Page 30 - Cyber Warnings

Hacking: Cheaper than a Nando's chicken.

by Jonathan Stock, Cyber Security Recruitment Consultant, IntaPeople.

Now don’t get me wrong, hacking can be expensive, individuals or groups can sit in-front of 200
computer screens with all of the latest technology working at the same time. Picture Kevin Smith
in Die Hard 4 or Gene Hackman (no pun intended) in Enemy of the State. But there’s another
side of hacking that I’ve recently read about which I wanted to shed some light on.

Recently a USB device called PoisonTap has been introduced to the hacking market. With a
cost of $5 it allows users to simply plug it into a computer, leave it for 1 minute, remove it and
then the hacker has access to online accounts and routers. Now that’s pretty simple, I’m not a
technical genius but I’m pretty sure even I could do that (not that I plan to or have any need to!)
so if it was to fall into the wrong hands, or be planted into an infrastructure, the consequences
would be quick and painful. There’s also a new DDoS attack called ‘BlackNurse’ which allows
hackers to take down routers and servers from a single laptop. Like with the majority of cyber-
attacks, you need a decent skillset to pull it off, but if you can use a laptop to create DDoS
attacks with that sort of power then all you really need is a laptop (available at most retail
stores!) which is pretty cheap to set up.

Now we go to the big bad dark web or Tor-Network. For those who don’t know about the dark
web, it’s a seedy underworld of pretty much anything you want. Most of it isn’t nice, most of its
quite criminal in nature and would be like looking into Voldemort’s soul. What I didn’t know
about this network, is that you can hire hackers for pretty cheaply and they will target companies
/ individuals on your behalf. Again, another cheap way of hacking.

With the way that the world is changing, more and more cybercriminals are emerging. With this,
you get cheaper versions of hacking and there’s going to be more and more of these type of
threats that emerge over time. Think about how simple it would be to get a bucket load of
PoisonTap devices, and with the lack of cyber security education within some companies,
imagine how easy it would be to get these into a computer. With the USB sticks dropped in a
University campus 48% were plugged into a computer, if this similar result was achieved with
PoisonTap then there would be quite a few companies up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

About The Author

My Name is Jonathan Stock and I am a cybersecurity recruitment consultant
working for IntaPeople. In addition to sourcing candidates for various
cybersecurity companies, I am also a contributor to several cybersecurity online
magazines, a member of the UK Cyber Security Cluster and an event
coordinator.

Jonathan can be reached online at [email protected], @JonathanStock86 and at our
company website http://www.intapeople.com Daniel can be reached online at
([email protected]). For more information on OBXtek, please visit their website at
https://www.obxtek.com/aboutus

30 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2017 Edition
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