Wireless Security.pdf - PDF Archive

Intrusion Process 339
attention to rigid security protocols when they assume the person they are speaking with
knows very little to begin with.
IT contractors can be especially good targets for social engineers. They are brought onto
a job with very little training in security and may not realize the value of information they
are helpfully providing the authoritative caller on the other end of the phone. How could
they know the authoritative voice on the other end of the phone is a hacker anyway?
Remember, most contractors are knowledgeable of the inner workings and details of just
about all network resources on a site because they are often on that site to design and/or
repair the very network they built. In wanting to be helpful to their customer, contractors
often give out too much information to people who are not authorized to have such
information.
Wireless technology is still very new to many organizations. Employees who have not
been properly educated about wireless security may not realize the dangers a wireless
network can pose to the organization. Nontechnical employees who use a wireless
network should be trained to know that their computers can be attacked at work, at
home, or on any public wireless network. Social engineers take advantage of all of these
weaknesses, and they even fabricate elaborate stories to fool almost anyone who is not
specifically trained to recognize these types of attacks.
15.3 Searching Publicly Available Resources
Today, it is possible to find out information on almost any conceivable topic simply by
searching the Internet. This new information tool can be used to find out about almost
anything, including personal information about individuals, proprietary information
about corporations, and even network security information that is not intended to be
made public. If public information exists, it can most likely be found on the Internet with
little effort. Nefarious individuals can find out who you are, the names of your family
members, where you live and work, if your residence or workplace has a WLAN, and
what wireless security solutions are used by your employer. As an example, many people
now post their resumes on the Internet. From an individual’s resume, you may be able
to determine if someone has WLAN proficiency. It is logical to therefore assume that
this individual may have a WLAN set up at his or her home. This individual is also more
likely than not to be connected to his or her employer’s corporate network. It is also
likely that sensitive corporate data is exposed on the user’s laptop or desktop computer.
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