Researcher Hijacks LinkedIn Profiles Using Cookie 49
mask.of.sanity writes "A security researcher has demonstrated holes in the way cookies are handled on LinkedIn profiles by hijacking profiles. The session cookies are sent over unsecured HTTP and remain active for up to a year."
Firesheep? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Is there profit in LinkedIn hijacking? (Score:4, Interesting)
But in my adult world, I don't see the attraction to the risk/reward equation of a LinkedIn hijacking.
I can come up with a couple, identify theft scenarios and a couple outright theft scenarios. All basically just social engineering with greater odds of success because of massive inside info.
"Hi HR droid, I'm vinn01, oh you saw my linkedin profile, cool, nice pic, huh? Well I need a copy of the form to add a medical insurance dependent faxed to me.. Uh huh, we named him something really trendy, Illegal Alien, yeah, what could go wrong with that?"
"Hi, travel dept, I'm vinn01 over here in slashdot editing... yes you're right I DO work for Cmdr Taco as his personal valet, uh huh, so I was wondering if you could get me a rental car for that big trip to nowheresville I've been posting about on linkedin. uh huh, well, see, uh, I'm in a big hurry, running late, and I was wondering if you could leave the rental car keys at the new receptionist's desk, I'll pick them up on my way out."
The you wanna really get creepy, you figure 1 in a 1000 "healthy young people" croak per year, and imagine you're unemployed and have all the time in the world... So you get a bunch of company sponsored life insurance beneficiaries for single people changed to your name, since they're single probably no one will even notice, as soon as one croaks in a car accident and you collect your check (described on the form as "domestic partner" I suppose) then buy your private island...
Even just simple theft. Troll until you find a mark who matches your demographics, find the newest coworker IT guy, who probably doesn't know the mark, call around to figure out the mark has the day off, walk into the office, convince the IT guy to loan the mark (actually the crook posing as the mark) a new laptop, wander off with new laptop.
Then too, you can gather info and sell it, even if its psuedo private. If we go back in time, someone at linked in has a new coworker devoted to IPO issues and they were probably hired before the IPO was publicly announced... Notice the Apple employee suddenly has a bunch of new coworkers with certain peculiar experience profiles indicating the near future release of unannounced groundbreaking product, the iLoo, certain to revolutionize plumbing, complete with an app store and a very glossy plunger...
Crooks might be lazy, but at least they're sometimes creative.