Re: Email Pen-testing
From: Andreas (andreas_at_inferno.nadir.org)
Date: 03/21/04
- Previous message: Eric McCarty: "RE: Email Pen-testing"
- In reply to: Blake: "Email Pen-testing"
- Next in thread: Michael Richardson: "Re: Email Pen-testing"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 21:38:18 +0100 To: pen-test@securityfocus.com
On Mar 20, Blake wrote:
>
> Wanted to get your opinion on something...
>
> Doing a pen-test for a small bank which was proving very difficult to get it. A friend of mine suggested I send a backdoor trojan attachment via an email. If they clicked on it, the backdoor performs maybe a boxscan, grab passwords, and connects out to the Internet. --Much like a virus.
Let me first say, that i am not a professional pen-tester, but i am very
interested in this field.
In my opinion, social engineering is part of a pentest. You can harden
your network as much as possible, but if you don't train your employees
to never open (unknown) attachments, tell passwords over the phone line
etc. all your hardening isn't it worth.
Also, it is often the easiest way, to brake into the companies network,
because initial traffic to the internet is always allowed, while most
ports from the outside are blocked. If the internal net isn't hardened
very much, you can own the hole network of the company by getting one
user executing your binary.
> I think this type of testing is becoming more relevant nowadays, especially with whats out there. It reinforces properly configured antivirus software and user awareness.
The fact, that email worms are often making its way inside a company
proofs, that this attack vector is not trivial. Each of this worm mails could
be your malicious binary.
> I spoke with a previous customer of mine about the idea. He said he would be very upset if he was not told prior to that type of test as part of normal pen-testing.
Might be true. Tell him about your plans and ask him, not to inform his
employees.
>
> Generally speaking, my code of ethics doesn't allow me to social engineer. I don't like lying and misleading people. Also people tend to hate you after they've been punk'd.
But perhaps they learned their lesson?!
>
> -Blake
>
regards,
Andreas
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You're a pen tester, but is google.com still your R&D team?
Now you can get trustworthy commercial-grade exploits and the latest
techniques from a world-class research group.
www.coresecurity.com/promos/sf_ept1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Previous message: Eric McCarty: "RE: Email Pen-testing"
- In reply to: Blake: "Email Pen-testing"
- Next in thread: Michael Richardson: "Re: Email Pen-testing"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
Relevant Pages
|
