M3D2: Social Engineering
Malware
creators have used social engineering to maximize the range or impact
of their viruses, worms, etc. For example, the ILoveYou worm used social
engineering to entice people to open malware-infected e-mail messages.
The ILoveYou worm attacked tens of millions of Windows computers in May
2000 when it was sent as an e-mail attachment with the subject line:
ILOVEYOU. Often out of curiosity, people opened the attachment named
LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs—releasing the worm. Within nine days, the
worm had spread worldwide crippling networks, destroying files, and
causing an estimated $5.5 billion in damages.
Notorious
hacker Kevin Mitnick, who served time in jail for hacking, used social
engineering as his primary method to gain access to computer networks.
In most cases, the criminal never comes face-to-face with the victim,
but communicates via the phone or e-mail.
Research
Kevin Mitnick on the Internet. What was he able to do and how did he do
it? Why did it take such a long time to be caught? How was he caught?
Once you have posted your response into the Message field on the forum, your next step is to peruse the postings of your fellow classmates. See the SBT Discussion Rubric for how you will be evaluated for this activity.
Use
the subject line as an advanced organizer to allow your classmates and
the instructor to have some idea of what you’re posting is about, for
example a subject line “response to discussion question” is not
appropriate. Your responses to fellow students should contain substance,
should be more than just opinion, and must go beyond a simple agreement
or disagreement.
Initial posts should be at least 150 words in length. Reply posts should be at least 50 words in length.
Compose
your work using a word processor and save it, as a Plain Text or an
.rtf, to your computer. When you're ready to make your initial posting,
please click on the “Create Thread” button and copy/paste the text from
your document into the message field. Be sure to check your work and
correct any spelling or grammatical errors before you post it.
Discussions
are worth 20% of the final grade. Review the SBT Discussion Rubric
located in the "Start Here" section of the course for more information
on grading criteria.
Must have references!