Chapter Four

Computers as Targets –
Hacking and Beyond

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Computer as Targets
 Hardware
 Software
 Information

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Hardware

 Theft and sale of computer

components
– Black market sale of integrated
circuits, processing chips, memory
cards, etc. is increasing
– CPUs, monitors, scanners, printers,
etc. are not as easy to conceal, and thus,
are decreasing.
– Increasingly global
– Hard to prevent and nearly
impossible to trace
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Markets for Stolen Components
 Black Market Dealers -
– Most organized
– Like full service
restaurants
 Grey Market Dealers
– Specialize in made-to-
order computers
– Claim innocence

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Examples
 Both are increasing in prevalence and both
are now involved in counterfeit software and
hardware.
– SoftBank
(www.cybercrime.gov/williams_wilson.htm)
– IBM

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 Software Piracy - Warez
 Warez - commercial programs that are
made available to the public illegally
– readily available on the Web – usually created
and maintained by highly sophisticated, well
educated administrators
– David LaMacchia and Cynosure and
Cynosure II

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Software – Organized Efforts
 Organized units
– 2001 – FBI seize over $10 million worth of
counterfeit software
– extremely sophisticated – even included disks with
replicas of Microsoft’s new hologram technology
– increasingly common – due to the high costs
associated with obtaining licensed copies (Office
2000 - $600)

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Counterfeit games & software

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Software – Individual Piracy
 The unauthorized copying of software is
much more costly and more pervasive
– exponentially increased after the introduction
of CD-RWs
 Major problem – lack of knowledge
regarding licensing requirements

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Strategies to Combat Piracy
 Newest strategy - Shareware –
acknowledges the futility of trying to stop
people from copying software and instead
relies on people’s honesty
 Publishers actually encourage users to give
copies of programs to friends and
colleagues but ask everyone who uses a
program regularly to pay a registration fee
to the program’s author directly.

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 Hacking and/or theft of
information
 Computer may be the intended target of a
criminal or may actually represent the
instrumentality of the crime. Hacking
activities may fall into either category.

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Traditional Hacking Profiles
 Young, socially challenged males
 Started with role playing games, like D&D
 Originally started as phreakers
 Anti-establishment
ideology

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 Hacker Ethos
  Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of
curiosity. My crime is that of judging
people by what they say and think, not
what they look like. My crime is that of
outsmarting you, something that you will
never forgive me for. (The Mentor,
Phrack, v1 i7, phile 3, as quoted in
Sterling, 1994)

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Contemporary Hackers
 Contemporary hackers –
– have lost much of the ideological
superstructure
– many are now criminally motivated
– more females have emerged
– more unskilled hackers due to the proliferation
of private hacking toolkits and software
(NetBus, Back Orifice, Deep Throat)

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Contemporary Definitions
 While traditional definitions included
assumptions of motivation and skill,
contemporary definitions have been
altered to include any individual who
intentionally accesses a computer without
or in excess of authorization irrespective
of knowledge or stimulus.

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Continuum of Motivation
 Boredom
 Intellectual Challenge
 Economic
 Insiders
 Sexual gratification
 Political

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 Economic and Political
Motivations
1.       not as prevalent
2.       investigated at higher rate
3.       personal or political gain

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A Sampling of Hacker Sites
 06-11-91 Hacking Bank America BANKAMER.ZIP
06-11-91 Hacking Citibank CITIBANK.ZIP
06-11-91 How to Hack HACK.ZIP
06-11-91 Basics of Hacking HACKBAS.ZIP
06-11-91 Hackers Dictionary HACKDICT.ZIP
06-11-91 Hackers Handbook HANDHAND.ZIP 
06-11-91 Anarchy Files ANARCH.ZIP
06-11-91 Anarchist Book ANARCHST.ZIP
06-11-91 How To Make Bombs BOMB.ZIP
06-11-91 Chlorine Bomb CHLORINE.ZIP
06-11-91 Anarchy Cook Book COOKBOOK.ZIP
06-11-91 Destroy Stuff DESTROY.ZIP
06-11-91 How to Pick Locks LOCK.ZIP
06-11-91 Pipe Bomb PIPEBOMB.ZIP
06-11-91 Revenge Tactics REVENGE.ZIP

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 Extortion and Blackmail
 Extortion and Blackmail - cash for action
or inaction
– “Maxus”
– Western Union

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 Computer Contaminants
Destruction of Data
 Motivations vary but techniques are the same:
– Viruses and Worms
– DOS attacks
– Trojans

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Eco-terrorism via computer
 Corporate warefare – not unique or new
– traditional methods employed included
attacks on physical structures or tangible
objects
– Intangibility of cyberspace has exponentially
increased the potential impact (mail bombs
are limited, but e-mail bombs are not!)
– DOS attacks – attempt to disable a large
system without necessarily gaining access to
it

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 DOS Attacks
 mail bombing – jamming a system’s server with
voluminous e-mail
 other methods: manipulation of phone switches or
the more sophisticated method of low level data
transmission
 attacks have included: www.amazon.com,
www.ebay.com, www.yahoo.com
 Fortunately, few have been political in nature – thus,
national infrastructures have remained relatively
unscathed
 However, they do pose a threat to national security.
Imagine the chaos that would result if all of the
electric utilities up and down the Eastern seaboard
were shut down as a result.

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 Viruses
 Viruses range in destruction from mere
inconvenience to mass destruction.
– Anna Kournikova virus – simply scrambled text
within MS Word Documents
– Chernobyl virus – attacked the hard disk by
erasing a portion of the hard disk that makes it
impossible to access the disk, even if booting
from a floppy
– Others may attack the FAT of the first partition,
making it impossible for the disk to assemble
data logically.

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Computer Giants Victimized
 Both Apple and IBM have been
victimized
– IBM’s e-mail system was
compromised on five continents
– Apple Computer reported that
intruders may have reverse
engineered the secret code for its
operating system, while a virus
released in its electronic mail
system caused organizational chaos
by erasing all company voice-mail.

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 Contemporary Environment
 May be unskilled and use canned virus software, like
the VBS Worm Generator
 Federal and state legislatures have developed a variety
of laws to punish those responsible for computer
contaminates.
 Not the case in foreign countries

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 Data Piracy – Industrial
Espionage and Terrorism
 May be committed by insiders (e.g., Gillette
example) or criminal outsiders, industry
competitors, or government entities
– Gillette
– French Government

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 Theft of Information – Electronic
Espionage
 Cold War ended caution of U.S., but not others
– Telrad and Nortel
 2000 – FBI estimate - 120 foreign governments were
actively working intelligence operations currently
targeting the U.S.

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Theft of Information – Physical Means
 Laptops have created significant problems,
including a new black market.
– London
– U.S.
– Others
– Airport
 Solutions – greater education and awareness
for employees. All of these are attributed to
carelessness!

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Terrorism and Data Manipulation

 Traditionally, terrorism was directed at physical

or human targets.
 Currently, changing their method of operation –
using technology to enhance communication,
elicit funding, spread propaganda, formulate
strategies, and terrorize their intended target
– Ramzi Yousef –stored detailed plans to destroy U.S.
airliners on encrypted files on his laptop computer
long before 9/11

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Cyberterrorism
 a deliberate, politically or religiously motivated
attack against data compilations, computer
programs, and/or information systems which is
intended to disrupt and/or deny service or acquire
information which disrupts the social, physical, or
political infrastructure of a target.
– May be employed to target a nation’s infrastructure or
critical databanks. (i.e., ConnEdison or CDC)
 Think of the blackout in the Northeast in the summer of 2003.
 Think of the cases in Britain and Italy where viruses wiped out
vital information from lengthy hematology studies and one year’s
worth of AIDS research.

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Cyberterrorism
 Organized groups are starting to emerge.
 “Internet Black Tigers”
 Pose significant danger

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Hacking 101 – How They Do It
 Single greatest threat – careless or uninformed
employees despite precautions taken by
employers
– Social engineering
– Shouldering surfing
– Role playing
– Background inquiries
– Dumpster diving
– More sophisticated approaches

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 Conclusions
 Five contributing facts to computer intrusions
– Computers act as the technical equivalent of storage
warehouses
– Increasing connectivity and interdependence of
government and poorly regulated public infrastructures
– The decline of necessary technical expertise
– Increasing number of threat groups with sophisticated
methodologies and advanced technology
– Government apathy and disregard for protecting digital
systems

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