Re: Odd situation, advice needed on penentration test results

Heya --

Quoth Ido Dubrawsky (Wed, Mar 26, 2003 at 03:19:32PM -0500):
> I would recommend that the your client unplug the power from the

        Also, if they want to capture some of the forensic information that's lost with a power-cycle (running process list, etc), just yank the network connection. If you want to ensure that the Ethernet interface stays up, leave it connected to a hub with no other connections and no uplink. Or just make yourself a loopback plug (connect pin 1 to pin 3, pin 2 to pin 6, crimp and go -- http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/software/nog/nog-interfaces/html/fe-ge-loopback25.html has diagrams) and insert that in place of the network cable.  

        Of course, this still won't save you if the software is checking reachability to a given external site before doing whatever self-destructive thing, or if the momentary drop in connectivity when you switch cables is enough to set it off. But it does keep your compromised system isolated from the rest of the network while you begin your forensic analysis. (Or while your client does -- touching that system after you know it's been compromised by someone else may be opening yourself up to some sort of liability. I am not a lawyer -- but it would make me nervous, unless this sort of situation was accounted for in my contract with the client. If they just signed you on for a pen-test, I'd probably tell the client exactly what I had found and what I had done to find it, and let them make the decisions about what they wanted to do from there.)

Cheers,
Raven

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