SECURITY CAN BE USED AGAINST YOU

Addressing a recent seminar hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce and QM Caribbean Ltd at Queen’s Hall entitled "Art of the Steal," Mitnick said the main trick used by computer hackers to infiltrate a company’s business is social engineering.

Once one of the world’s notorious hackers, Mitnick was on the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI’s) most wanted list; he hacked into the North American Defence Command’s (NORAD) computer systems in 1982 (which laid the foundation for the 1983 film War Games),

Mitnick, a security systems consultant, explained that social engineering begins with the hacker gathering intelligence about the target company and persons critical to its operations. Recalling some of his own experiences as a hacker, Mitnick said the Internet was one of the best places where hackers can gather information about companies and their personnel.

He added that once this information is gathered, the hacker then zeroes in on the most vulnerable employees similar to how a lion would hunt the weakest animals in a herd of its targeted prey.

‘You can have the best technology in the world but all it takes is one telephone call to the correct person who will reveal access codes and all that technology is worthless," Mitnick stated.

The former hacker said the best defence which companies could have against fraudsters, hackers and persons who earn a living off of identity theft is to take the offensive and expose their methods to the public.

Mitnick disagreed with the view that this would create a new type of criminal, saying it would protect businesses and individuals.