RE: Penetration Testing - Human Factor

["Robert D. Holtz - Lists" <robert.d.holtz () gmail com>]

You make an interesting point about the occurrences going unreported.

I would have to agree that the majority never see the light of day.  I would
also go so far as to say that most folks don't even know when it happened to
them, i.e. nothing suspicious about the interaction.

With the technical side being covered by a wide variety of devices which do
nothing but help in trying to prevent attacks and logging everything this
would give this type of attack a much higher statistical average.  

Since there are no forensics for a human breach this type must be under
reported when reported at all.

I know it's real easy to call a help desk and have them reset a password!

-----Original Message-----
From: K K Mookhey [mailto:kkmookhey () gmail com] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 3:27 PM
To: Joey Peloquin
Cc: KeenerPB () mcnosc usmc mil; Pen-Testing
Subject: Re: Penetration Testing - Human Factor

Isn't it also about the fact that people are very hesitant to report
incidents where they've been taken for a ride, and more willing to admit
technical goof ups such as not applying a patch?

We've offered clients social engineering attacks as part of pen-tests,
and have found takers for these too. Having said that, I think
targeted financial fraud leveraging computer systems usually happens
with a very strong component of social engineering, whereas regular
hacking (with possible financial results) is usually almost purely
technical.

Just my 2c.

KK


> On 8/23/06, Joey Peloquin <joeyp () cotse net> wrote:
> >  KeenerPB () mcnosc usmc mil wrote:
> > > I would disagree with Arian regarding the technical aspects of "true"
> > > hacking...in my experience, social engineering plays a huge role in
> > > successful compromise of a network. Most of the time the boundaries
are
> > > pretty tight so you have to lob one over the fence (social
engineering) in
> > > order to punch out from the inside to defeat the boundary devices.
> >
> > All due respect, I'm both an Enterprise pen-test customer and an
internal
> > pen-tester at the same company, and I don't see social engineering on
the
> > radar at all, save a mention as part of our security awareness program.
> >
> > How many enterprises do you all contract with that *actually* include
social
> > engineering, and the like, in the scope?  We've paid as much as 40K for
an
> > engagement and it didn't include social engineering.
> >
> > -jp
> >
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