I'm not sure if this should be a cool technology of the week or a scary technology of the week.I've posted frequently about the increasing challenges of malware, BYOD, and hackers.
This week's cool technology is a hacker's network penetration device, packaged to look like a power strip.
The Power Pwn is a fully integrated enterprise-class linux server that includes Ethernet, wireless and Bluetooth connections. It also has a fully automated NAC/802.1x RADIUS bypass and secure shell access over 3G and GSM cell networks.
All a hacker has to do is place this power strip under a desk within a corporation and then they can identify network vulnerabilities and mine data as they wish.
I've said before that security is a cold war - an escalating battle between hackers and IT departs trying to control them. The Power Pwn is a powerful new entry to the hacker's arsenal.
I love the simplicity and the hiding in plain view nature of things like these. They make me shudder as well since the impact from such an innocent looking device can be prolific.
ReplyDeleteI thought back to an article I read a few years ago about a security company who was working with a regional bank doing security assessments and 'dropped' some really sexy looking USB drives near the smoking area, a picnic table, and other places where people would still be at work but not in full 'work mode'. The drives contained keystroke loggers, a screen capture app and all of the data was transmitted back to the security firms servers for collection and presentation. Needless to say the results were breathtaking, and not in a good way. That said the bank plugged the holes and instituted polices that prevented that sort of intrusion.
It is a cat and mouse game, and this is clearly a fox in the hen house step up. I'll be paying attention...
Good post for sure for awareness. I saw that earlier this week and interesting that DARPA help fund but like anything else out there, we have the good and the bad and hopefully the good folks can stay ahead for sure. A couple weeks ago, just before the Colorado shootings, I found a great TED video which explores the use of technology by the "Dark Side" and things may not have thought about as the speaker even explores how criminal activity with using a 3D printer for one example could accelerate. I talked to one of those companies at a conference in Los Angeles and it's amazing where they are going with the technology for sure. I just wanted to see the "pipe wrench" produced by one of the printers since that has been talked about quite a bit on the web.
ReplyDeleteThe most attention getting statement made in the entire video though was "if you control the code, you control the world". He ends up with talking about DNA code as well. It's very interesting and thought provoking video and something we should all be aware of, again especially after the horrific incident in Colorado and what was done there with using technology.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/vision-of-crime-in-futureted-video-by.html