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Adrian Lamo — Part 3
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ouunt | AboutUs | Advert
J By Agozunt Ato
ERIMETER
| WATCH
sitive
(ay orate
é:
Bugtraq | Mailing Lists | Library
& NEWS a
New York Times Internal Network
Hacked
How open proxies and default passwords led to Adrian Lamo padding his
tolodex with information on 3,000 op-ed writers, from William F. Buckley
dr. to Jimmy Carter,
By Kevin Poulsen
Feb 26 1980 4:15PM PT
Security holes in the New York Times internal network left sensitive databases
exposed to hackers, including a file containing Social Security numbers and
home phone numbers for contributors to the Times op-ed page, SecurityFocus
Online has learned.
In a two-minute scan performed on a whim, twenty-one-year-old hacker and
sometimes-security consultant Adrian Lamo discovered no less than seven
misconfigured proxy servers acting as doorways between the public Internet
and the Times' private intranet, making the latter accessible to anyone capable
of properly configuring their Web browser.
"The very first server | looked at was running an
open proxy," says Lamo. “The server practically
approached me."
Once on the newspaper's network, Lamo
exploited weaknesses in the Times password
policies to broaden his access, eventually
browsing such disparate information as the
names and Social Security numbers of the .
paper's employees, logs of home delivery
customers’ stop and start orders, instructions and computer dia!-ups for
stringers to file stories, lists of contacts used by the Metro and Business desks,
and the "WireWatch" keywords particular reporters had selected for monitoring
wire services.
_—— pone,
Adcian Lamo does most af his hacking
‘aith an ordinary Web brovwier,
But measured by sheer star power, the hack is most notable for Lamo's access
to a database of 3,000 contributors to the Times op-ed page, the august soap
box of the cultural elite and politically powerful.
The roster includes Social Security numbers for former U.N. weapons inspector
Richard Butler, Democratic operative James Carville, ex-NSA chief Bobby
Inman, Nannygate veteran Zoe Baird, former secretary of state James Baker,
Internet policy thinker Larry Lessig, and thespian activist Robert Redford, who
Jast May authored an op-ed on President Bush's environmental policies.
Fniries with home telenhone numbers include | awrence Walsh. William F.
http://online.security focus.com/news/342
-1
-1
NEWS
New York Times
Internal Network
Hacked
Feb 26
Software That
Asks ‘Who Goes
There?’
Feb 26
MP3 Files Not
Always Safe
Feb 25
FAA: Air Traffic
Control Holes
Plugged
Feb 21
{more...]
COMMENTARY
GREENE: MS to
force IT-security
censorship
Nov 02
LEVY: Security
in an Open
Electronic
Society
Oct 21
i.) symantec
LEVY: The Blind
Leading the
Blind
Aug 30
LEVY: Full
Disclosure is a
necessary evil
2127102
. FBI(19-cv-1495)-1614
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