Using Reconnaissance to Gain Physical Access

Every weekday at 3 p.m. the Federal Express driver stops at the loading dock of a building where the offices of Medical Associates, Inc. are located. When the driver backs the truck up to the rear door of the building, he presses the buzzer and lets the security guard know he is at the door. Because the building’s security personnel recognize the driver—as he comes to the door every day around the same time for pickup and drop-off—they remotely unlock the door and allow the driver to enter. A hacker is watching this process from a car in the parking lot and takes note of the procedure to gain physical entry into the building.

The next day, the hacker carries a large cardboard box toward the door just as the Federal Express driver has been given entry to the building. The driver naturally holds the door for the hacker because he is carrying what appears to be a heavy, large box. They exchange pleasantries and the hacker heads for the elevator up to Medical Associates’ offices. The hacker leaves the box in the hallway of the building as he heads to his target office.

Once he reaches the front desk of the Medical Associates office, he asks to speak with the office manager whose name he previously looked up on the company website. The receptionist leaves her desk to go get the office manager, and the hacker reaches over the desk

and plugs a USB drive containing hacking tools into the back of her computer. Because the computer is not locked with a password, he double-clicks on the USB drive icon and it silently installs the hacking software on the receptionist’s computer. He removes the USB drive and quickly exits the office suite and building undetected.

This is an example of how reconnaissance and understanding the pattern of people’s behavior can enable a hacker to gain physical access to a target—in this case the Medical Associates network via a Trojaned system—and circumvent security checkpoints.

Reconnaissance

The term reconnaissance comes from the military and means to actively seek an enemy’s intentions by collecting and gathering information about an enemy’s composition and capabilities via direct observation, usually by scouts or military intelligence personnel trained in surveillance. In the world of ethical hacking, reconnaissance applies to the process of information gathering. Reconnaissance is a catchall term for watching the hacking target and gathering information about how, when, and where they do things. By identifying patterns of behavior, of people or systems, an enemy could find and exploit a loophole.

What are the method for Information Gathering?

The first step of the hacking process is gathering information

on a target. Information gathering, also known as footprinting,

is the process of gathering all available information

about an organization. In the age of the Internet, information

is available in bits and pieces from many different sources.

Seemingly insignificant bits of information can be enlightening

when pieced together—which is the purpose of information

gathering. Footprinting can be effective in identifying highvalue

targets, which is what hackers will be looking for to

focus their efforts.

A hacker uses information-gathering techniques to determine organizations’ high-value targets, where the most valuable information resides. Not only does information gathering help identify where the information is located, but it also helps determine the best way to gain access to the targets. This information can then be used to identify and eventually hack target systems. Many people jump right into running hacking tools, but information gathering is critical in minimizing the chance of detection and assessing where to spend the most time and effort. Social engineering can also be used to obtain more information about an organization, which can ultimately lead to an attack. Social engineering as an information-gathering tool

is highly effective at exploiting the most vulnerable asset in an organization: the people.

Human interaction and the willingness to give out information make people an excellent source of information. Good social-engineering techniques can speed up the hacking process and in most cases will yield information much more easily.

Reconnaissance

The term reconnaissance comes from the military and means to actively seek an enemy’s intentions by collecting and gathering information about an enemy’s composition and capabilities via direct observation, usually by scouts or military intelligence personnel trained in surveillance. In the world of ethical hacking, reconnaissance applies to the process of information

gathering. Reconnaissance is a catchall term for watching the hacking target and

gathering information about how, when, and where they do things. By identifying patterns of behavior, of people or systems, an enemy could find and exploit a loophole.