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Democratic National Convention cops just don't get security?

Posted at 2004-07-27 00:36:13 by Declan McCullagh
in Politech category "security"

Below are two posts about wireless security at the Democratic National Convention. Here's a note about how police are using handhelds with (apparently) 802.11 to access law enforcement databases.

From: "John F. McMullen" <observer@westnet.com>
Date: July 26, 2004 2:09:11 PM PDT
To: Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>, Declan McCullagh
<declan@well.com>, Peter Neumann <neumann@csl.sri.com>
Subject: [johnmacsgroup] Cybersecurity: they just don't get it...

FYI
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: wes_morgan@US.IBM.COM
To: johnmacsgroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [johnmacsgroup] Cybersecurity: they just don't get it...

I'm watching CNN's Headline News, and they run a story on security
preparations for this week's Democratic Convention in Boston.  They go
on, at great length, about the extensive network of
cameras--approximately 75 of them, scattered around various Federal
buildings and convention sites--and make it a point to illustrate how
the security force, with their wireless networks and handheld devices,
can grab the feed from any of these cameras at the tap of a stylus.

So, they show one such device - with it's 802.11b card clearly
identifiable - and show another agent viewing a webcam of the Boston
Harbor shoreline - with the URL of the hosting site clearly readable.
When talking about the cameras, they show several different cameras on
different buildings, some of which seem fairly unusual in their
architecture.

I now know that they're using 802.11b, and I know the name at least
one system handling the webcam feeds, and (with a bit of
reconaissance) I can probably determine the position of at least one
camera.

So much for cybersecurity; I can't believe that the Feds even let that
stuff on the air, much less that they did so without obfuscating
critical information.

*sigh*  What were they thinking?

---

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [IP] Cybersecurity: they just don't get it...
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 17:06:32 -0700
From: Ross Stapleton-Gray <amicus@well.com>
To: dave@farber.net, johnmacsgroup@yahoogroups.com
CC: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>, Peter Neumann <neumann@csl.sri.com>
References: <C11581D0-DF5D-11D8-811D-000393D166C6@farber.net>

At 04:44 PM 7/26/2004, wes_morgan@US.IBM.COM wrote:
>I now know that they're using 802.11b, and I know the name at least one
>system handling the webcam feeds, and (with a bit of reconaissance) I can
>probably determine the position of at least one camera.
>
>So much for cybersecurity; I can't believe that the Feds even let that
>stuff on the air, much less that they did so without obfuscating critical
>information.
>
>*sigh*  What were they thinking

I would guess that the single greatest impact of any of this would be in
the public at large thinking, "Ah, they're using modern technology to
monitor things at the convention... looks like they're prepared!"  Given
that this is so much more an era of perceptions than of reality, you could
chalk this (exposure of security systems on CNN) down as "doing their
(primary) job."

And there are a variety of other potential wrinkles.  It could be that this
was entirely scripted, and the intent is to dangle a tempting vulnerability
in hopes of attracting attention... that 802.11b network *is* exposed,
*but* part of a honeynet; that one camera, and others looking like it, are
either dummies, or secondary to the *real* cameras, which are all
hard-wired, and not looking all that much like the ones they highlighted on
CNN...

I suspect, like the pre-selection of all the candidates rendering the
actual purpose of a convention into that of an infomercial, that this layer
of physical security won't really matter all that much.

I'd worry about other things, e.g., "smart target" hacking, where [pick
your terrorist bogeyman] cons one or more of the protesting groups into
becoming martyrs to the cause of socio-economic terrorism, and summons a
"flash mob" of jubilant and radicalized techno-youth to convene on the spot
where they've previously deposited the explosives-laden backpack...

Ross

-----

Ross Stapleton-Gray, Ph.D., CISSP
Stapleton-Gray & Associates, Inc.
http://www.stapleton-gray.com
</pre>

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