Penetration Testing and Network Defense

If you are able to get inside a company building, you might try impersonating an end user calling the help desk. Begin by finding an unused workstation. When it boots up, it usually provides you with the username of the last person who used it. Next, type some bogus passwords multiple times into the password prompt. This normally locks the account and requires it to be unlocked by a systems administrator.

Call the help desk and act as if you are that user. Tell the IT person that you forgot your password and you have locked your account out of the network. He then unlocks your account and provides you with a new password. Now you can log on to the network as that user. You might be amazed at how often this trick works.