It is amazing how times change. When I read Internet Attack Called Broad and Long Lasting by Investigators this morning I was reminded of an incident that happened about 10 years ago. I was working at a military base at the time. I was looking for a file on my intra-networked computer using the Norton search utility...I know some of the language in the file but couldn't remember the name of said file. So I plugged in string with a couple of unique words. As the program began to search text of files was scrolling on my screen. Next thing I know the program is searching the intranet and lists of people's personal information with passwords is rolling up my screen. Well of course I stopped the program once I realized it was giving me access to private and potentially secure information.

Once I had the whole thing stopped and could catch my breath I called the IT security folks to let them know they had a problem. You know what they told me..."No big deal who would want usernames and passwords anyway? They couldn't use them for anything." I was amazed and appalled. I remember writing a note to myself on the incident and putting into my general info file in case I ever needed it to cover my tracks. Still amazes me to think that people who set up the system didn't care about the systems security.

An excerpt from the article:

The crucial element in the password thefts that provided access at Cisco and elsewhere was the intruder's use of a corrupted version of a standard software program, SSH. The program is used in many computer research centers for a variety of tasks, ranging from administration of remote computers to data transfer over the Internet.

The intruder probed computers for vulnerabilities that allowed the installation of the corrupted program, known as a Trojan horse, in place of the legitimate program.

Posted by prolurkr at May 10, 2005 07:31 AM

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