Yahoo / Reuters - July 12, 2002
AT&T Warns Workers Not to Be Duped by Hackers
A hacker conference held in New York July 12-14, 2002 is making
AT&T pretty worried. In the past, conference-goers have called
AT&T during their presentation and using social engineering
hacking tecniques to get passwords and other information in order
to break into computer systems. They record the conversations and
later sell the videotapes at their conference. Capitalism at its
best!
What is social engineering you ask? It's simply asking the right
person for the information you want, posing as someone who should
have access to it. For example, suppose the Director of Security
from your bank called and told you there had been some unauthorized
activity at the bank and he needed to confirm your account information.
Would you give it to him? A lot of people would, and that's what
makes a hacker's life much easier.
