The Art of Deception_ Controlling the Human Element of Security - Kevin D. Mitnick [113]
Judge: “Very well. Trial is set for June 8th, 8:30 A.M., Courtroom Four.”
Paul: “Thank you, your honor.”
Municipal Court, Courtroom Four
Paul arrived at court early on the 8th. When the judge came in, the clerk gave him a list of the cases for which the officers had not appeared. The judge called the defendants, including Paul, and told them their cases were dismissed.
Analyzing the Con
When an officer writes a ticket, he signs it with his name and his badge number (or whatever his personal number is called in his agency). Finding his station is a piece of cake. A call to directory assistance with the name of the law enforcement agency shown on the citation (highway patrol, county sheriff, or whatever) is enough to get a foot in the door. Once the agency is contacted, they can refer the caller to the correct telephone number for the subpoena clerk serving the geographical area where the traffic stop was made.
Law enforcement officers are subpoenaed for court appearances with regularity; it comes with the territory. When a district attorney or a defense lawyer needs an officer to testify, if he knows how the system works, he first checks to make sure the officer will be available. That’s easy to do; it just takes a call to the subpoena clerk for that agency.
Usually in those conversations, the attorney asks if the officer in question will be available on such-and-such a date. For this ruse, Paul needed a bit of tact; he had to offer a plausible reason why the clerk should tell him what dates the officer would not be available.
When he first went to the court building, why didn’t Paul simply tell the court clerk what date he wanted? Easy—from what I understand, traffic-court clerks in most places don’t allow members of the public to select court dates. If a date the clerk suggests doesn’t work for the person, she’ll offer an alternative or two, but that’s as far as she will bend. On the other hand, anyone who is willing to take the extra time of showing up for an arraignment is likely to have better luck.
Paul knew he was entitled to ask for an arraignment. And he knew the judges are often willing to accommodate a request for a specific date. He carefully asked for dates that coincided with the officer’s training days, knowing that in his state, officer training takes precedence over an appearance in traffic court.
mitnick message
The human mind is a marvelous creation. It’s interesting to note how imaginative people can be at developing deceptive ways to get what they want or to get out of a sticky situation. You have to use the same creativity and imagination to safeguard information and computer systems in the public and private sectors. So, folks, when devising your company’s security policies—be creative and think outside the box.
And in traffic court, when the officer does not show up—case dismissed. No fines. No traffic school. No points. And, best of all, no record of a traffic offense!
My guess is that some police officials, court officers, district attorneys and the like will read this story and shake their heads because they know that this ruse does work. But shaking their heads is all they’ll do. Nothing will change. I’d be willing to bet on it. As the character Cosmo says in the 1992 movie Sneakers, “It’s all about the ones and zeros”—meaning that in the end, everything comes down to information.
As long as law enforcement agencies are willing to give information about an officer’s schedule to virtually anyone who calls, the ability to get out of traffic tickets will always exist. Do you have similar gaps in your company or organization’s procedures that a clever social engineer can take advantage of to get information you’d rather they didn’t have?
SAMANTHA’S REVENGE
Samantha Gregson was angry.
She had worked hard for her college degree in business, and stacked up a pile of student loans to do