Re: Fwd: Article Announcement - Demystifying Penetration Testing

From: miguel.dilaj@pharma.novartis.com
Date: Mon Dec 13 2004 - 03:10:36 EST


Hi Jeffrey et all,

I fully agree with what you wrote in the email, but only if that was
agreed in the pen-test contract. It can be that the critical data is not
meant to be covered, even with a NDA.
In general, it should be enough to demonstrate that the pen-tester is able
to reach complete system compromise, because this means that he/she will
be able to get/tamper/delete any information in the system(s) affected.
But there's one important point you haven't mentioned: system misuse.
It can be launching attacks from the compromised systems, storing nasty
images/videos/warez in their webservers, etc. In any case you can
seriously (even legally) harm the victim company.
To do that, the attacker need ONLY system compromise, and he/she doesn't
care about the company's information assets.
Cheers,

Miguel Dilaj (Nekromancer)
Vice-President of IT Security Research, OISSG

PD: kudos to Debasis, excellent paper.

Jeffrey Denton <dentonj@gmail.com>
11/12/2004 09:31
Please respond to Jeffrey Denton

 
        To: Debasis Mohanty <mail@hackingspirits.com>, pen-test@securityfocus.com
        cc: (bcc: Miguel Dilaj/PH/Novartis)
        Subject: Fwd: Article Announcement - Demystifying Penetration Testing

Jeffrey wrote:
>> This presentation is targeted for all security practitioners (i.e.
Security
>> Officers / Sys Admins / Security Auditors / Security Enthusiasts.etc).
This
>> presentation will give a clear picture on how pen testing is done and
what
>> are the expected results. Various screenshots are provided as a proof
of
>> concepts to give a brief picture of possible end-results.
>
>Nice, but it doesn't cover the "So what?" question.
>
{excellent considerations skipped}



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