CIS 5370 - Computer SecurityKasturi PoreRavi Vyas

Public Definition from wikipedia.org “Social engineering is the art of

manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information”

Gartner Research Group : “the manipulation of people, rather than machines, to successfully breach the security systems.”

Kevin Mitinic was incarcerated in February1995 with more 25 charges.

In his book “Art of deception” he stated he did not use any hacking tools or software programs but used social engineering to obtain the passwords and secrets.

Three Israli brothers: Ramy, Muzher, and Shadde Badir had 44 charges against them.

◦ Telecommunications fraud◦ Theft of computer data◦ Impersonation of a police officer

Damages around $2 million

On September 16, 2008 an internet activist group 'anonymous‘gained access to governor Palin's email account gov.palin@yahoo.com.

gov.palin@yahoo.comDOB 2/11/64ZIP 99687

Its easier to ask the user instead of hacking the system

With the exponential increase in technology it is becoming harder to hack in to systems

VS

Humans ◦ We are emotionally weak and like to help◦ We easily succumb to pressure ◦ We cant correctly judge if someone is lying – bias

towards truth and stereotypical thinking

Current defense mechanisms◦ Security policies – single loop◦ Employee training

Security policies ◦ Has humans involved in creation◦ Are not updated◦ Are not followed

Information is readily and easily available

First attain easily available data Use it to fake authority Attain more confidential information

Feedback loop - result of each action is fed back to get a better result in the next action

Final deadly attack on obtaining enough information

Devise attacks to minimize reaction and weaken security

Pretexting◦ Creating a scenario that does not exist in an

attempt to pressure a victim in leaking information

◦ Generate cues to build the victim’s trust

Phishing: The attacker typically sends an email

that appears to come from a legitimate source like a bank or credit card company, asking to verify some information and warns of dire consequences if action is not taken

IVR or phone phishing: The attacker created a very legitimate

sounding copy of an organization’s IVR(Interactive voice response) system. The attacker will send an email urging people to call on the toll free number to verify information. On calling, they will readily give their information

Trojan horse: They take advantage of the greed and

curiosity of people to propagate malware. They come as email attachments with attractive subject lines which, when opened introduce a virus in the system

Baiting: These are like physical Trojan horses.

The attacker leaves malware infected physical media like CD ROM with legitimate but curious labels around the workplace which when inserted by any attacker will cause the system to be infected.

Online Social Engineering◦ Users repeat a single password for all their

accounts◦ attacker sends an email to sign up for some

interesting site or some important update asking for a username and a password

Reverse social engineering◦ Make people come to you instead of you◦ Attacker sabotages a network, causing a problem◦ Advertise that he is the appropriate person to fix

the problem◦ When he comes to fix the network problem, he

requests of information from the employees

Physical protection Security policies that separate documents

into different levels or compartments, separation of duty, double loop

Employee training Lie detectors

Goodchild, J. (2008, Nov). Social Engineering: 8 Common Tactics. Retrieved Nov 2008, from NetworkWorld: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/110608-social-engineering-eight-common.html

Granger, S. (2001, Dec). Social Engineering Fundamentals, Part I: Hacker Tactics. Retrieved Nov 2008, from SecurityFocus: http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1527

Granger, S. (2002, Jan). Social Engineering Fundamentals, Part II: Combat Strategies. Retrieved Nov 2008, from SecurityFocus: http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1533

Jose J. Gonzalez, J. M. (2006). A Framework for Conceptualizing Social Engineering. CRITIS 2006, LNCS 4347 , 79-90.

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Social engineering (security). Retrieved Nov 2008, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_(security)

VP contender Sarah Palin hacked http://wikileaks.org/wiki/VP_contender_Sarah_Palin_hacked

Three Blind Phreaks http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/phreaks_pr.html

U.S. vs. Mitnick and DePayne http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/mitnick.background/indictment/page01.html

New Trojan Bait: CNN Videos http://blog.trendmicro.com/new-trojan-bait-cnn-videos/