55: NoirNet

hey it's Jack host of the show and it's
holiday season so let's have some fun
and celebrate the year with a bonus
holiday episode I hope there's much
cheer and joy in your holiday season but
for some of us Security Professionals
there's no break right now hackers like
to strike when people are on vacation or
there's a skeleton crew running things
so to all the Security Professionals who
are staying Vigilant through the holiday
season and keeping an eye on things
thanks
this is a story from an old friend of
ours Tinker secure he's a penetration
tester paid to hack into places to test
their security you might remember him
from an earlier episode called Jeremy
for marketing he's got another story for
us he says a few cuss words in this one
but never in a mean or angry way enjoy
these are true stories from the Dark
Side of the internet
Jack reciter
this is Noir net Diaries
[Music] [Music] foreign
[Music]
it was Sunday night and I was boarding a
red eye to Los Angeles
I'd managed to get my carry-on filled to
the brim with lock picks under the door
tools and badge climbers past the gate
agents they seemed only concerned about
my laptop
after x-raying it they let it pass never
mining the hacking tools on it
it was a week before Christmas and I
should have been home with my boys
decorating the tree and planning on what
exact cookies they were to leave out for
me all right Santa
but here I was boarding another flight
to another god-forsaken place to break
into another building
at least my five-year-old hadn't cried
this time
hadn't thought that this was my leaving
him permanently leaving to start a new
life with a new family in another state
but my ex was in town their mother in
from out of state brought her fiancee
with her the man she left me for
seems he was trying to be a good male
role model for my boys had bought them a
Nintendo switch gave it to him today as
a surprise before Christmas
I had bought them a switch
with the game for each boy that we would
play together
was going to be a gift from Santa
I'd have to find a new gift from Santa
but I couldn't think about that now had
to sort out exactly what I was going to
do when I was going to try to do to
break into my target
I needed a clear head for what lay
before me and my head was swarming with
thoughts of family of Love's lost
new loves found
but plans and machinations could wait
until I arrived on site could wait until
I actually got a look at the Target
for now I settled into my seat poured
myself a Jack and Coke from a tiny
single serving bottle
tried to get some sleep in that cramped
flying tin can
Los Angeles never ceases to amaze me no
matter how often I find myself here I'm
always taken aback by the sheer
magnitude of the sprawl folks stacked
one on top of the other trees jutting
out of the concrete Lanes upon Lanes of
roadway
every inch of horizon taken up
I hailed a ride share and was hustled
into a worn down hybrid my driver was a
Korean man Earnest and awake at that
unnatural hour he took great pains to
ensure that I was comfortable and took
off to my destination
the man takes on a certain amount of
fatalism when weaving in between traffic
at 2 am going 75 miles an hour
my driver laughed and asked me what
brought me into town
business I replied
what do you do
I break into buildings
ever the conversationalists he continued
well what sort of methods do you use to
break into buildings
I replied sincerely oh lock picking's a
classic method nowadays we clone access
badges
often if you smile folks will open the
door for you
we went on for a bit longer making
acquaintances in the customary small
talk after a short bed he put on some
classical music and settled into a long
heroin Drive [Music]
my driver pulled off the freeway and
drove me right up to my hotel he hurried
out of his car popped his trunk pulled
my bags out and propped him in front of
me
I was assured that if I left him a
five-star review he would return the
favor and I assured him I would
the hotel was nothing to speak about
I placed my bags to the side of the bed
didn't bother to unpack I made my way
casually to the restroom and dry heaved
up an empty stomach
the nerves before again never seemed to
ease I just accepted it by this point
and went through the motions
my colleague was already in town already
checked into the hotel already asleep I
was to meet him ready in seven hours I'd
been up 20 hours as it was two jazzed to
sleep easy and too late too early to
take a sleeping pill
I'd have to just lie there and wait
sleep was rough the sounds of La flooded
my room but morning came as it always
does
down in the lobby of the hotel I slammed
down a continental breakfast and
Community Coffee headed back up to my
room for a shit shower and shave
my colleague was late waking up
[Music]
after a bit I heard a knock at the door
a peep through the eyelid and I opened
it showing my colleague into my room
yeah Geeks had a five o'clock beard and
hair combo his day old unshaven beard
met up with a spare top to create an
even appearance all around
he smiled at me he gave me a hug
yeah Geeks was an RFID and wireless Guru
you got shit that flied through the air
he'd snag a ride out and throw it in
your face he figured he might be able to
gain access to the target's Wi-Fi
network in hacked it if he was
successful I wouldn't need to break in
we'd call it a day
he had identified a tall public building
about a mile from our Target site I went
with him and we purchased in a common
area next to a window facing the site
oh the view was spectacular
he had a bag that contained a long yagi
antenna that was plugged into his laptop
he set the bag by the window and angled
it so that the Aggie pointed out he then
shifted a bag an inch to the left looked
at his screen and muttered something
about channels
he typed something into his laptop and
shifted the bag to the left another inch
well yeah Geeks was doing his thing I
sat across from sipping on a coffee I
casually scanned our immediate area the
folks coming and going to see if they
noticed us or suspected anything
no one paid us any mind
[Music]
after a bit he said I can't get to it I
can see the building from here and he
pointed but there's too much between us
and Them
I need to be closer he continued you
need to get right outside the building
I nodded and finished my coffee
[Music]
well if he needed to go on side I might
as well conduct some active
reconnaissance to scope out the place I
went back to the hotel and grabbed my
gear bag a small messenger bag
I waited in the lobby for my associate
check my bag badge cloner set to record
had about a half a foot of range
lock picks laptop under the door tool
long piece of cardboard
my colleague showed up we headed out
came up to this site normal office
building a normal office complex three
stories multiple entrances front rear
inside we sat in an outdoor picnic area
and watched folks as they started to
leave for lunch employee dress appeared
casual jeans long sleeve or light coat
for the weather the sun was out hot for
Christmas but I guess this was la
I saw some badges here and there not
worn consistently some around the neck
some on the Belt I pulled out a fake
white badge and clipped it on my belt it
didn't look like the front of their
badge but it did look like the rear of
their badge
guess my badge was always flipped
saw folks leaving more now from the rear
entrance I glanced at my collar you gave
him a look
surprised not yet I can still hike in
just give me a moment
don't stop I responded I may get caught
and I got up and made for the rear door
a gentleman was just leaving I called
out hey one sec and sped walked up to
hold the door he smiled held the door
and looked at my belt concerned
saw my white badge and looked relieved I
held the door for him as he left now
walked into my sight
only to be met by another door with a
pin pad access panel and a set of stairs
I glanced up and saw a camera so I took
the stairs second floor was the same
third floor was the same I had nothing
I walked back downstairs intending to
leave and try again I didn't want the
cameras catching me loitering
as I approached the door to exit saw
folks returning in from an early lunch
I stayed inside and pulled out my phone
pretending to be on a call three folks
two men and one woman entered the little
area I said a bit loudly into my phone
look I have to get back I'll call you
later and walked behind the small crowd
as they approached the interlocked door
the lead gentleman badged in and held
the door open for the woman the woman
held the door open for her friend and
her friend held the door open for me
I smiled and said thank you and walked
into the secured area of my target site
with that I was in
[Music] now what
the first thing I did was find the
restroom Lilo for a bit calmed my nerves
I needed to find an open desk a
conference room somewhere to plug in my
rogue device
I left a stall and washed my hands
smiled the person next to me I dried my
hands and left
here's hoping I can walk around and not
look suspicious
I left the restroom and began walking
the corridors the wage slaves were
huddled in clusters of open Office half
cubicles different sections had
different colors Finance was green
operations was red I.T was blue I
stopped by a break room and helped
myself to Coffee struck up a
conversation with two employees we
discussed ways to maintain hair now that
our hair was thinning due to old age one
of my compatriots lamented about the
time when she was pregnant had luscious
thick hair
I left the break room with my coffee
walked around and noticed what appeared
to be a larger conference room
floor-to-ceiling glass a fishbowl
everyone faced away from me looking at
displays on the wall the placard said
security operations center
this was their sock
I stared at the back of the heads of the
blue team they sat not three feet away
from me as I looked through the glass
a mischievous grin appeared on my face
their displays held readings on security
events and tickets I saw one for
antivirus one for firewall one for
intrusion detection systems and on and
on
I now knew what I stood against these
were the people that could stop me and
those were the tools that I had to get
around I tried to wipe the grin off my
face as I left them to their task
who walked on
I came up to a cluster of mostly empty
cubes monitors and keyboards waiting to
be used I approached a gentleman sitting
alone and waved at him he glanced up at
me and removed his headphones
I was sorry to bother you you mind if I
Hotel here I need a prep real quick for
a conference presentation I asked no go
ahead he said in motion to an empty desk
I pulled out my laptop and pulled out a
smaller device behind it the Raspberry
Pi was the size of a credit card that
held a full arsenal of hacking tools
pretending to plug my laptop in i
instead situated the r Pi up under the
desk and plugged it in with my laptop I
confirmed connectivity to my Raspberry
Pi and did some light initial scanning
to get a feel for the subnet that my
rogue device was on
I am plugged and shut down my laptop
knowing that anything else I need to do
I can now do remotely from my hotel
through that Raspberry Pi
on my way out I saw the office of the
Chief Information Security Officer I
approached the door
I hesitated should I
leave the door opened I froze the sisa
walked out and passed me brushed up
against my messenger bag I said excuse
me turn my head away and down walked on
down the hallway and out of the office
building
I let the office door close behind me
heard it click locked
I tried to open it up again but couldn't
reached into my bag and pressed the
button the prox mark changed from
sniffing to replaying
I waved my bag by the badge reader by
the door
and heard a click open
[Music]
from here on out I could go back to my
hotel and hack in as far as I needed to
I had my remote way in
but if needed I could always come back
here always badge in always be the CSO
oh and I just touched base with your
Geeks he snagged domain creds from their
WPA2 Enterprise wireless network by
using ephammer
he was in as well
looks like I didn't need to break in
after all
I hailed another ride share the driver
was quiet this time left me time to
think
all the computer protections the
firewalls the the locks the badges
none of it mattered when a simple smile
opened a door
but I like the smiles the holiday cheer
the Christmas season
come to think of it
I look forward to buying my son's a new
Christmas gift [Music]
[Applause]
thank you to tinkersack for this holiday
hacking story you can catch another
story of his on this podcast look for
episode 36 Jeremy from marketing and you
can follow him on Twitter where his name
is at tinkersek who knows you might see
him live tweeting more stories like this
show is made by me the Maltese Raven
Jack recider theme music is by the
hard-boiled brake master cylinder and
even though my way of learning is to
heave a wild and unpredictable monkey
wrench into the Machinery this is Noir
net Diaries foreign
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