My In the News story this week came from the latest episode of Vice on HBO. The episode discusses Russian Hacking, and also exposes how black-hat hackers attack targets. It shows how two white-hat hackers were able to gather information on the host and make a purchase on her credit card. Here is how they did it…
They new what hotel she was checking in at from her blog. They waited in the lobby all day until she came into the hotel. Once she entered the hotel lobby and checked in, they created a fake wifi hot-spot with a common hotel name, like “Hilton Hotel Wifi” using software on their laptop. They waited a few minutes and… bingo! Guest started to join their network. The fake log-in page asked for their name, phone number, and room number. This is the only information they needed.
After they got this simple information, they asked a female friend to call the hotel, claiming to be the host, and add them to the room. The fake Female friend only authenticated with the name, phone number, and room number.
Once they two white-hat hackers were added to the room, they obtained a room key, with her credit card information. They proceeded to use another software application to de-encypt the room key and get her credit card information.
With her credit card information, they purchased a gift from the gift shot for her.
This was all described in the show.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.