Penetration Testing mailing list archives

Re: Fwd: Penetration test of 1 IP address


From: pagvac <unknown.pentester () gmail com>
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 23:42:38 +0000

IMHO, this is a *way* too general question to be asked in this list.
Hundreds of posts could follow this topic.

I suggest 2 things: research and use your brain. That's really all you need.

On 2/9/06, Bob Radvanovsky <rsradvan () unixworks net> wrote:
Believe it or not, many things that pen-testers and/or social engineers do are the "obvious" things.  Things that are 
oblivious to most people, sometimes, are not-so oblivious to those who exist in a frame of mind that is "outside" 
from everyone else's.

Maybe this will put things into a slightly different perspective that perhaps you could relate to, or even 
appreciate.  In school (high school, college, technical school -- it doesn't matter), have you ever worked on a 
homework or lab assignment that had you *stumped*, only to ask, either the teacher of the class or a fellow 
classmate, for some help, they come in, look at your configuration or the method/approach that you're taking, only 
then to type/write something down in a matter of seconds?

Sometimes, you need someone who's not immersed or engrossed in whatever your clients or environment has you bottled 
up in.  Also, it takes a certain mindset to be able to view things from this perspective, and some would even argue 
that it's genetic (born with a "gift" versus learned within an environment).  I tend to think that it combines a 
little of both, taking into account people who have an ability -- a gift (if you will) -- that can perceive concepts 
from either a wwwwwiiiiiiidddddeeeee perspective, then suddenly, at a moments notice, shift their train of thought to 
something more tightly focused, only later go back to the wide-angle perspective again.

Many people, many companies would like you to think that a "child" is what's behind most attacks, and some would 
argue ostensibly, that it is a group of children performing such acts.  But what many fear, yet never state, is that 
often times, there's a "mastermind" at work, that controls, manipulates, an endoctrinates these children into 
performing whatever acts they do.  To some, they feel that they're doing this to (as you put it) get famous, others 
want to get rich quickly, whereas some think that they're performing an act that they don't see as wrongful ("evil") 
acts.  It is a known fact in psychology that children -- up to certain age groups -- have abilities of perception, 
comprehenson, understanding and mental mechanics -- that far surpass most adults.  And thus drawing upon a conclusion 
that (for sake of simplicity) the acts performed, either negatively or positively (it depends on who's performing 
what) is mere "childs play".

I would garner you this challenge.  Put yourself (or attempt to) into a frame of mind similar to what has been 
discussed here, then ask yourself a single, yet importantly decisive question: "How would <xxx> perform such a task?" 
 If you can answer that, then perhaps, you have a naturally-born gift for such levels of creativity that places such 
as the NSA, CIA or various intel groups would *love* to hire you!!!  I've known children who have mathemtical 
capabilities that would boggle even the best of mathematicians, and yet -- to them -- everything appears "easy" to 
them.

Having been "on both sides of the fence", I can tell you that it isn't easy.  I started college at age 14 -- well 
before I was even finished with jumior high school -- and well on my way while I was still *in* high school!  Does 
that make me smart?  Not really.  I just had a knack -- an ability -- to see things *differently* -- than most other 
people did at that time.  This was in the late 1970's/early 1980's.  Times have changed since then, and not for the 
better, either.  If you are thinking that tasks such as these are easy, you now need to think of the consequences 
that are (now) often times associated with such tasks.  Yes, I'm talking about "bureaucracies" (possibly beyond even 
your worst nightmarish perceptions of "Red Tape Hell" or "Paperwork Purgatory"), not to mention thinking of legal 
(libel) consequences.  Many people on this discussion group (myself included) who wish to continue working -- freely 
-- as a citizen, and thus, offer *some* consul, but not to the point of where they could be held liable for their 
actions or suggestive content.

Bob Radvanovsky, CISM, CIFI, REM, CIPS
"knowledge squared is information shared"
rsradvan (at) unixworks.net | infracritical.com | ehealthgrid.com
(630) 673-7740 | (412) 774-0373 (fax)

----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Loe [mailto:knobdy () gmail com]
To: pen-test () securityfocus com
Subject: Fwd: Penetration test of 1 IP address


Every time I see one of these e-mails the first question that pops
into my mind is, "where do I get a customer like that?!"

The second thing that pops into my mind is that it can't be a "real"
job - that its most likely some high school kid who wants to be
famous, but not smart enough to figure out how.

I'm not a security "expert". I've never done a pen test. However,
everything that has been suggested, I already knew how to do - and
would have known to do it.

On 2/9/06, Levenglick, Jeff <JLevenglick () fhlbatl com> wrote:
That's right.. Legal software. I wonder what would happen if this person
was not legit and
The company found out that all of the people on this list helped him?

Or better yet. (as I stated before) This person does not have the
background or knowledge to give this company

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Audit your website security with Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner:

Hackers are concentrating their efforts on attacking applications on your
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login pages, dynamic content etc. Firewalls, SSL and locked-down servers are
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