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If defense firms are constantly under attack then maybe a good counter attack would be to embed exploits in documents that would "phone home" when opened outsid

by caruana 12y ago

If defense firms are constantly under attack then maybe a good counter attack would be to embed exploits in documents that would "phone home" when opened outside the firms networks.

tomp 12y ago
I can't imagine hackers being as stupid as to allow scripts run in the documents. Actually, most modern software prevents such "phoning home" AFAIK (e.g. your mail client, Word, Excel, ... all ask you before loading remote images and executing scripts).
- chillacy 12y ago
  Maybe an encrypted document which phones home for the keys? And to force the user to run the script, make it so that the encrypted blob is generated by running the script (and it's painfully obfuscated to prevent reverse engineering)
  - bhouston 12y ago
    Or that no one has local files, it is all served via virtual desktops to client machines.
  - tomp 12y ago
    How about just "an encrypted document"?!? Why would they share the keys?! Anyhow, no competent hacker would do that, and no hacker with a botnet would give themselves away even if they did that.
adventured 12y ago
Keep in mind that would not matter even if you could pull it off. Everyone already knows who the prime thieves of military / defense contractor technology are. Despite knowing that, nothing has ever been done about it. The routine will continue to be to 'fight back' with defense, because of the fear of overly angering China.
opendais 12y ago
They'd open them inside VMs without networking. Try phoning home inside a setup like that setup by a professional hacker. ...ya I don't think you'll phone home either. You have to realize these hackers are people who have to deal with honeypots & law enforcement without getting infected/exposed/whatever. They are going to take some precautions if they are to be successful in the long run.
refurb 12y ago
Unfortunately I can't find it, but if you dig around the CIA FOID documents on their website, you'll find a story about the fake shuttle documents the CIA "allowed" the Soviets to steal. They knew the Soviets were digging around, so they created a honeypot with technical documents that were oh-so slightly changed, but would be non-functional. Too bad I can't find it, it was an interesting read.

by caruana 12y ago

If defense firms are constantly under attack then maybe a good counter attack would be to embed exploits in documents that would "phone home" when opened outside the firms networks.

tomp 12y ago

I can't imagine hackers being as stupid as to allow scripts run in the documents. Actually, most modern software prevents such "phoning home" AFAIK (e.g. your mail client, Word, Excel, ... all ask you before loading remote images and executing scripts).

chillacy 12y ago
Maybe an encrypted document which phones home for the keys? And to force the user to run the script, make it so that the encrypted blob is generated by running the script (and it's painfully obfuscated to prevent reverse engineering)
- bhouston 12y ago
  Or that no one has local files, it is all served via virtual desktops to client machines.
- tomp 12y ago
  How about just "an encrypted document"?!? Why would they share the keys?! Anyhow, no competent hacker would do that, and no hacker with a botnet would give themselves away even if they did that.

adventured 12y ago

Keep in mind that would not matter even if you could pull it off. Everyone already knows who the prime thieves of military / defense contractor technology are. Despite knowing that, nothing has ever been done about it. The routine will continue to be to 'fight back' with defense, because of the fear of overly angering China.

opendais 12y ago

They'd open them inside VMs without networking. Try phoning home inside a setup like that setup by a professional hacker. ...ya I don't think you'll phone home either. You have to realize these hackers are people who have to deal with honeypots & law enforcement without getting infected/exposed/whatever. They are going to take some precautions if they are to be successful in the long run.

refurb 12y ago

Unfortunately I can't find it, but if you dig around the CIA FOID documents on their website, you'll find a story about the fake shuttle documents the CIA "allowed" the Soviets to steal. They knew the Soviets were digging around, so they created a honeypot with technical documents that were oh-so slightly changed, but would be non-functional. Too bad I can't find it, it was an interesting read.