William Bailey

One of the topics this week is about Reconnaissance, or learning about the target.  You may be hired to think just like an outsider, someone trying to “hack” their way in.  Remember that some of the “hacking” techniques may not require specific coding.  There are so many methods, that for this week’s question, everyone needs to post a unique method of performing reconnaissance in order to earn full points.  Describe the method of reconnaissance, and if possible, provide an example of a “hack” or other breach that can be tied back to the information learned due to reconnaissance.

I’ll start with an example that you’re likely seeing on television as part of New Jersey Transit’s “See Something, Say Something” campaign.  The commercial promotes security awareness, with several suspicious actors.  One of the scenes shows two people along the road, possibly looking at their potential target, but more specifically, another actor taking pictures, and the scene is shown from the viewpoint where we see that the pictures being taken are those of the CCTV system.  Why?   By taking pictures of the facility, the outsider is learning about the physical security controls of the facility, and can plan the attack to avoid the line of sight from these cameras.