Through my previous articles, many of you probably realize that I emphasize being paranoid. Paranoia is healthy if you’re not insane.

You see, there’s being insane and paranoid, which just means you are actually insane and your paranoia is probably irrational and very unhealthy. Then there’s being paranoid. You’re paranoid because of your activities and the many complex factors involved. Such as things you can slip up on, so many tracks to cover where it is easy to make mistakes. This is healthy paranoia. Without it, you’re caught. You’re hosed.

Take for example the recent case of an ex employee of a Japanese company who accessed and then destroyed company data.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone gets caught doing something like this?

That noob probably logged into the company network from his home connection!

Well, in this case he didn’t. He did what many would do who do not have access to any nearby neighbors or reverse proxies. He accessed the network from a McDonald’s. You can substitute McDonald’s for any other business but in this case, the guy apparently liked that red haired clown, Ronald.

You know, I’d like McDonald’s more if it was run by that Pennywise clown. I just think it would be more interesting. I probably wouldn’t eat there but it would make the place much more interesting. Just think of how many McDonald’s you have near you. Then imagine what it would be like if they were all owned by a murderous, shape-shifting, inter-dimensional being who’s favorite form is a red haired clown with teeth, but not just any teeth. Sharp teeth!. Like I said though. I likely would not eat there but I might look in through the windows sometimes.

OK, so he did it from McDonald’s. The trail ends there right? It seems all fine and dandy, but he actually ate at McDonald’s while he did this. He used his credit card to buy himself some chicken nurgas five minutes before the incident happened. So of course, when the feds investigated they gathered the IP that perpetrated the attack and saw it was leased to a McDonald’s. They then went through the purchases that occurred during that time period and saw this purchase made by the ex-employee. Made the connection, so on and so forth.

He messed up real bad. This website and the forums are littered with methods to avoid being identified that the average person might look at and decide they only see the ramblings of a paranoid schizophrenic. Remember that it’s better to have to deal with peoples perceptions than prison.

Some articles and user suggestions include:

1. Using cash and pre-paid credit cards purchased with cash
2. Wear a wig and sunglasses when making purchases
3. Cover identifying marks
4. Spend an extra 20 minutes to enter a location from the opposite of your vehicle you’ve parked many blocks away
5. Leave a location and avoid your vehicle, take a long walk around

There are many things that can be done. These are just a few suggestions I remember reading or writing about on Anti-Forensics.com.

Spend time thinking things through. No matter how paranoid or silly it sounds to spend a lot of extra time tying up lose ends, do it. Otherwise you’ll end up like this fellow.

I’d like to see others suggestions or thoughts on this as well.

Here is a link to the article referenced here in this post on the Wired Blog Threat Level.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/08/hacking-from-mcdonalds/

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