it.usu.edu/security/htm/dont-be-fooled
> Office of Information Technology, Utah State University