Question 4. (1 points) Like most cyberattacks, the attack on HBGary Federal did not consist of one single act, but a series of actions linked together. Here's a list of eight actions that were taken by Anonymous during the attack.

A. Anonymous defaces the HBGary Federal website

B. Anonymous deletes backups and research data

C. Anonymous gains administrator access to HBGary's Google App's email system

D. Anonymous gains root access to a Linux computer, support.hbgary.com

E. Anonymous retrieves usernames, email addresses and hashed passwords of administrators for the HBGary Federal webserver

F. Anonymous takes over Aaron Barr's twitter account

G. Anonymous tricks an administrator into giving them root access to the rootkit.com webserver

H. Anonymous is able to use hashed passwords to find plaintext passwords belonging to Aaron Barr and Ted Vera

Some of these events are dependent upon earlier events, for instance, Anonymous could not take over Aaron Barr's twitter account without having already found his plaintext password. The purpose of these next three questions is to identify other dependencies among these events.

a. Among these eight actions, there is one that opened up everything else for anonymous, one action that all of the others were dependent upon. Which action is this, and why?

b. Actions C and G are closely related, and one of them had to have occurred before the other. Which one occurred first, and why?

c. Actions B and D are closely related, and one of them had to have occurred before the other. Which one occurred first, and why?

References:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/02/how-one-security-firm-tracked-anonymousand-paid-a-heavy-price/ (Links to an external site.)

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/02/anonymous-speaks-the-inside-story-of-the-hbgary-hack/ (Links to an external site.)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/221504/8_security_tips_to_learn_from_the_hbgary_hack.html (Links to an external site.)

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/02/the-ridiculous-plan-to-attack-wikileaks

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/aaron-barr-cybersecurity-anonymous-occupy-wall-street_n_1219328.html (Links to an external site.)

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/12/how-aaron-barr-correctly-identified-commander