Topic: Killing With Keyboards

Topic: Killing With Keyboards

Please look at the file, “Killing With Keyboards” from the class Course Materials/copied resources (file is 14840keyboard.pps) then answer the following questions:

1. What is at risk here?
2. Identify 5 possible threats, and 5 vulnerabilities in this scenario.
3. Discuss measures that could be taken to reduce the risks.   250 words

   Killing with Keyboards

   Websites, Blogs and Other Sources
   of Program Information and Identity Theft

   Meet Chris

   • Husband, father of two, weekend little league coach

   • He is a talented and dedicated engineer for Bright Company

   In the year 2010
   Chris will kill 238 U.S. Soldiers…

   …because of a decision
   he made tonight

   On rare occasions

   At night Chris will log on to

   engineering community web sites

   and blogs, just to stay current

   with the industry

   “EaglesFan54”

   • Chris works for a defense contractor and has listened to all of the security briefings. He knows to be careful about what he tells anyone.
   • Chris never uses his name and rarely posts anything at all. When he does, he only uses his on-line name.

   09/13/2004 EaglesFan54 I know for a fact that
   WIRENUT207 is dead wrong, but I can’t say how
   I know. You really need to go back and get some
   updated information, but that’s all I can say

   about it.

   05/11/2005 EaglesFan54 Kyle Boldgers new book
   “Beyond Advanced Electronics” is by far the best
   industry book I have read in 10 years. Everyone
   should check it out.

   02/18/2006 EaglesFan54 I don’t agree at all that
   the HLT5807 chip is out of favor. Even the military
   uses it on their major new programs.

   Meet Alice

   • She is 16, and for the last two years her government has been teaching her English

   • Alice has done well, so eight months ago they started to teach her to use a computer and to search the Internet

   • Just like every day, Alice is using Google today. Searching for words and phrases from a list her government gave her.

   Alice’s favorite English word is Google

   • Alice knows if she works hard for five years and creates lots of files for her government, they will move her family to a nicer apartment and maybe even send her to more school.

   Today, Alice found Chris…

   The day started great for Chris

   • The team he leads hit a major program milestone, and each was given an unexpected performance bonus. For Chris it was one step closer to his retirement fishing cabin.

   • Yet another half day spent in a quarterly security update briefing. Chris promised his team he would talk to senior management about not wasting their time on these anymore.

   And then the day went bad

   It did give the team an excuse to get some
   good coffee for a change

   • After the briefing his team walked across the parking lot to the new “American Tea” that was just built. It catered to the large Bright Co. team that worked at their site.

   • While in line Chris complained to one of his team, “Do they really think a person with a Secret clearance needs to be reminded about this stuff? And no one goes ‘dumpster-diving’ any more! These security guys have no clue what they’re talking about.”

   Chris was still angry about the briefing…

   The store offered free Wi-Fi (wireless Internet access),
   six free small “quiet rooms” to make phone calls,
   and a 15% discount to Bright Company employees
   (just show your employee badge at the time of purchase).

   It was a great place to unwind

   Alice’s progress was slow and steady

   • Her group leader often repeats that the searchers need to be very patient. It may take weeks to find something important, but each petal helps you identify the flower it came from.

   Each piece of the puzzle provides
   a new search opportunity…

   EaglesFan54

   09/13/2004 EaglesFan54 I know for a fact that
   WIRENUT207 is dead wrong, but I can’t say I how
   I know. You really need to go back and get some
   updated information, but that’s all I can say

   about it.

   05/11/2005 EaglesFan54 Kyle Boldgers new book
   “Beyond Advanced Electronics” is by far the best industry book
   I have read in 10 years. Everyone should check it out.

   02/18/2006 EaglesFan54 I don’t agree at all that
   the HLT5807 chip is out of favor. Even the military
   uses it on their major new programs.

   “I can’t say how I know”

   “Book suggestion: Beyond

   Advanced Electronics”

   “military” and “major new
   programs”

   Eagles “Beyond Advanced Electronics”

   Alice followed the information
   from one website to another

   • What seemed like unimportant information from one site was the start of the Google search leading to other sites.

   Chris Raddick

   Philadelphia, PA

   “I can’t say how I know…”

   “Book suggestion: Beyond

   Advanced Electronics”

   Even items which are now deleted
   from web sites can still be searchable
   within the Google cache (history)

   Chris Raddick Philadelphia Eagles

   The search results produced even more
   new sources to follow

   Chris Raddick

   Beth Raddick

   Kyle Raddick

   Chris Raddick

   (215) 555-1784 (cell phone?)

   c.raddick@brightcompany.com
   (employer?)

   Kyle Raddick, 16 (son?)

   MySpace (blog) website

   Beth Raddick (wife?)

   (215) 555-3159 (home phone?)

   bethbear@alltheraddicks.com

   alltheraddicks.com (website?)

   Chris Raddick Philadelphia Eagles

   Each new site produces more information

   Web

   Chris’ whole team from Bright celebrated Bright Night with players from the Eagles.
   The company sponsored night….

   www.cableco.com/alltheraddicks.com/brightnight.htm

   The Raddick Family – Bright Night with the Eagles

   Family and club web sites can be used to find new information or confirm data

   The information was all there, on sites Chris had never visited or posted information to

   And eventually Alice was done searching

   It was a great day for Alice

   • Her leader rewarded Alice for completing her 200th file. She was allowed to recommend a family member to join her at school. Soon Alice would have the honor of teaching her thirteen year old sister all she had learned about computers and Google.

   The information about Chris was now available for use as needed…

   In early 2008

   • Alice’s government became aware that a vulnerability exists in technology which may have been integrated into certain U.S. defense projects. To benefit from the information, they needed to know for sure.

   Later that same year, Chris attended an out-of-town engineering conference for defense and related industries.

   • Although held at the unclassified level, conference attendance was very restricted. Every attendee required a government sponsor.
   • The hotel conference center had guards outside the meeting rooms, and conference badges had to be worn when attending sessions.

   Chris sat in the hotel bar

   • He was tired after four days of conference
   • At the other end of the bar Chris noticed a guy wearing an Eagles hat. He had seen him several times around the hotel in the last several days. In the restaurant, lobby and elevators. Chris walked over.

   “Eagles! – In this town?” Chris said.

   “I know, I’m getting grief from everyone,” the man replied.

   “Not from me. I’m actually a diehard ” Chris said.

   “You’re kidding me!” The man introduced himself as Tom.

   “Well that’s definitely worth a beer,” Tom said smiling.

   “Greatly appreciated,” Chris said. “You at the conference?”

   Tom nodded. “First week out of my lab in two years.”

   Chris grinned. “DOD project?” Chris asked, drinking his beer.

   “Sorry, can’t say,” Tom replied. “You know, that always sounds bad no matter how you say it. Nothing personal.”

   Chris smiled “No problem. Really, I totally understand.”

   Tom insisted on buying dinner

   • They talked sports and generally about work, careful not to say too much.
   • Tom bought a second pitcher of beer, reminding Chris that Tom’s company was more than happy to pay his expense account since he traveled so rarely.

   “I was actually hoping to hear if anyone else was thinking of using Clariden’s new Digital Signal Processors,” Tom mentioned casually. “I hate being the first program to use a new chipset.”

   “Don’t worry then,” Chris said, “Army is using them.”

   Tom grinned. “You must be working on that new Army program.”

   “Can’t say,” Chris said smiling, “but you definitely don’t need to worry that your program will be the first military program to use it.”

   Dinner was now over

   • Tom was very pleased that it has gone so smoothly. He had the confirmation he needed, and would even be able to contact Chris again if need be.
   • He had told Chris that he had to leave the conference the next morning to catch an early flight. No risk of having to explain why he was not registered to attend the conference.

   Tom never even had to threaten Chris with the picture in his pocket, designed to show Chris how close Tom’s supporters had come to using Chris’ family as “motivation.”

   2009 was a very good year!

   • Kyle Raddick, Chris and Beth’s oldest son had joined the Army. They were very proud of him. Chris took extra pride in knowing what he contributed to the success of the Army’s new system.

   For Chris and his family…

   For Alice’s government…

   • Alice’s government used the information they had developed from Chris about the system vulnerability to trade with another government, who was very interested in using it against the United States.

   In the year 2010

   Chris will lie in bed and watch the news tonight,
   and worry about the life of his son.

   What will you do the next time all of those
   security warnings seem like they apply
   only to someone else.

   Another 238 U.S. Soldiers were killed.

   Five
   Discussion

   Topics

   The information and scenarios in the preceding
   self-assessment presentation were all true.
   The characters and the vulnerability were
   the only fiction

   “I am no one they care about”

   • That may be true for now, but you never know when one on-line posting will bring YOU to their attention.
   • Chris was just another name in a file until they needed some inside information about his program. It never occurred to him that an intelligence agency would target him for a piece of information, but they did.

   Some things to think about

   • Chris had no idea that just confirming that the Clariden DSP chip was in use would be enough to hurt or kill. But that one small piece of information was the last piece in the puzzle that the enemy was putting together.
   • While Chris thought he was careful, it is difficult to know exactly what an adversary is looking for, and if what you have may be of benefit.

   1

   “I don’t have ANY adversaries!”

   • Feel like all of this “war” and “terrorist” or “adversary” talk is about someone else?
   • Take a quick look at some other groups that use these exact same on-line information gathering techniques.

   Some things to think about

   • Former girlfriends, boyfriends, divorced spouses.
   • Angry neighbors, people you only knew casually.
   • Disgruntled co-workers, employees, temporary workers.
   • Identity thieves. (Try a Google search on your name.)
   • Pedophiles seeking information to convince your children that they should be trusted
   • Anyone else who might want a little information about you, even just to know you better than you want them to.

   2

   “I’m smarter than the enemy”

   • It’s a common feeling. People interviewed often say they know they are smarter than “some guy who is now just sitting in a cave hiding from us.”
   • Chris knew he was smarter than any adversary when he used careful expressions like, “I can’t say how I know.”

   Some things to think about

   • In addition to small radical groups, our adversaries are some of the largest nations in the world, who are willing to spend BILLIONS of dollars to gain an economic advantage. Information theft is a good investment for them, even if they just trade it for something they want.
   • Some of the world’s best intelligence agencies are training young people as experts to go and gather information for them. You are up against the experts!

   3

   “I don’t post on the Internet”

   • Not posting may help you somewhat, but it is just one example of how you can come to the attention of someone with bad intentions.
   • Another source is unencrypted email messages which are either misrouted, intercepted, or gathered by adversaries on discarded or poorly protected backup tapes. Stealing backup tapes is a common occurrence.

   Some things to think about

   • Remember that Chris did not know about all of the information sources that had information about him. He only thought about the sites he dealt with. Most of the others you don’t have control over, but you do have control to encrypt email and post as little “account” information as you can on web sites.

   4

   “What about the Coffee Shop?”

   • The coffee shop was a reminder that while there are good business reasons to target defense contractors, etc., as customers, those methods are also good ways to gather sensitive information.
   • Most front businesses will not be called “Terrorist Coffee” so you need to pay attention to the less obvious.

   Some things to think about

   • Free Internet also provides a way to capture network traffic, including personal email passwords that are often similar to work passwords. Every puzzle piece helps them.
   • Free Quiet Rooms encourage “sensitive” conversations in rooms that may have listening devices.
   • By showing a badge, “bad guys” know any time a facility changes its badge, and when new security like “smart chips” are rolled out. If they have infiltrated a facility, they know to update their fake badges by the next day.

   5

   Don’t feel hopeless

   Increasing your awareness that you really
   are a potential target, remembering that
   being “clever” in a conversation or email
   is very likely to fail, limiting what you can
   on the Internet, and encrypting all email
   and drive storage you are able to –
   Really can make the difference!

   This briefing was developed by Raytheon in conjunction with

   The Boeing company Future Combat Systems Office of the CIO, for Policy and Standards.

   In addition

   We would like to acknowledge the

   National Security Agency’s IOSS
   www.IOSS.gov

   For their leadership and training
   which inspired the idea for this series