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How an Exploit in the Computer System of a Small Company Was Used to Gain Access to Two Major Govern

How an Exploit in the Computer System of a Small Company Was Used to Gain Access to Two Major Govern (PDF, 2.63MB)Published: 05 Nov, 2001
Created by
Adrienne Zago-Swart

In this paper, I will describe how an exploit in the computer system of a small company was used to gain access to two major government agencies. First, I will introduce the players in this incident. I will summarize what was reported in a follow-up executive meeting. I will explain the exploit that was used to gain access and control over the small company's computer systems, including a description of the buffer overflows and the RPC protocol. I will describe how an attacker can exploit a system and take over multiple other systems that it connects to. I will describe how the affected parties, mainly the small company, handled the incident. I will describe how the small company changed its whole network and what it implemented to help in future incidents. Lastly, I will talk about what the company learned from this experience.