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What is a "sophisticated" hack to you?
| Posted by Mike V, 11-25-2011, 09:28 PM | | TV news, web blogs, tech sites and others often use the word sophisticated to describe an attack on a company's servers. Since so many of you are in the field, I wonder what your guidelines are for using that label, if any.
Would something like breaking into a WEP-secured wireless network apply? Or social engineering? Or using a 0-day exploit?
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| Posted by [x10]Corey, 11-25-2011, 11:06 PM | | Sophisticated to me is where the individual does not rely on premade scripts to accomplish the task. Most 'hacks' we see are of the automated kind where some bot or script does all the legwork.
Not to bring up the past but the first thing that comes to my mind is the fsckvps hack a few years back where they took down everything. Multi server hacks are generally a lot harder to accomplish then just compromising a single server as many different credentials are required.
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| Posted by Patrick, 11-26-2011, 09:54 AM | | When I think of sophisticated hacks, the first thing that comes to mind is zero day exploits.
Anyone can install Linux and run a ./hack script but it takes a special kind of person to find security vulnerabilities and the necessary code to make it functional. More so, I'm talking about OS level exploits with buffer overflows, sandbox defeating techniques with of course a hint of low level assembly for the necessary overwrites. (Yes, there have been some high profile security flaws in websites but those are much easier to accomplish and usually not all that sophisticated.)
The second thing I think of is a targeted operation where the attackers go after a specific person or entity for their own personal gain. An attack that took a lot of planning, learning the network, what methods of delivery are available, writing the exploits, surveillance of the network or platform, maybe even a little bit of social engineering to tweak the plan.
Stuxnet comes to mind where the attackers apparently broke into Realtek to steal the keys used for certificates months in advance, that were then used to sign their code to gain access to the Iranian SCADA's. It's almost out of the movies, truly bad ass with clear Government involvement.
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