AT&T Concerned About H2K2

An anonymous submitter forwards this possibly-authentic note about today's H2K2 conference. If you're in the New York area and you love computers and nice hotels, come on down. Anonymous writes "So I get into work, and what do I find in my mailbox? Why, nothing less than a warning cautioning me to be very careful talking to people from July 12 to July 14. (Not me specifically, you understand, it went out all over). Full text follows."

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AT&T Network Fraud Advisory
July 11, 2002
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Possible Hacker Social Engineering Attempts
Friday July 12 - Sunday July
14, 2002
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Caution:
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Be careful about giving information to anyone you don't know and those making unusual information requests by claiming to be an AT&T employee or customer. The H2K2 (Hackers on Planet Earth 2002) Hacker Conference will take place this weekend, Friday, July 12 to Sunday to July 14, 2001, [ed. note: 2001?] in New York City. This conference will be a gathering of over five thousand computer hackers, guest speakers, and computer enthusiasts. http://www.h2k2.net In 1994, 1997 and 2000 at the previous Hope (Hackers on Planet Earth) Conferences, live demonstrations of "social engineering" techniques were performed in front of thousands of hackers and other attendees. The hacker panel dialed live into AT&T offices and centers and demonstrated how to get proprietary information by pretending to be an AT&T employee and customer. These calls were recorded and videotaped by the hackers and are sold as instructional material at future hacker conferences. There is a very high likelihood that AT&T will be a target again this weekend. The social engineering contest is scheduled for Sunday July 14th, at 4 P.M. ET, (1 PM PT). During this period hackers may be dialing into AT&T to get information. AT&T Network Security would like to warn our employees to be on guard this entire weekend for any unknown person calling and claiming to be an AT&T employee to request proprietary information or claiming to be an AT&T customer with unusual requests. Remember, if anyone, who is unknown to you calls for proprietary information or make unusual requests, please follow your procedure by requesting additional information to ensure the person is who they say they are before giving out any information. If the person is claiming to be an AT&T employee, please request name, callback and HRID #. Then verify through POST or the email global address list if the information is correct and even request to call the employee back at their contact number. If the person is claiming to be an AT&T customer verify this by requesting additional info on their account like address and SS# and even request to call the person back at their contact number listed on the account. Please be on guard for any unusual requests. Verify the person is an AT&T employee or a legitimate customer and if they have a need to know the information they are asking. If you can't verify employment or number, don't give out the information. If you are still in doubt regarding the legitimacy of the caller, then speak to a supervisor regarding the situation before proceeding further and inform the caller you will call them back. If you still have questions you can call the Security Hotline 1-800-822-9009. Remember you do not want to be the lucky guest of honor on a telephone call from the hacker conference this weekend with thousands of hackers listening to you and attempting to scam AT&T out of proprietary information. Please be on guard.
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Source: AT&T Network Security
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Comments

So?

[Sc00ter]

Given the type of people that go to H2K2 this seems like a good idea. Just trying to get people that might not have a clue a heads up as to what's going on. Sure, not EVERYBODY at H2K2 does these type of activities, but there will be a large number of Skr1p7 K1dd13z out there that will, and people should be prepaired.

Re:So?

[An IPv6 obsessed guy]

I agree that this is a prudent move. Really, though, don't you think folks should be on guard for this type of thing, say, always?

Re:So?

[Mtgman]

A script kiddie has NOTHING to do with social engineering! Learn a new buzzword.

I disagree. If you read the memo you'd have seen that the point of these seminars is to produce material that, for lack of a better word, can be used to train people to execute social engineering attacks. A HOWTO of sorts. I can easily make the comparison between such a group of published materials and a rootkit. In both cases the "1337" hacker is just following a script.

Luckily, with humans on both sides there is much more chance for a screwup or someone being caught.

So I think the script kiddies analogy is accurate, in both cases it's someone who would not have been able to design these attacks themselves using how-to kits to comprimise systems. In this case they're carbon-based, not silicon-based, but the analogy is sound.

Steven

Hah

[iONiUM]

If you still have questions you can call the Security Hotline 1-800-822-9009.
Can't the hackers who read slashdot (probably most of them) just call this number instead now?

Furthermore, why doesn't Microsoft have a security hotline?

What a great fuss about nothing

[gowen]

I regularly get emails saying "A person has been seen acting suspiciously on campus, and ran away when challenged. There has been a spate of robberies by extra vigilant," and nothing is made about it. It doesn't mean we're not to be vigilant the rest of the time, just a timely and worthwhile heads up.

What makes this different except the criminals involved are 'l33t and say stuff like "Mad propz".

Hah

[acceleriter]

And they thought no one would post that warning which now contains

- the resolution procedures in case of doubt about a callers identity

- the "security hotline" phone number.

Nice going, AT&T.

Re:Ahh, PR security

[jayhawk88]

Maybe it's my age, but I'm not seeing the paragraph that says "After this is all over please return to our policy of giving out whatever information a caller should ask for". It's just heads-up to their service reps.

Wow.

[mindstrm]

Funny thing is, this probably won't help.

I know when we tell everyone about a new virus, and yet another reminder not to run things even if they are from someone you know, some otherwise intelligent people still go out and run it, and when you ask, they say "Well I know you warned me, but MY friends would never do something like that"

So I can see it now "Well I know there was a warning out.. but he SAID it was an emergency"

Re:Ahh, PR security

[CaseyB]

It's a more like telling your guards to be more alert when there's a horde of barbarians camped just outside the city walls. That doesn't imply you expect them to be lax normally.

This is a Dood Thing(tm)

[bigjocker]

That e-mail proves the meeting has acomplished one of its goals. Thanks to H2K2 AT&T is being more careful with the private info.

Isn't that what we all want? At least that's the reason why I support those kind of things.

Re:good thing this was posted by anon

[dh003i]

The posting of this message was not harmful or malicious to AT&T or its security issues. Its only informative; you could say it may even give customers higher confidence. The person who posted it did nothing that would get him/her fired. If he were fired, (s)he'd have valid grounds to sue.

Furthermore, the reactions to this haven't been negative. There's nothing wrong with AT&T taking reasonable measures to insure that private customer information is kept private, and that the general security of their networks is maintained. Indeed, if they did anything else, that would be wrong and irresponsible.

Speaking as a cyber-libertarian, I can say that cyber-libertarian ideals don't include giving crackers free reign to break into confidential or private information. Indeed, if you allow such, you're destroying liberty, because you lose privacy rights. Cyber-liberties -- as Lessig has said -- can be violated not only by the government, but also by corporations, organizations, and other individuals.