Hacking Tool Kits, Available Free Online, Fuel Growing Cyberspace Arms Race
By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
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Lockheed Martin's NexGen Cyber Innovation & Technology Center in Gaithersburg, where workers monitor Internet threats. Courtesy of Eric Schulzinger/Lockheed Martin via Reuters |
Ryan Linn’s hacks into corporate networks have become almost a matter of routine. On one recent morning, he woke up at his home near the Research Triangle in eastern North Carolina and walked down to an extra bedroom that he uses as an office.
He sat at a workbench laden with computers, signed on to one of them and loaded a program called Metasploit. Sipping a Diet Coke, Linn typed out a few commands and casually launched an attack on a network thousands of miles away. A few seconds later, a report came back: The network had been penetrated. How would he like to proceed?
Chalk up another one for Metasploit, an automated tool kit that makes breaking into networks almost as easy for experienced hackers as ordering food off an online menu.
Metasploit and a host of similar tools are becoming as commonplace for many hackers as Firefox and Microsoft Office are for regular computer users.
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Source: The Washington Post