DefCon Exposes Lax Security Practices of Corporations

DefCon, the hacking contest held at Los Angeles, on Friday and Saturday, has ended, but not before it gave out an important lesson to  corporates who were a part of it. Set against a backdrop of several high profile data breaches, DefCon solely went on to prove that despite crucial data being leaked and losses worth obscene amounts being triggered, security was still among the weakest points of most companies. 

Not foolproof, yet!

The hackers, who were a part of the contest, too stated that it worried them to see that the efforts they had to take to convince an employee into giving them (the hackers) data was close to nothing. The information, thus revealed by the employees would help any seasoned hacker leak data, and easily at that. Reports also suggest that the employees from Oracle, one of the leading software makers were easily tricked into sending out the maximum data, thereby exposing the loopholes in their security systems. 

One of the contestants who recounted his experience stated that one of the employees of a company willingly agreed to share all details. This, according to Chris Hadnagy, one of the organizers of the DefCon conference was among the 'most scariest' parts. 

The DefCon conference is a gathering organized by hackers themselves, to discuss and subsequently highlight the vulnerabilities of corporations, pertaining to their security, thereby nudging them firmly to fix it. 

Source: Agencies