Sometimes red teams (the bad guys) are hired to test the capabilities of blue teams (the good guys). Some examples of this would be how Quick Reaction Forces (QRF) are pushed into a real-life scenarios to see how they’ll react, Infosec/IT teams are tested under pressure and Intel guys get a dose of deception.
One scenario we often play is the “rogue agent” or “underground criminal,” where part of the plan is to disrupt their listening capabilities.
In this situation, we communicate with someone inside the company or organization being tested and provide a way for their intel and QRF guys to test their skills. Of course we don’t make it easy for them. [Read More…]
Prepaid debit cards are sold as gift cards at many stores and offered by Visa, Mastercard and American Express. These cards are purchasable with cash, which enables them to be used for anonymous, cash-like digital payments.
Once purchased the cards can be used like normal debit or credit cards, but to be used online, they must be registered on a Website. Purchasing goods with these cards doesn’t make much sense, since any physical item will require a real shipping address, but it’s an attractive option for paying for services. One could use an anonymous debit card to purchase VPN and prepaid cell phone services, both of which will contribute to preserving the privacy of your electronic communications. [Read More…]
This is the final article of the Inside Red Team Operations series, which is a walk through the Red Team process of planning, preparing and executing a security vulnerability assessment and penetration test; bad-guys style.
Part 1 examined the elements and techniques necessary for planning the operation while Part 2 showed how information gathered during recon is used to implement the plan. This article uses the previous elements to show how the plan comes together.
Staying safe and protecting your valuables when away from home should always be a priority. Like most people, you might think that your electronically locked hotel door is secure enough to keep out the unwanted. There’s no physical lock to pick and you need a key card to get in, that’s good, right?
Unfortunately, it’s not. There’s a tiny device out there that can open approximately one third of all hotel doors in seconds.
Editor-in-Chief’s note: This post was written by security expert U. Fridman and originally ran on his company blog, Red Teams.
A few years back, a customer asked us to test their newly installed (and very expensive) surveillance and security system. The product promised them an automated system that was so secure they wouldn’t have to place a security guard there.
After some recon we discovered that while the entrance was guarded by a very secure keypad + access card combination lock, the inside had an automated “unlock” sensor so if anyone wanted to come out, the door would unlock from the inside.
Using a high resolution night capable camera, we took photos of the door and lock. After careful review of the pictures we found out that the top and bottom of the doors were not sealed tight against the floor as we could see a tiny bit of light from there. A plan was set in motion.
Later when we arrived, we approached the door carefully and removed a piece of gear from our kit that would, hopefully, allow us to bypass the “very secure” lock: an old credit card.
We slid the old credit card under the door and… nothing.
After a few seconds we agreed that the sensor wasn’t picking the movement, maybe because we were too close to the door and sensors usually “look” a bit farther out.
We retrieved another credit card and we tied it up to a piece of metal string (essentially several springs from a pens click mechanism tied together). We pushed the card under the door again, then carefully we pushed it farther with the metal string. And farther, and farther and… voila! The motion sensor detected movement “from the inside” and unlocked the door.
We were in.
Big, expensive, digital lock defeated by an old credit card and a spring.
My phone started to ring. Was it really who I thought it was? The display said that the connection was secure but I had to be certain. We verbally verified that we were seeing the same two random words (secure authentication string) on our phones.
“skydive amulet”
The green “Secure” text appeared so we knew there was no one listening. This technology isn’t just for spooks. This is a $20 a month service you can sign up for today.
Today we’ll be looking at the 2nd part of our Inside Red Team Operations series, which takes us through the process of planning, preparing and executing a security vulnerability assessment and penetration test; bad-guys style.
In Part 1, we looked at some of the elements and techniques for planning the operation and the recon. In this part, we’ll see how the information gathered during the 1st phase can be used to plan the operation. [Read More…]
It was a few days before I was flying to Colorado for the GORUCK Ascent this year and I was thinking that it would be great to have a device that allowed me to send and receive messages as well as allow someone to track my current location and movement.
A simple search online produced the usual results; SPOT Personal Tracker, DeLorme inReach, etc. But then I stumbled across a device that no one seemed to have seen before. The CerberLink from BriarTek.
Undoubtedly you’ve seen those boxes with a telescope sticking out of the front used on construction sites and by road survey crews, but have you ever wondered what they were? I guess I never gave it much thought and hadn’t pondered using this type of equipment at home or work.
Those weird looking boxes that surveyors are looking through are called Theodolites and are used to measure vertical and horizontal angles. They’re also the instruments responsible for geodetic surveys since the 1800s. They tell you where you are and the location of what you are looking at (by measuring angles and using formulas.) I’ll stop right there and admit my math skills are horrible and I’m not going to pretend to know much about geometry.
This is where the magic of the iPhone jumps in and helps us knuckle-draggers out. The math voodoo is done for you and gives you quick, accurate information that you can now send via SMS message or email to all your co-workers and friends. [Read More…]
In this three part series we’re going to go through what it takes to perform a security vulnerability assessment that would ultimately end in the penetration of the target.
In part 1 we’ll talk about planning the operation, digital & physical recon and some of the kit we might need. In part 2, we’ll analyze the information gathered during the recon, plan and rehearse the operation and perform a dry run. This will test what we’ve learned and polish our plan. In part 3 we’ll execute the operation and plan for contingencies when things don’t go as planned. [Read More…]
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