Hacking demo - most spectacular techniques

From: Mike Ahern (mc_ahernat_private)
Date: Tue Oct 02 2001 - 12:37:23 PDT

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    I think one of the more fun & spectacular techniques
    is to show them session hijacking of a telnet session
    or an X-Windows session or the like. Tools like
    T-Sight and IPWatcher from Engarde are excellent for
    this, and there are others like Hunt that you might
    want to use for session hijacking. 
    
    It is always effective to show them serious
    vulnerabilities on real production systems - in a way
    that doesn't make it seem like you are picking on
    anyone in attendance (you don't want to alienate
    anyone). For example if you can remotely gain access
    and root/admin level privs in a matter of seconds or a
    few keystrokes they often are impressed. I would
    replay or show the results of that kind of thing if
    you are unable to do so at the time.
    
    I would definitely show them session sniffing to
    illustrate the problem with unencrypted logins.
    
    Every manager and executive needs to see the hackers
    disapearing act - such as blowing WTMP/UTMP and hiding
    processes (either with utilities, backdoors, or
    rootkit). They need to see that standard logging is
    not in effect on backdoor access, and that the hacker
    can effectively hide himself on a system including
    processes, files, directories, network connections,
    etc..
    
    Most Executives and IT Managers need to see how fast
    most NT/2000 passwords crack (on most networks with
    the LAN MAN hash enabled). You can get the majority of
    passwords in a couple days, especially if you know
    what you are doing (have a dictionary of previously
    cracked passwords from prior audits, and analyze last
    few password cracks for character frequency - so you
    can brute force crack most efficiently). I'd start it
    at the beginning of the effort and then produce
    results at the end. LC3 can output results without
    displaying actual passwords, although maybe a top
    executive or two should see how poorly people often
    choose the passwords in the first place. They need to
    understand how big a problem this is and how trivial
    and quick it is to crack.
    
    Senior executives are not all that technical and have
    short attention spans. I would think that tying your
    testing to important or sensitive business processes,
    or illustrating financial or other impact to the
    business is as important as a flashy demo. Nothing got
    my CEO's and Exec VP's attention like seeing the
    primary financial and other business-critical systems
    compromised. In the words of one CEO I worked for in
    the past, "if someone gets these other systems they
    may get the companies money. If someone gets this
    particular financial system they get **REAL** money".
    
    These are just a few suggestions, but there are really
    lots of things you can do. ARP spoofing in interesting
    (dsniff). Web based vulnerabilities. Enumeration of
    NT/2000 networks via null user, open network shares.
    SNMP often reveals ALOT, and some Cisco tools can be
    fun! Getting a router and displaying all known routes.
    Illustrating common stupid things like r-services
    issues and trusts, NFS mounts of user space, improper
    file permissions, displaying what services remotely
    advertise about the system (rusers, finger, SMTP
    VRFY/EXPN, showmount, rpcinfo, etc., etc.). 
    
    IT Managers will be more technical and some may be
    defensive - more oriented at providing services and
    features than in doing things securely - and feeling
    adversarial about security (like you are there to make
    their life more complicated and make them look bad).
    It is really important to get these guys on your side
    to be effective. Having the ability to generically
    discuss vulnerabilities in each IT Managers area of
    business is also a positive (and it can disarm them
    somewhat - its hard to argue against the facts), but
    actual details must be provided discretely with each
    individual manager. The "names can be changed to
    protect the innocent" if you want to use actual data
    for examples in your presentation.
    
    Anyhow, have fun and keep it interesting. Don't bog
    down too much in the technical details. Just do a
    quick show and tell. Keep it simple. 
    
    Good Luck!!
    
     - Mike 
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
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