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DefCon Contest Rattles FBI's Nerves
snydeq writes "A DefCon contest that invites contestants to trick employees at 30 US corporations into revealing not-so-sensitive data has rattled nerves at the FBI. Chris Hadnagy, who is organizing the contest, also noted concerns from the financial industry, which fears hackers will target personal information. The contest will run for three days, with participants attempting to unearth data from an undisclosed list of about 30 US companies. The contest will take place in a room in the Riviera hotel in Las Vegas furnished with a soundproof booth and a speaker, so an audience can hear the contestants call companies and try to weasel out what data they can get from unwitting employees."
The group organizing the contest has established a strict set of rules to ensure participants don't violate any laws. Update: 07/31 04:45 GMT by S : PCWorld has coverage of one of the day's more successful attacks.
There are very cool pranks done at HOPE, which was enlightening. Emmanuel Goldstein called to BP and ended up convincing an employee to leave open the office door, and telling him that because it was too late he wouldn't be appearing with the company van. He didn't get any confidential information regarding to the store (surprisingly, some of the employees seemed to be trained and others seemed to be very stupid to understand the questions) but if wanted he could have gone to the gas station with a free pass to the office, from an unmarked unbranded van. That is social engineering.