RE: Pen-Test as a favor

["Barnhart, Troy" <TBarnhart () rcrh org>]

No offense and in all seriousness, let's play word-association with the key words from your email...

1)  IT intern / on own time  >>  Disposable -> "Plausible Deniability"
2)  Their servers / Doctors' office >>  HIPAA
3)  CTO / Pretty Good Friend / No Legal Action  >> Until the Doctors' Office gets Legal-Action.

I repeat again - HIPAA and even futher... JCAHO/OIG/AMA/SOX.  
That's a HUGE rabbit-hole you don't want to go down...

You should have it in writing and your "get-out-of-jail-free" card in hand before the very first keystroke.

After your FIRST lawsuit that is related to an "electronic" patient-data disclosure - 
you won't believe that you even considered it originally...

You can tell the doctors who've been through an eDiscovery procedure - 
they have no problems with complex passwords and such...  

The other doctors [who haven't] are demanding for "single-signon"; 3-character, alpha-only passwords; and root-level 
access.

Troy Barnhart, Sr. Systems Programmer,
tbarnhart () rcrh org
Regional Health Corp.
Rapid City, South Dakota


-----Original Message-----
From: "Chris Benedict" <chrisb () daemonnews org>
To: pen-test () securityfocus com
Sent: 7/12/06 8:49 PM
Subject: Pen-Test as a favor

Hey, I'm working as an IT intern in a doctors office and I got 
permission to do a little pen-testing on their servers on my own time.  
How necessary would it be to get written permission before I take any 
action?  The Admin/CTO is a pretty good friend and I doubt would even 
consider taking any legal action if anything happened.

If I do need a contract or something could someone point me in the 
direction of a template.  I have never even seen such a 
contract/agreement before and I would never be able to write one up on 
my own properly.

Thanks,
Chris Benedict

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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. Cenzic has the
most comprehensive solutions to meet your application security penetration
testing and vulnerability management needs. You have an option to go with a
managed service (Cenzic ClickToSecure) or an enterprise software
(Cenzic Hailstorm). Download FREE whitepaper on how a managed service can
help you: http://www.cenzic.com/news_events/wpappsec.php
And, now for a limited time we can do a FREE audit for you to confirm your
results from other product. Contact us at request () cenzic com for details.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------