Work related practices in gray area : teaching steeling methods at schools

السؤال

Salam. First of all thank u for entertaining my question and solve my dilemma I’m having now. Dr. --------- runs a course called “computer security and privacy” at the university of --------------. His course is extremely popular, partly due to the nature of the material that he teaches, and partly because he sets assignments that are unconventional and exciting. This morning, Dr. ------------- walks into the lecture theatre and reveals his most unconventional assignment yet. “Good morning. This week's assignment is simple ; see if you can hack into the University’s IBM mainframe network. In the last few lectures we’ve been discussing password protection and its weaknesses. Now, you'll have the chance to see whether you are able to beat the security of a real computer network. If you succeed in stealing a user’s password, you are to log into their account, print a short document with the user’s name on top, and log off. You are not to add, delete or modify any of the user’s files. Other than that, there are no rules. You may even use social engineering.” Dr. ----------- uses the term “social engineering” to describe the confidence game that hackers play on computer users in order to steal their passwords. It involves the use of intimidation, pretence and outright lying. For example, last week Dr. ----------- demonstrated social engineering in a phone call to another lecturer at the university. In the phone call, Dr.----------- claimed to be the administrator of the university’s computer system and persuaded the lecturer to reveal his password. Mariam and Aisyah are two of the top students in Dr. ----------’s group. Normally, they work on his assignments together, but on this occasion Aisyah decides to work alone. They are sitting side by side in the computer laboratory. “Mariam, I just can't seem to get logged in. I’ve tried and tried, but I get refused access every time. I think that there is something wrong with this terminal”. “Oh, I doubt it. You must be doing something wrong in the log-in procedure. Try it again, but slower.” Aisyah hits the keys once more. Again, she turns to Mariam. “It’s no use, I can’t get in. Mariam, I know that this sounds silly, but could you just log off, switch terminals with me and you try it. Please ?” Mariam and Aisyah switch places. Mariam sees this on the screen : IBM network user name : Mariam enters her user name, “Galen”. The screen now shows : IBM network user name : Galen password : Mariam looks around. Aisyah has turned her back, a common courtesy to avoid seeing another’s password. Mariam enters her password carefully, and receives the following message : access denied on try 1. Disconnected. Reconnect to try again. Mariam thinks that this is curious. She knows that she has two more attempts after reconnecting, and tries again. IBM network user name : > Galen password : > ******** Welcome to the ----------- University IBM network $ “It’s ok, Aisyah”, says Mariam, “It was just a fluke in the system”. A week later, Dr. ------------’s group hand in their assignments. Dr. ---------- is surprised and pleased to hear that Aisyah succeeded in getting another user’s password without their knowledge. Aisyah’s printout shows Mariam’s name at the top. “Mariam, were you aware that your password was compromised ? You didn't give it to Aisyah, did you ? ” “Of course not !” replies Mariam, “But how did she do it ? I’m very careful about the security of my account on the system”. Aisyah explains that she had written a program to steal Mariam’s password, which had been set up before they switched terminals. Dr. --------- reminds the group about the hazards of social engineering and congratulates Aisyah on her achievement. He asks Mariam to explain her password stealing technique, and then explains several other common methods for stealing passwords. A couple of days later, a tutorial in the introduction to programming course is about to start. A student complains that his program files are missing, and he is sure that he didn’t delete them himself. Another student makes a similar complaint. Then another and another... can you please tell me how Islam solves this issue by giving the Ayat from the Qur’an and Hadith. TQ. Jazakumullah khoir. Salam

جواب الفتوى

أنقر هنالمشاهدة هذا المحتوى

تاريخ النشر

2002-05-07

التخصصات الرئيسية

تكنولوجيا المعلومات وعلم الحاسوب
الدراسات الإسلامية

الموضوعات

• الفقه الإسلامي
• التكنولوجيا

عدد الصفحات

2

نوع البيانات

فتاوى

لغة النص

الإنجليزية

رقم السجل

BIM-725178

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• MLA
• AMA