Blog – Page 27

Mobile Users Gain Privacy Protection In Supreme Court Ruling

July 7, 2018 by Joseph Martin

There’s some good news from a recent Supreme Court ruling where privacy is concerned, but take it with a grain of salt.

In a recent 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement agencies must obtain a warrant before they can get access to data collected and stored on mobile devices. Of special significance, the court rejected the “third party rule,” which dates back to the 1970’s and asserts that any data collected by third-parties is automatically devoid of Constitutional protection.

The ruling is undeniably good news, and privacy advocates who have been watching the issue closely hail the decision as a victory for individual privacy. However, it should be noted that in the overwhelming majority of cases, “probable cause” is sufficient for most judges to grant a search warrant to law enforcement officials.

The reality is that probable cause is one of those “squishy” words that can mean wildly different things to different people. While it serves as a speed bump to accessing data on mobile devices, it’s a relatively modest one that’s unlikely to prevent many instances of law enforcement getting the information they need during the course of their investigations.

All that to say, it’s a good first step, but this ruling alone isn’t enough. So far, no national government anywhere in the world has been able to craft a set of sensible policies that adequately protect the privacy of individuals on the web. Corporations collect oceans of data on the consuming public, and increasingly, that data is packaged, resold and used for a variety of purposes.

While most of those purposes are fairly harmless and aimed more at marketing than anything else, other purposes border on or are abuses of the public’s trust. There are no easy fixes here, but kudos to the Supreme Court for taking an important first step.

Watch Out For Rise In Microsoft Office Attacks

July 6, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Menlo Security has recently published a new report that will probably dismay you if you’re a business owner.

Microsoft Office has been named as the attack vector of choice for hackers around the world. The most common form of the attack is a malicious Word document or other office document attached to an innocent looking email.

There are, of course, plenty of other ways to take advantage of various security weaknesses in MS Office and Office 365. These include the use of remotely hosted malicious components embedded within documents that deliver zero-day exploits when the document is opened.

The reason MS Office is such a wildly popular choice isn’t because it has an unusual number of security loopholes that can be exploited (although it’s certainly got its share). Rather, it has everything to do with the overwhelming popularity of the office suite. Simply put, lots of people use it on a regular basis, and that means the pool of potential victims is enormous.

As the report explains:

“There is likely to be an increase in attacks via malevolent email attachments using stealthily embedded, remotely hosted malicious components that leverage applications and operating system vulnerabilities, both old and new.

With CVE-2018-8174 and CVE-2018-5002, the attackers leveraged Word as a vector to exploit Adobe Flash Player and Internet Explorer. By using Word as the vector, the attackers were able to exploit a browser, even if it is not the default browser, and exploit Flash, even though Flash is blocked by most enterprises…Microsoft is therefore undoubtedly going to become the platform that attackers leverage most to deliver their zero-day exploits.”

All true, and beyond troubling. If your business uses Microsoft Office or Office 365 (and odds are excellent that it does), continued vigilance is the key.

New SSD Drive Can Hold 8TB of Storage

July 6, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Good news for the business world in general, and the owners of data centers, in particular.

Mass storage is about to get vastly more efficient thanks to Samsung’s recently launched solid state drive, which manages to pack an impressive 8TB of storage into a delightfully small footprint, measuring just 11cm x 3.05cm.

Not only do the new drives deliver twice the storage capacity of the SSDs used in high-end servers and slim line laptops, but it also has an impressive read speed of 3100 MB/s, and write speeds of 2000 MB/s. The read speed of the new drive is five times faster than the speeds you typically get from SATA SSDs, and the write speeds are three times faster.

When hyper-scaled, that means that enterprise server system could perform more than a million IOPS in a 2U rack space, and that translates into a significant ROI for large-scale data centers.

It gets even better. Samsung is planning to release a 512 gigabit version of its 3-bit V-NAND SSD later this year, which will allow significant improvements in processing speeds for big data applications.

What we’re talking about here, ultimately, is storage and processing density. The new SSD is built with 16 512GB NAND package, stacked in sixteen layers of 256 gigabit 3-bit V-NAND chips that were specifically engineered with massive SSDs in mind.

This allows data centers to triple total system density in the same footprint, and allows for a mind-boggling 576 terabytes of storage in 2U rack servers.

This is paradigm shifting and will make cloud-based service providers even more attractive. The most successful of these already have hyper-scale data centers in place, already have a wealth of experience when it comes to handling Very Large Data sets and experience dealing with applications designed to sift through those mountains of data. Enterprise users, rejoice!

Vulnerability In Mac OS Went Unnoticed For Years

July 5, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Researchers at Okta Security have stumbled across something big. Recently, they discovered a flaw in Apple’s OS that would have allowed hackers to completely undermine Apple’s code signing process.

While at first glance that doesn’t sound so bad, the implications are terrifying. In a nutshell, code signing uses cryptographic “signatures” to verify and validate code. If code bears the digital signature, it is considered trusted. If it’s trusted, then it’s given an automatic free pass, straight into the heart of any system.

Unfortunately, this flaw in Apple’s code signing process dates back more than a decade. It was only recently discovered, and purely by chance at that.

An extensive forensic analysis has turned up no evidence suggesting that this exploit was ever used for nefarious purposes, which is the one silver lining in all of this.

Upon discovering the flaw, Okta personnel reached out to Apple and other vendors who could have been impacted by the flaw, including tech giants like Google, Facebook and also smaller players like VirusTotal, Objective Development, Yelp, and Carbon Black.

Apple moved swiftly and has since fixed the issue, so this one can be considered a bullet dodged.

Josh Pitts, an Okta engineer, sums the issue up:

“Different types of tools and products use code signing to implement actionable security; this includes whitelisting, antivirus, incident response and threat hunting products. To undermine a code signing implementation for a major OS would break a core security construct that many depend on for day to day security operations.”

A completely fair assessment. Thankfully (at least in this particular case), although the issue was hiding in plain sight, it does not appear to have been exploited before being fixed. We won’t always be so lucky.

Turn Cortana Off At Lock Screen To Avoid Potential Hack

July 4, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Do you use Cortana? It’s a handy virtual assistant (like Siri) built into Windows 10. Unfortunately, as useful as she is, there’s a problem. Even if you don’t use Cortana yourself, take heed: Microsoft has recently issued a security update based on findings by McAfee researchers.

It turns out that Cortana can be “summoned” from the lock screen of your PC and used to execute attacks by tricking the ever-helpful Cortana into indexing files from a USB drive, then executing them.

To accomplish the attack, the hacker would need physical access to the PC. Once they had that, they could easily execute Powershell scripts to reset your Windows 10 password, which would then give them unfettered access.

The vulnerability takes advantage of two things: First, Cortana “listens” for commands, even while the PC is locked. Then, the OS indexes files constantly so that they’re ready to use at a moment’s notice. Put those two elements together and you have the makings of a disaster.

Microsoft has rushed a patch out the door to address the issue. For now, the company is advising users to simply disable Cortana on the lock screen, so that your PC has to be unlocked in order for her to be active. It’s probably good advice, given that not all companies update their OS as soon as patches are available, and this one is important.

To be safe, even if you don’t use Cortana, go into settings and disable the virtual assistant on the lock screen. Then, when you’re away from your PC, at least that’s one less thing you have to worry about.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first Cortana-related security issue we’ve seen, and it’s not likely to be the last. As useful as the feature is, it does open the door to a number of other (potential) problems. Stay vigilant.

Study Shows People Prefer Alternatives Over Passwords

July 3, 2018 by Joseph Martin

File this one away under “confirming things we already knew.” A recent study conducted jointly by Blink and Trusona confirmed that people just don’t like passwords very much.

Their study tracked the login behavior of 148 participants over a three-week period. Without knowing the true purpose of the study, participants were asked to log into a gift idea generation website at least three times a week.

They were given the option of a “classic” (password-based) login, or an “easy” login option, which utilized alternative forms of authentication.

The results should surprise no one, but here are some of the statistics collected during the course of the experiment:

84 percent of participants utilized the easy login at least once

47 percent of participants utilized the classic login at least once

Those who used the easy login had successful logins 78 percent of the time

Those who used the classic login had successful logins 56 percent of the time

Per Robert Capps, a VP for NuData Security,

“This report shows that consumers are ready to move beyond passwords and usernames to more secure authentication methodologies. Using a multilayered authentication framework that combined behavioral analytics with biometrics allows companies to verify users accurately without adding unnecessary friction and detect any unauthorized activity before it enters the environment.

Multilayered solutions that include these technologies analyze hundreds of data points throughout a session and create an evolving profile of a user across the session. Passive biometrics and behavioral analytics are technologies that can provide this level of monitoring without adding friction to legitimate users, thus creating more convenient experiences for users.”

Clearly, users don’t like passwords. Unfortunately, there’s currently no technology on the market capable of the feats Mr. Capps describes. There are several promising models and products in varying stages of development, but sadly we’re still a ways off from realizing a password-free, hyper-secure login paradigm. That day is no doubt coming though, and not a moment too soon.

New Trick Lets Hackers Bypass Office 365 Email Security

June 29, 2018 by Joseph Martin

What’s old is new again.

Hackers have recently begun re-deploying a decade-old trick called ‘ZeroFont’ to get around Microsoft’s security filters and deliver phishing and spam emails to Office 365 email accounts. The gimmick? Zero-point fonts.

As anyone with even passing familiarity to Office 365 knows, if you’re drafting a document, you can change the font size to suit your tastes and preferences. What few people realize is that you can use html code to set your font to zero-point size.

Of course, such a move has no practical application in everyday usage, because no one could read a zero-point font. Hackers, however, can make cunning use of it, and Office 365 is unable to detect the presence of zero-point fonts. Since they’re not detected, they’re not marked as malicious and sail right through the security filters.

By itself, the zero-point trick is useful, but not inherently deadly. Unfortunately, it can be combined with other tricks like Punycode, Unicode, or Hexidecimal code to insert malicious commands into what appears to be a totally innocent email.

It gets better (or worse, depending on your point of view). Just last month, researchers at a company called Avanan discovered that it was possible to use the HTML tag in an email or Office 365 document, point it at a malicious site, and the security filters would blithely ignore it.

Again, it should be noted that these tricks aren’t new. They’ve been around for years, fell out of favor in preference for newer techniques, and now are being recycled. Apparently, they’re so old that they skate right past modern security flags and filters.

Expect updates soon to catch these types of things, but in the short run, just be aware these types of attacks are not only possible, but trivial to execute.

Majority Of Web Apps Found To Have Security Vulnerabilities

June 29, 2018 by Joseph Martin

How many web apps do you have on your phone? Probably a ton. Here’s something you likely didn’t know. Based on the latest research from Positive Technologies, nearly half of them (48 percent) are vulnerable to unauthorized access.

As bad as that is, it’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Here are some additional disturbing stats from their report :

44 percent of the apps with vulnerabilities place the user’s personal data at risk

70 percent are prone to leak critical information stored on the device

96 percent of them contain flaws that would allow any malicious actor to exploit them to launch an attack on the target device

Of those, one in six (17 percent) has a flaw severe enough that it would allow an attacker to assume complete control over the app, and from there, the device itself

The majority of these flaws (some 65 percent) are the result of simple coding errors, with improper configuration of web servers being the most common of these.

There is one bright spot in the otherwise dismal report, though. The percentage of apps with critical vulnerabilities has declined slightly, down from 52 percent last year, and 59 percent the year before. So the numbers, while frustratingly large, are trending in the right direction.

Ed Keary, the CEO of Edgescan had this to say on the topic:

“DevSecOps needs to be embraced such that security is throughout the development pipeline. Application component security management (software components used by developers) is still not commonplace in terms of supporting frameworks and software components and is a common source of vulnerability.”

If your firm designs such applications, pay special attention to this report and review your code base at the earliest opportunity. Even if you don’t, it pays to be mindful of the percentages, because odds are that your employees have several at-risk apps on the devices they’re connecting to your network.

Google Cracking Down On 3rd Party Browser Extension Installs

June 28, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Malicious code can wind up on your PC or phone by any number of roads. Companies do their best to guard the digital passes, but invariably, things get missed and the hackers find a way in. It’s a constant battle, and sadly, one that the good guys are losing.

Recently Google has stepped up its efforts, this time by focusing on Chrome browser extensions installed by third parties. By the end of the year, no extensions will be allowed on Chrome except for those acquired via the Web Store.

James Wagner, Google’s Product Manager for the Extensions Platform, had this to say on the topic:

“We continue to receive large volumes of complaints from users about unwanted extensions causing their Chrome experience to change unexpectedly – and the majority of these complaints are attributed to confusing or deceptive uses of inline installation on websites.”

It’s a thorny problem, but industry experts broadly agree that Google is taking the right approach here. Beginning in September, Google plans to disable the “inline installation” feature for all existing extensions. The user will instead be redirected to the Chrome Web Store where they’ll have the option to install the extension straight from the source.

Then, in December 2018, the company will remove the inline install API from Chrome 71, which should solve the problem decisively.

Of course, hackers being hackers will no doubt find a way around that, but kudos to Google for taking decisive action here. While browser extensions aren’t a major attack vector, it’s troublesome enough that Google’s attention is most welcome.

It should be noted that one of the indirect benefits of Google’s plan is that it further bolsters the importance of user ratings of extensions. They’re highly visible on the Web Store, so anyone who’s considering installing something has a good, “at-a-glance” way of telling whether the extension is good or a scam. That’s information they wouldn’t get had the extension been installed inline.

Again, kudos to Google!

Another Vulnerability Found In Intel CPU’s

June 27, 2018 by Joseph Martin

More bad news for Intel. Yet another security flaw has been identified in the processors the company makes. This one is so newly discovered that the full technical details have yet to be released. Here’s what we know so far, from a recent Intel announcement:

“System software may opt to utilize Lazy FP state restore instead of eager save and restore of the state upon a context switch…Lazy restored states are potentially vulnerable to exploits where one process may infer register values of other process through a speculative execution side channel that infers their value.”

In simpler terms, what this means is that a hacker could use this exploit to gain partial cryptographic keys used by other programs running on the target computer.

While related to the recent Spectre and Meltdown security flaws, this one is different in two ways. First, it’s not quite as severe as the formerly discovered flaws in scope or scale. To make use of this, one would require an incredibly exotic attack that would simply be beyond the capabilities of most hackers.

Also, it should be noted that where Spectre and Meltdown impacted dozens of chipsets dating back more than a decade, the “Lazy FP State Restore” flaw only impacts chips beginning at Sandy Bridge.

The other key difference is that the flaw in this case, does not reside in the hardware. That’s good news for businesses of all shapes and sizes, because it means that when Intel and their hardware vendors have a patch ready, it will be quick and relatively painless to install it.

Unfortunately, since the initial discovery of Spectre and Meltdown, a number of variants of those flaws have emerged, and now this new one. It’s unlikely that this will be the last we’ve seen of these types of issues, so if you’re using Intel equipment, brace yourself. There’s likely more to come.