Re: what to do it illegal activity found during pen-test

From: Robin Wood (dninja@gmail.com)
Date: Sat Jun 10 2006 - 13:56:03 EDT


Hi
The debate seems to have swung back to the view of reporting illegal
findings to police, I'm glad because that is where my personal,
ethical view lies and I think this is what I would do if I did come
across something.

Thanks everyone for their input.

Robin

On 6/9/06, Campbell Murray <campbell@encription.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been following this list closely and have taken some legal advice
> from colleagues within the UK Police forces and UK solicitors on this
> matter. The position seems to be quite clear.
>
> A) If you discover illegal activity you have an obligation to report this to
> the proper authorities immediately regardless of contractual obligation. In
> short your legal obligations supersede any contractual obligations you may
> have with a client or employer.
>
> B) If you choose to report this to your client and let them deal with it you
> are again obliged to make sure that they DO report it.
>
> C) If an offence is not reported and it is later discovered you will find
> yourself liable for a charge of 'aiding and abetting' the original offence.
>
> The over riding theme that I have discovered is that regardless of any
> contracts you have with your employers or clients in this situation YOU have
> a responsibility to report the incident. If you do not you are committing
> an offence yourself.
>
> HTH
>
> Campbell Murray
> Encription limited
> www.encription.co.uk
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Robertson [mailto:compuwar@gmail.com]
> Sent: 08 June 2006 23:22
> To: Robin Wood
> Cc: pen-test@securityfocus.com
> Subject: Re: what to do it illegal activity found during pen-test
>
>
> On 6/2/06, Robin Wood <dninja@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi
> > I was wondering the other day, what should I do if during a pen test I
> > found some illegal activity (internal, not from hackers) on the
> > network being tested. My initial
>
> My contracts generally give me the authority to report illegal activity to
> any relevant authority. For things like child pornography, I stop working
> on whatever the issue is and immediately do a law enforcement notification,
> followed by a formal client notification. For potentially gray-area
> matters, I normally give the client the information in writing- the same
> sort of thing I'd do if I was a company employee who saw something and
> reported it up the chain. If there's likely to be an issue, I make sure I
> have the conversation up-front with the client prior to my starting work.
> Most of my clients appreciate the ethical lines, and most of the folks who
> don't aren't the type I want as clients.
>
> Paul
> --
> fora.compuwar.net
>
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Concerned about Web Application Security?
Why not go with the #1 solution - Cenzic, the only one to win the Analyst's
Choice Award from eWeek. As attacks through web applications continue to rise,
you need to proactively protect your applications from hackers. Cenzic has the
most comprehensive solutions to meet your application security penetration
testing and vulnerability management needs. You have an option to go with a
managed service (Cenzic ClickToSecure) or an enterprise software
(Cenzic Hailstorm). Download FREE whitepaper on how a managed service can
help you: http://www.cenzic.com/news_events/wpappsec.php
And, now for a limited time we can do a FREE audit for you to confirm your
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