Ranger Ed and Kid Digg, part 6
Ed began by explaining to the board that the breach he discovered was only a breach. He wasn’t even sure if it went deeper than that. He had his suspicions and believed there was something brewing. However, he requested that rather go forward with this public relations message, he would like to keep things quiet for a while. He said “the fact that we know somebody has gotten into your system is alarming, no doubt, but while we know about it, the perpetrator does not know that we are onto him. At least he hasn’t been tipped off. That gives us a distinct advantage in discovering who this is and what they want.”
President Alcomb asked “how can we be sure that you can catch this hi tech bandit before something more serious is stolen?, Our reputation is on the line here.”
“I certainly can’t guarantee you that I can catch this person, but if you tip him off that we are onto him, he will more than likely get away. And he may still use the information he has got now for some dastardly deed,” Ed said. “The other issue is, has this person actually broken a law? It appears he has gathered what he received through an open port, using a public file.”
“Can you give us an idea of what he or she may be up to?” asked president Alcomb.
“Well, it could be a nuisance incident. They may be trying to bring your system down, or post some kind of propaganda notice on your pages.” Ed continued, “but I think it something more than this. If that was the purpose for the breach, I’m thinking that could have pulled that off by now. I think they are trying to access private records for some reason. It looks to me by the data they discovered, the perpetrator is collecting email addresses. Your system uses email address as primary login. They can run a program called crack to try to discover passwords for the users they now have possession of. If they can do that, there is no telling what they can find. Identity theft could be one possibility. Credit card theft would be another. If they try to run crack on your system I will be able to tell that they are doing it, and will trace the activity.”
The board discussed the recommendations Ed shared on the situation. After discussing it among themselves, they decided to contact Ruby Shein, and put a temporary stop on the public notice they asked her to work up.
