Possibly the only *good* example of identity theft



This isn't a security post per se... in fact, it isn't even close. I'm sharing this purely because it still makes me laugh a year after it started. I could labor to make some point about facial recognition or authentication factors but ultimately this is what happens when two security guys prank each other and one of them beats the other hands down.

At some point in the not so distant past, I started a *game* with my good friend Andy where we would set our Facebook profile pictures to one of each other and rename our accounts to match. As you can imagine, this got confusing for everyone who knew us both and hilarity prevailed. After a while I started to 'shop the profile pics to look more like me (above). It was fun for a while, but in the end Andy called time on it and I thought I had won. 


Time passed, and about a year ago to this day, I sat down for dinner with him and around twenty friends after an afternoon touring the bars of Leeds for my birthday. At some point, I left the table to use the bathroom and upon my return almost everyone in the restaurant was sporting a high-res, life-sized cardboard rendition of my features. Everyone was in on it, even the staff and by the time I got back most of the other patrons too. After a few moments, my brain rebooted and I realised what was going on. It was hilarious and it made that birthday the most memorable I can recall. I knew then that he'd won the battle, but what I didn't realise was that he'd probably won the war too.

Some airport that I've never been to...
You see, Andy works in pre-sales. He's one of those really smart guys who also scrubs up well and can "talk shop". That means he has to travel, like many in our industry do. He's maintained that in the first case, he "just happened" to have one of the masks in his bag. He's never offered an explanation for any of the others.

Some conference I didn't speak at...
Some hotel I've never worked in...
Some country I've never visited...
And another...
I think that's basketball, but I can't be sure...
Some bar I've never drunk in...
And they keep coming, and knowing Andy, I suspect they'll never stop. How he convinces strangers in foreign lands to adorn a mask depicting someone else's face and pose for a picture is beyond me. 

Perhaps you'll find something to take away from this, as a real-world example for something (maybe) but, perhaps more likely, a blue print for your own pranks. It's the anniversary this weekend, and who knows, maybe I'll be on Google Earth by this time next year...



Popular posts from this blog

PCI-DSS: Your CDE may be getting bigger

Image
In December, the PCI Security Standards Council released guidance around scoping and network segmentation for card data environment (CDE) assets. In their own words: “Many organizations struggle to understand where PCI DSS controls are required and which systems need to be protected. This document provides guidance to help organizations identify the systems that, at a minimum, need to be included in scope for PCI DSS. Additionally, the document provides guidance on how segmentation can be used to help reduce the number of systems that require PCI DSS controls.” The guidance goes on to visualise a scoping process, considering each category of system in turn: I believe it’s worth highlighting the ‘broadness’ of the “Connected to OR Security Impacting Systems” . These are cases where the: System component is on a different network (or subnet or VLAN), but can connect to or access the CDE (e.g., via internal network connectivity). System component can connect
Read more

Splunk Security Cheat Sheet

Image
Apart from being a source of all too frequent and embarrassing typos, Splunk is a big data platform which allows you to interrogate data and present results is a variety of contexts and visualisations. I've been using it for a little over 12 months, self teaching or Googleing as I go, predominantly to sift through the terabytes of logs from various applications and appliances that get generated in my 9-5 every day.  You can use Splunk to build dashboards which are typically better than the ones that come with the product ( full size )  I've started to pull together all the searches, notes and bits of code into a sort of security cheat sheet which I thought would be a good thing to share as well as providing some real world examples of how you might use Splunk in a security context.  Cheat Sheet I'm actively working back through my notes and adding to this all the time so it might be a good thing to reference via the URL or re-visit from time to time. I'll t
Read more

Developing Leeds Scene

Image
Conscious that it's been some time since I wrote a post so I thought I'd write a little something about the developing Leeds 'scene' since co-founding DC151 and helping (albeit a little) with BSides Leeds.  DC151 (Every 2nd Wednesday) I'd complained for years that Leeds had no regular social gathering for people like us so when Mark C  announced BSides Leeds and everyone looked this way I picked up the phone and start texting. After some hurried planning I agreed a format and charter with Matt  and we committed to a date for the first gathering, October 11th. We gave ourselves around two months to sort everything, including finding a venue.  So far we've now held four gatherings and I couldn't be happier with how it's worked out. We've had to learn as we go and tweak the format along the way.  We've had some great talks and we continue to receive  support and attract interest beyond LS1.  If you're interested in com
Read more