The Art of Deception_ Controlling the Human Element of Security - Kevin D. Mitnick [53]
Becoming Virus Savvy
A special note about virus software: It is essential for the corporate intranet, but also essential for every employee who uses a computer. Beyond just having antivirus software installed on their machines, users obviously need to have the software turned on (which many people don’t like because it inevitably slows down some computer functions).
With antivirus software there’s another important procedure to keep in mind, as well: Keeping the virus definitions up to date. Unless your company is set up to distribute software or updates over the network to every user, each individual user must carry the responsibility of downloading the latest set of virus definitions on his own. My personal recommendation is to have everyone set the virus software preferences so that new virus definitions are automatically updated every day.
lingo
SECURE SOCKETS LAYER A protocol developed by Netscape that provides authentication of both client and server in a secure communication on the Internet.
Simply put, you’re vulnerable unless the virus definitions are updated regularly. And even so, you’re still not completely safe from viruses or worms that the antivirus software companies don’t yet know about or haven’t yet published a detection pattern file for.
All employees with remote access privileges from their laptops or home computers need to have updated virus software and a personal firewall on those machines at a minimum. A sophisticated attacker will look at the big picture to seek out the weakest link, and that’s where he’ll attack. Reminding people with remote computers regularly about the need for personal firewalls and updated, active virus software is a corporate responsibility, because you can’t expect that individual workers, managers, sales people, and others remote from an IT department will remember the dangers of leaving their computers unprotected.
Beyond these steps, I strongly recommend use of the less common, but no less important, software packages that guard against Trojan Horse attacks, so-called anti-Trojan software. At the time of this writing, two of the better-known programs are The Cleaner (www.moosoft.com), and Trojan Defence Suite (www.diamondcs.com.au).
Finally, what is probably the most important security message of all for companies that do not scan for dangerous emails at the corporate gateway: Since we all tend to be forgetful or negligent about things that seem peripheral to getting our jobs done, employees need to be reminded over and over again, in different ways, about not opening email attachments unless they are certain that the source is a person or organization they can trust. And management also needs to remind employees that they must use active virus software and anti-Trojan software that provides invaluable protection against the seemingly trustworthy email that may contain a destructive payload.
chapter 8
Using Sympathy, Guilt, and Intimidation
As discussed in Chapter 15, a social engineer uses the psychology of influence to lead his target to comply with his request. Skilled social engineers are very adept at developing a ruse that stimulates emotions, such as fear, excitement, or guilt. They do this by using psychological triggers—automatic mechanisms that lead people to respond to requests without in-depth analysis of all the available information.
We all want to avoid difficult situations for ourselves and others. Based on this positive impulse, the attacker can play on a person’s sympathy, make his victim feel guilty, or use intimidation as a weapon.
Here are some graduate-school lessons in popular tactics that play on the emotions.
A VISIT TO THE STUDIO
Have you ever noticed how some people can walk up to the guard at the door of, say, a hotel ballroom where some meeting, private party, or book-launching function is under way, and just walk past that person without being asked for his ticket