TheRegisterCriminal hackers continue to penetrate many more company networks than most administrators care to admit, according to two security experts who offered a list of the most effective exploits used to gain entry.
Topping the list is an attack dubbed super-flexible pivoting. It abuses Linux machines connected to a network's DMZ, or demilitarized zone, to bypass corporate firewalls and access sensitive resources on an internal network. The technique has already been used to steal vast amounts of data, including "millions of credit cards," said Ed Skoudis, a senior security consultant for InGuardians, a security company that frequently responds to major network breaches. "If the bad guy can get control of one of your DMZ machines, he doesn't need to make inbound connections there anymore," Skoudis said during a panel at the RSA security conference. "Instead, he can make outbound connections that effectively give him inbound access on your internal network."
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