Re: proposed pen-test

[John Kinsella <jlk () thrashyour com>]

It will be very effective...interesting question, though...has anybody  
heard of precedence set by a popular company being used as part of a  
social engineering attack in a pentest?

I'll guarantee that real attackers won't worry about the legalities of  
impersonation or using the postal service for fraud...who would sue in  
the pentest example? I doubt the social engineering network wants to  
draw attention to the topic, and I'd hope they would appreciate using  
the results to educate your users...I also suspect it's too small of a  
fish to fry to the USPS...

John

On Mar 7, 2010, at 11:03 AM, John Grimes wrote:

> Hi--
>
> A consultant firm has recommended to my university's IT department
> that we run the following pen-test:
>
> We send, through regular mail, a letter to members of the staff and
> faculty, that appears to come from a well-known social networking
> site, that is, it uses a facsimile of the actual letterhead and
> envelope of the site, including the correct return address. In this
> letter, we invite the recipient to beta-test a new version of the
> social networking site by using the program on the enclosed usb stick.
> We offer a gift card to a major online retailer as further inducement.
> If any staff member plugs in the usb stick, they will be told in a
> pop-up window that they have been duped, and the fact will be logged
> to a server at the university.
>
> It seems to us that there are two potential legal problems here:
> impersonating the social networking site, and using the US postal
> service for a fraudulent, if well-intentioned, purpose. Can anyone
> here comment on this?
>
> Beyond the legalities, does this seem like an effective and  
> worthwhile test?
>
> Thanks for any insight.
>
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This list is sponsored by: Information Assurance Certification Review Board

Prove to peers and potential employers without a doubt that you can actually do a proper penetration test. IACRB CPT and CEPT certs require a full practical examination in order to become certified. 

http://www.iacertification.org
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