ETHICAL HACKING NET-185-001N Week 6

This week I learned more about penetration testing.  One of the earlier times I heard about penetration testing of networks and not merely individual devices (such as laptops and cell phones) was an article about the Pwn Plug on Ars Technica (https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/03/the-pwn-plug-is-a-little-white-box-that-can-hack-your-network/).  It is a femto-computer or possibly nano-computer in a small white box that can be used to attempt to gain access to networks (or for other purposes where a small headless computer would be useful, such as a low-end web server) and resembles an air freshener, alarm power supply, or other similar device.  It also can be used for diagnosing problems with network connectivity or to run diagnostics (such as looking for systems running outdated software with vulnerabilities) remotely if it is equipped with a cellular modem.  I was reminded of the XKCD cartoon about one type of physical security vulnerability, namely an attack with a cheap wrench on the person known to have the password (https://www.xkcd.com/538/).  It also illustrates the need for plausible deniability (being able to conceal either that the device actually belongs to the user or concealing the true data when decrypted with dummy data, or even both simultaneously).  I also reviewed the fact that someone can intercept data and read it if it is unencrypted and they have physical access to it, or have intercepted it wirelessly.  I also reviewed phishing and voice phishing, the latter of which, along with other junk calls, has proved a major annoyance, since anyone, even untrustworthy people, can operate their own telephone exchange now, and claim to be any number that they want for caller ID.  In the near future, caller ID will be authenticated, since a telephone call being made will report a number used for billing, although there are legitimate reasons why that is not used as the normal callback number, such as when it is desirable to display a callback number for a business, such as for customer service, that is shared by multiple lines and not a specific extension line.

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