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Reporter finds himself on the receiving end of AOL customer service social engineering
Incident Date: May 1998 Incident Location: USA Reporter Jim Hu found out first hand how failures in American Online’s (AOL) customer service department can affect the security of customers. After a May 1998 interview with a hacker allegedly responsible for an attack on the ACLU, Mr. Hu finds that the hacker has broken into his AOL account. He infers that the hacker obtained his password by contacting AOL customer service. Seeking to test the security himself, Mr. Hu calls AOL customer service to find out whether they properly identify him before making account changes. AOL customer service reps do request credit card or checking account verification during his first three calls. However, on the 4th attempt Mr. Hu discovers that the customer service representative doesn’t request personal information. Story Sources Title: How I got hacked on AOL Author: Jim Hu Date: 5/28/1998 Publication: CNET News.com Publication Location: USA Publication URL: http://news.com.com/2100-1023_3-211631.html?tag=rn Do you have additional information to contribute regarding this story? If so, please email siteupdates@passwordresearch.com with the details and source.
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