DEFCON 19: How Misdirection Can Be Used To Steal Information Without Being Detected

Speaker: Bruce "Grymoire" Barnett

There are many similarities between professional hackers and professional magicians. Magicians are experts in creating deception, and these skills can be applied when penetrating a network. The author, with 30 years experience in both security and magic, will explain the basic principles and theories magicians that use to create illusions. This includes definitions of magic terms such as gaff, gimmick, fake, stooge, feint, sleight, bluff, timing, and different types of misdirection. It will be shown that all of these techniques apply to hacking as well. A scenario is presented where normal hacking techniques would be detected and information theft is prevented. The only solution is to use deception and trickery.