Forwarded From: William Knowles <erehwon@kizmiaz.dis.org>
[TechWeb] (7.6.98) A number of Australian companies that operate
toll-free phone-line connections to their computer networks are
leaving themselves open to security breaches, according to a
new study.
Australian security company Shake Communications used a modem
to dial up every toll-free number it could locate in Australia.
Two percent of the 48,000 numbers called let Shake connect to a
computer system, some of which offered no resistance to intrusion.
Toll-free 1-800 numbers are widely used to encourage customers
to call sales or service personnel. But the numbers are also
used for internal purposes such as interoffice communications,
remote access by staff, and, in some cases, electronic access
for customers. These internal numbers are not generally published.
Shake's modem was able to connect to 1,389 computer systems,
and to get information from 166 of them without breaking the
law. Under Australian law, any attempt to penetrate a computer
system is illegal, so Shake was limited to dialing the phone
number, seeing what was at the other end, then hanging up.
Shake's modem took more than 500 hours to dial all the numbers.
Of the 166 phone numbers connected to computers, 16 of them
had no authentication procedures, two allowed callers to bypass
log-in procedures, and another three gave callers access to
the computer's root directory, usually reserved for system
administrators. Just over one-third of the computers revealed
their operating system and version.
Only four of the systems connected to appeared to have a
sophisticated means of establishing user authentication, said
Shake's technical director, Simon Johnson. "I was astounded at
the lack of security," he said, adding that banking and finance
companies, followed by IT and media, appeared to be the most
lax. "In some cases, we were automatically logged on to their
internal networks," he said.
Shake got the idea for the study from hackers themselves, who
often circulate lists of 1-800 numbers as lines of attack for
company computer systems. The obvious lesson: Don't use 1-800
numbers for internal corporate access, Johnson said. "If you do
-- and I advise not to -- at least have some strong authentication,"
he said.
The study showed how slack some Australian companies can be
about computer security, said Ben Barton, business-development
manager with the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team,
a Queensland computer-security company. But he said Australia
was probably little different in this regard than anywhere else,
especially the United States.
The level of computer security in Australia is unlikely to be
significantly lower than in the United States, said a computer
crime specialist with the Australian Federal Police, who asked
not to be named. He said the size of a company doesn't
necessarily reflect its commitment to security.
"I've seen some very serious [about security] large companies
and some very serious small companies," he said. "I've also
seen the reverse."
-o-
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Received on Tue Jul 7 11:19:14 1998