Intrusion Summary
In the early September 2017, a major data breach was announced at Equifax, one of the big three American companies in charge of credit monitoring and calculating credit sources that determine how hard it is for their customers to qualify for a loan application for example. The instruction has caused the loss of staggering amount of personally identifiable information (PII), including Social Security Numbers (SSNs), names, birth dates, addresses, and driver’s license numbers and credit card information. Approximately 143 million U.S. consumers as well as residents in UK and Canada who directly or indirectly use their services have reportedly been impacted by this incident (Fox-Brewster par.2).
The hack stemmed from a flaw in
…show more content…
The first few penetrations by an initial group were not so successful until a sophisticated team took over, according to the Moloch, a black box like machine, which kept a record of the network traffic. The hackers were believed to come from China, given that the tools found in the breach were similar to the hacking tools used in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). On March 14, an advisory on the vulnerability was published by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, US-CERT, in the Department of Homeland (DHS). During the time, Equifax was told by Mandiant, a security consulting firm about its unpatched systems and potential problem, but the company did not listen; instead, they felt everything was under control. The intruders quickly stalled multiple web shells, essentially a back door, in case ones were found, once they were in the network. Finally, they cracked down one database and they began moving bilaterally across the network, targeting one after the other. At this point, a patch would not sufficiently solve the issue as an internal door was open.
From May to July, the data stolen was so big that the hackers would need to break them into small batch to avoid alarms. Furthermore, the hackers even started download tax forms to file tax returns and steal refunds using stolen PII. During this period, several key security managers left the company.
…show more content…
Apache Struts is a framework for developing Java-based applications that run both frontend and backend Web servers. Equifax uses this open-source web application to allow customers interaction. It was established that Apache Struts had a potential vulnerable plugin. Whenever a customer interacts with the system, this plug pulls information from a library program called XStream which converts data into a XML Java code. The hackers inserted their own meticulous codes into Java objects and manipulated the Equifax server running XStream (Bomey, Dastagir, Shell, par. 3).Also, in order to gain persistent access, the hackers added a binary to the boot-up routine so that the executable runs and the firewall service is disabled whenever the system boots (Khandelwal, par. 5). Even though, the flaw in the Apache Strut was the main method used by the hackers to get access into Equifax, there were various other weak security measures that lead to the compromise of the personal data of 143 million individuals. Once the hackers were in the Equifax network, due to the lack of user access and authorization controls, the hackers were able to access the database by the mere use of the password “admin” and username that comprised of first name initial and last name of the employee (Kerner, par. 6). Having access to one privileged user, gave the hackers the ability to create
The reality is in 2013 most American lives are being logged at every step from being filmed as they buy a soda at 7-11 or doing your homework at the computer lab at a community college. And, although many have heard about this intrusion, many do not most know the extent of this information and its impact when it is combined in a profile. This profile is used in background checks for top security clearances that the Office of Personnel Management (2013) requires to obtain this credential. Today, all people that have top security clearances are at risk to be targeted in ways that are deviant and often passive. To understand the profile is used to supply background checks, a history of the former company ChoicePoint will be explained to show this security threat of this now defunct company has contributed to this risk.
However, I feel users had a different vision/perspective on security mechanisms and they trusted each other during those times and did not have to worry about protecting their information (this is how exactly, one person’s ignorance becomes another’s person’s - hacker, here bliss). This book helps us to understand the vulnerabilities; its impacts and why it is important to address/ fix those holes.
resolve. At first it seemed to just be an unauthorized user, who had used up nine seconds of computer time and refused to pay for it. Further investigation led him to an outside hacker that gained access to Berkley computers, by sneaking through an obscure security breach and gained administrative privileges over...
Issa utilizes statistics to suggest ideas. He says, “The Office of Personnel Management’s security breach resulted in the theft of 22 million Americans’ information, including fingerprints, Social Security numbers, addresses, employment history, and financial records” (Issa). Issa also adds that, “The Internal Revenue Service’s hack left as many as 334,000 taxpayers accounts compromised‑though just this week, the IRS revised that number to o...
This project definitely strengthened my belief that consumers and banks need to be more cautious when it comes to personal information like credit card numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, or addresses. I also believe that the government should respond to this large data breach and have harsher laws, and more protection from fraud and identity theft for people that use credit cards. EMV and other technology should be put into effect in order to better protect consumers and their financial information and the economy.
The length of the hack is still unknown, though evidence suggests that the intrusion had been occurring for more than a year, prior to its discovery. The hacker’s involved claim to have taken over 100 terabytes of data from Sony. [11].
Identity theft has been a major issue of privacy and fraud. In the data breach analysis from the Identity Theft Resource Center (2013), the number of data breaches from the year 2005 to 2012 increased. In 2012, there had been 49% where the data breach exposed people Social Security Number. The data breach of 2012 has a rate of 27.4% caused by hackers. These breaches were commonly from 36.4% businesses and 34.7% health and medical (Identity Theft Resource Center 2013). The number of identity theft varies from physical possession to digital possession. At least one-fifth of trash cans contains papers listing people’s credit card number and personal information. People that throw away their trash mails contain much personal information that is useful to steal someone's identity (Davis, 2002). Technology becomes a need where people use it daily and as a result it has also become a use for identity theft as well. Throughout the years as technology develops so does identity theft. This paper shows the types, methods and technique used for identity theft, and it also examines possible risk of identity theft from current technology.
The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier by Bruce Sterling is a book that focuses on the events that occurred on and led up to the AT&T long-distance telephone switching system crashing on January 15, 1990. Not only was this event rare and unheard of it took place in a time when few people knew what was exactly going on and how to fix the problem. There were a lot of controversies about the events that led up to this event and the events that followed because not only did it happen on Martin Luther King Day, but few knew what the situation truly entailed. There was fear, skepticism, disbelief and worry surrounding the people that were involved and all of the issues that it incorporated. After these events took place the police began to crackdown on the law enforcement on hackers and other computer based law breakers. The story of the Hacker Crackdown is technological, sub cultural, criminal, and legal. There were many raids that took place and it became a symbolic debate between fighting serious computer crime and protecting the civil liberties of those involved.
The rapid growth in technology has been impressive over the past 20 years from television graphics and multi-purpose phones to world-wide connections. Unfortunately, the government is having trouble with this growth to protect the people from having their privacy violated due to the information being stored electronically. In “The Anonymity Experiment”, by Catherine Price, states how easily a person can be track and how personal can be lost. Also, in “Social Security and ID theft”, by Felipe Sorrells, states how social security numbers and personal identities can be stolen and how the government is trying to stop that theft. They both intertwine with technology and privacy though Price's article has a broad overview of that, while Sorrells's focus is mainly on social security number and identity thief part. Price and Sorrells shows that companies are taking too much advantage from the customer, the government, even though their trying, needs to start helping the people protect their privacy, and a balance between the amount of trust people should have giving out their sensitive records to which information is protected.
Lynn said that “ over the past few years, all manner of data has been stolen, some of it mundane, some of it concerning our most sensitive systems, including aircraft avionics, surveillance technologies, satellite communications, and network security protocols.” He also acknowledged that the Defense Department lost 24,000 files in cyber attacks by foreign intruders in March 2011.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Target had a catastrophic security breach in December that involved 40 million credit cards, CVV numbers, and customer information (Greenberg, 2013A). Several weeks later the number of stolen credit cards rose to 70 million and now personal information was stolen (Greenberg, 2014B). The story is unfolding as the forensics team starts to piece parts together; unfortunately, they found a larger security breach than what was reported. Last week, the number of credit cards increased to an estimated 110 million (Popken, 2014). Forensics takes a long time to analyze and the timeline could be weeks or it could be months to know the exact details of what happened. I know this is supposed to be a fact based report, but not a lot of information has been disclosed to the public except for the quantity of credit cards, the type of information, and the main cause. The main cause is what we want to focus on, so let’s go into the specifics.
There are several ways that identity theft thieves gain access to your personal information. Lost wallets, purses, stolen or lost mail used to be the main source of such private information. Mail, which sometime, includes bank statements, pre-approved credit cards, and tax papers are a source of a large amount of data. In recent years, many have been known to steal reco...
Nowadays, hacking systems which get the data from payment card in retail stores is a popular issue. The use of stolen third-party vendor credentials and RAM scraping malwares were the main reasons for the data breach. A brief introduction of when and how the Home Depot’s data breach took place and how the home depot reacted to the issue and rectified it by
[15] T. J. Klevinsky, Scott Laliberte, and Ajay Gupta. (2002). Hack I.T.: Security Through Penetration Testing. Addison-Wesley Professional.
This includes but is not limited to; check forgery, inventory theft, cash or check theft, payroll fraud or service theft. Another example of misappropriation of assets is when a company pays for goods or services that were not received or used. Embezzlement is a very common form of misappropriation where companies manipulate their accounts or create false invoices. An example of misappropriation of assets was discovered in 2008 and the victim organization was Fry’s Electronics. The Vice President of Merchandising and Operations, Ausaf Umar Siddiqui had set up a fake company that received illegal kickbacks. Siddiqui embezzled $65.6 million to pay off his gambling debts. Embezzlement of money from a company can understate cash and show a false picture to the creditors and investors. This can lead them to make decisions on misrepresented information. Another example of misappropriation of assets was of a hedge-fund manager, Philip A. Falcone who borrowed $113.2 million from investors from a hedge fund company (Harbinger Capital) and he used that money fraudulently to pay off his personal taxes. Instead of using the investor’s money for the intended purpose, which was to build a wireless phone network, he deceived them by using the money without their knowledge to pay off his taxes. The company had to file for bankruptcy as it had $23 billion in losses and withdrawals and it could not pay back