Security – Page 16

Windows 10 Third Party Password Manager Could Have Security Issue

January 6, 2018 by Joseph Martin

Do you use “Keeper?” If you’re not sure what it is, then you probably don’t. It’s a password manager that Microsoft has been bundling with some of its Windows 10 releases. Either way, there’s a serious flaw in its design that you should be aware of.

Earlier in the year, Tavis Ormandy, a researcher on Google’s Project Zero team, discovered a bug that saw Keeper injecting privileged user information into web pages, exposing all manner of private data unnecessarily to website owners.

The potential damage comes from a user being lured onto a hacker-controlled website, whose owner could siphon up the information (including literally every password stored by Keeper) and resell it, or use it to launch a highly targeted attack against a specific user or device.

The bug was reported, and a patch was issued. Then, in a later version, Ormandy found the same bug cropping up again. He had this to say about the matter:

“I’ve heard of Keeper, I remember filing a bug a while ago about how they were injecting privileged UI into pages. I checked and, they’re doing the same thing again with this version.

I think I’m being generous considering this a new issue that qualifies for a ninety-day disclosure, as I literally just changed the selectors and the same attack works. Nevertheless, this is a complete compromise of Keeper security, allowing any website to steal any password.”

Craig Lurey, the CTO of Keeper Security, had this to say when informed of the bug:

“This potential vulnerability requires a Keeper user to be lured to a malicious website while logged into the browser extension, and then fakes user input by using a ‘clickjacking’ technique to execute privileged code within the browser extension.”

The two important takeaways here are as follows:

The company reports that so far as anyone can tell, this flaw has not actually been exploited in the wild.

Keeper Security has issued an emergency patch that has disabled the “Add to Existing” feature, which is where the problem code actually resides.

This temporary measure was implemented as a stop-gap until the bug can be properly patched.

Used with permission from Article Aggregator

Joseph Martin

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Researchers Find Malware Targeting Industrial Systems

January 5, 2018 by Joseph Martin

In the malware ecosystem, few strains are more terrifying than those that target industrial control systems. Think Stuxnet, Industroyer and IronGate. Recently, security researchers from FireEye have identified a new threat in this class of malware. Alternately called “Triton” or “TRISIS,” this new code targets Triconex Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) controllers, which are manufactured by Schneider Electric. These control systems are found in a wide range of industrial equipment. They are, in effect, the gears that keep the machine of modern industry moving.

So far, there’s suggestive evidence that at least one state-sponsored attack has been carried out using the new strain of malware, although neither the identity of the target of the attack nor the organization responsible for it have been disclosed. All we know for sure is that the attack was launched against an industrial concern in the Middle East.

The code base of the new threat utilizes the TriStation Protocol, which is a proprietary tool used by Triconex SIS products. There is no public documentation available for the protocol, which suggests that the hackers who developed the malware must have reverse engineered it.

A spokesman for FireEye had this to say about the code in general and the recent attack:

“The attacker gained remote access to an SIS engineering workstation and deployed the Triton attack framework to reprogram the SIS controllers. During the incident, some SIS controllers entered a failed safe state, which automatically shut down the industrial process and prompted the asset owner to initiate an investigation.

The attacker deployed Triton shortly after gaining access to the SIS system, indicating that they had pre-built and tested the tool, which would require access to hardware and software that is not widely available.”

The real danger of software like this is that it can reprogram control systems to ignore when equipment begins operating beyond normal operating parameters, which can lead to physical damage to critical infrastructure.

If deployed against a power station, for instance, it could result in widespread blackouts. If deployed against a nuclear installation, it could send the reactor into a meltdown.

Threats like these are becoming more common by the day, and with hundreds of millions of controllers deployed around the world, it’s just a matter of time before the hackers succeed at hitting close to home.

Joseph Martin

Microsoft Word Gets Update To Disable DDE After Malware Concerns

January 4, 2018 by Joseph Martin

In recent months, Microsoft Word has been getting a fair amount of bad press, thanks to an old-but-still-supported feature called DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange). This is the feature that allows Word to pull data from other MS Office applications. For instance, if you embed a chart into your Word document, each time you open the doc, it will automatically poll the spreadsheet the chart was created from an update it dynamically.

It’s a good feature, but unfortunately, it’s subject to abuse by hackers, who can use it to insert malicious code.

For a long time, Microsoft held the opinion that DDE wasn’t flawed per se, and as such, refused to take any action to try and limit its abuse. The thinking was that the company had already done enough since MS Office is designed to display a warning message before actually opening a file, which gives the user a choice.

Unfortunately, hackers have found ways to game that system as well and get around the warning box, and ultimately, that’s what changed the company’s mind.

Back in October, Microsoft published Security Advisory 4053440, which warned of the potential dangers of DDE and advised users on how to disable the feature in Word, Outlook and Excel. The company has now taken things a step further, disabling the feature inside MS Word in the Office Defense in Depth Update, ADV170021.

In fact, the company now sees the problem as being so severe and pervasive that they took the unusual step of issuing an emergency, out-of-band patch to update Word 2003 and 2007, two versions that Microsoft has officially stopped supporting.

If your employees use MS Office, this most recent patch is of critical importance, so if you’re not getting updates automatically, make sure your team knows to grab and apply this one.

Joseph Martin

DirecTV Genie DVR May Have A Major Vulnerability

January 3, 2018 by Joseph Martin

If you have a Genie DVR system, you should be aware of a major security flaw in the firmware that could allow a hacker to take complete control over the device.

At issue is the equipment offered by AT&T as part of their free DireTV WVB Kit. Researchers of the ZDI initiative and Trend Micro discovered a zero-day vulnerability in one of the core components of the system, Linksys WVBR0-25, which is a Linux-powered wireless video bridge. It is this bridge that allows customers to connect up to eight Genie client boxes connected to television sets in customers’ homes.

Trend Micro researcher Ricky Lawshae took a deep dive into the firmware and was able to get the Linksys WVBR0-25 to divulge a wealth of information from the device’s web server, without requiring any sort of authentication whatsoever. There wasn’t even a login screen, just a wall of easy-to-access text, which included:

Customer WPS PIN

Connected clients

Processes currently running

And more. Lawshae had this to say after completing his investigation:

“It literally took 30 seconds of looking at this device to find and verify an unauthenticated, remote root command injection vulnerability. It was at this point I became pretty frustrated.

The vendors involved here should have some form of secure development to prevent bugs like this from shipping. More than that, we as security practitioners have failed to affect the changes needed in the industry to prevent simple yet impactful bugs from reaching unsuspecting consumers.”

It gets worse, though. When the ZDI Initiative reported this security flaw to the manufacturer, rather than issuing a patch to correct it, they simply ceased all communication. After more than six months of trying, and getting nowhere, ZDI decided to publicize the vulnerability in the hopes that doing so would finally prompt the company to take action.

Until they do, about your only option (aside from simply canceling your service) is to limit the number of devices that can interact with Linksys WVBR0-25 so as to limit your exposure.

Joseph Martin

Adobe, Target & Snapchat. Is Your Company at Risk?

January 1, 2018 by Joseph Martin

It feels as though every time you turn on the news, there’s a story about a company being hacked. If it’s happening to companies like Target and Adobe, then it could certainly happen to your company. That is why security and protection are key for having a successful business.

What can a security breach do to your company?

A major data breach, such as Target’s, can cause significant damage to your company financially. It not only costs you thousands of dollars, but it also ruins your company’s credibility and public image. Customers can no longer trust you with their personal information. Although it may not be your fault directly, there are things that could have been done to better protect your business and its data.

Here are 5 tips to help you protect your company from hackers:

Get a firewall that filters traffic as it goes in and out.
Keep your anti-malware and anti-virus up to date.
Update your software to the latest version.
Set a password for your Wi-Fi.
Create strong, effective passwords and change them at least every 90 days. (Click here for more information on creating passwords)

How can we help?

According to an article on CNBC.com, for the upmost protection, you should go one step further and call in outside help. This is where Carolina IT Group can assist you. Instead of waiting until you are hacked, we take a more proactive approach. From monitoring your system around the clock to setting up the best and most efficient IT system, Carolina IT Group helps prevent and protect you from security breaches, spam, viruses, and other threats. If you want a free, no strings attached demo, get with us. Fill out the form below.

photo credit: Stian Eikeland via photopin cc

Joseph Martin

Data On 123 Million US Households Leaked Online

December 31, 2017 by Joseph Martin

Security researchers at UpGuard recently made a terrifying discovery in finding an unprotected Amazon S3 server containing several databases belonging to a data analytics provider called Alteryx.

While the server contained a variety of databases, the two that are of biggest concern belonged to Alteryx’s business partners, Experian and the US Census Bureau.

Of these, far and away the most damaging database was the one belonging to Experian. As a credit reporting agency, Experian has access to just about everything that relates to your personal finances. In addition to your address, they’ve got details on how many credit cards you have, what your average balances on each one are, what your credit limit is, the state of your mortgage and more. All of that information was sitting on a completely unprotected server that literally anyone could access.

The scope and scale of the database are almost beyond comprehension, containing more than 3.5 billion financial details of more than 123 US households. That’s almost every household in the country.

It’s not much of a silver lining, but the database did not contain any names. Having said that, since address information was present, linking an address with the name of the current occupant is a trivial task for any hacker.

At this point, it’s unclear if anyone other than the UpGuard researchers downloaded the databases, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. The simple fact that so much information on so many American households was left unguarded means that virtually every person in the country is now at risk of identity theft.

At the root, this is a problem of standards. Contractors like Alteryx simply do not adhere to the same security standards as the company or agency charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the data in the first place (Experian and the US Census Bureau, in this case). Given that, it was only a matter of time before a mishap of this scale occurred.

At this point, there’s really nothing you can do but be mindful that your personal information may have been compromised, and stay vigilant.

Joseph Martin

USB Drives Could Be Huge Factor In Data Loss, Theft

December 30, 2017 by Joseph Martin

Most people agree that the use of USB drives increases efficiency and boosts productivity, which goes a long way toward explaining their popularity, but these handy little drives can also be problematic.

According to a recently published survey by Apricorn, 87 percent of employees surveyed report that they have lost or had a USB drive stolen and failed to notify their employer. Worse, 80 percent of employees surveyed reported using non-encrypted USB drives that they’ve often acquired for free at trade shows or conferences.

The fact that these drives are unencrypted is bad enough, but there’s another, even more, frightening dimension to the problem. Such drives could be pre-loaded with malware, which could easily make it onto your company’s network the moment they’re connected to any office machine.

Apricorn had this to say about the results of the survey:

“With the ever-increasing amount of data breaches and compromises, companies need to carefully monitor what data is being created in their organizations, and what is leaving.

A government, healthcare, finance, and education industries have access to copious amounts of sensitive information and most of these industries are using USBs without advanced permission. Not only are these companies leaving themselves vulnerable, they are placing their customers’ and employees’ data at risk.”

Although the company notes that there is an awareness of the damage that lost or compromised data can cause, not much is being done about preventing that loss, at least where the use of USB drives is concerned. According to the survey, fully half of the respondents indicated that they didn’t need to seek permission to use a USB drive to copy or transport potentially sensitive information.

Does your company have a robust set of policies in place to control the use of USB drives? Are all the USBs used by your employees encrypted and secure? Do you have a policy in place regarding proper reporting procedures should a USB drive go missing? Important questions, all.

Joseph Martin

Popular Android Keyboard App Collected Private Information, Has Been Breached

December 29, 2017 by Joseph Martin

How many apps do you have on your smartphone? Do you know how much data they’re collecting about you?

Most people have scores of apps installed (and often hundreds), even if they only use a few on a regular basis, and shockingly, most users have no idea just how much information those apps are collecting about them.

However much you imagine, the answer is probably “more.”

This point was driven home painfully, courtesy of a recent discovery by a team of researchers at the Kromtech Security Center. They found a completely insecure database online, a staggering 577GB in size, owned by an Israeli-based startup called AI.type, makers of a virtual keyboard app bearing the same name.

The information it contained is simply mind-boggling.

Not only does it contain personal information on 31 million of the app’s 40 million users, but the database contents reveal just how intrusive AI.type actually is. The data includes:

Each user’s full name, email address and phone number

What OS version the user is using (AI.type is only available to Android users)

Each user’s nation of residence, mobile network name and what languages each user has enabled

IP and GPS location data

All information included with each user’s social media profiles, including birthdays, photos, posts, etc.

Each user’s device name, the make, and model of their smartphone and screen resolution

As If that wasn’t enough, the research team also discovered that each user’s contact list had been scraped (including names, email addresses, and phone numbers), and that the company was tracking a whole range of internet behaviors, including Google search queries, number of messages sent per day, the average length of those messages and more.

Obviously, there’s no reason that a simple keyboard app needs this level of information on its users. The only possible explanation is that it’s being collected for resale. If you use the app, be aware that the company knows almost everything about you and everyone you’ve been in contact with on your phone, and now, so do a lot of other people who don’t have your best interests at heart.

Joseph Martin

Large Number Of HP Models May Have Keyloggers

December 28, 2017 by Joseph Martin

HP is in the news again. If you missed the initial story, earlier in the year, it was reported that an audio driver that came pre-installed on a number of HP laptops contained keylogging code that stored every keystroke made by the person using the machine to a human-readable file. Once discovered, HP issued a patch that removed the keylogging function and deleted the data file.

Now, an independent security researcher going by the name “ZwClose” has discovered more built-in keyloggers in 460 HP Notebook models and counting.

At issue is the SynTP.sys file, which is an integral part of the Synaptics Touchpad driver that ships with a great many HP Notebooks. Although the keylogger is disabled by default, a hacker could enable it using open source tools, simply by changing a registry value.

After HP was notified, the company released a security advisory, which included the following:

“A potential security vulnerability has been identified with certain versions of Synaptics touchpad drivers that impact all Synaptics OEM partners. A party would need administrative privileges in order to take advantage of the vulnerability. Neither Synaptics nor HP has access to customer data as a result of this issue.”

Since the release of the security advisory, HP has issued a driver update that removes the code for all affected models, so from a business and security standpoint, there’s nothing to be done here.

In an era where privacy on the internet is under increasingly intense assault, however, it’s worth noting that this is the second time an issue like this has been tied to HP equipment, and that’s concerning. Privacy matters, and if you’re concerned about it, then two such issues might be enough to make you start looking at some other vendor when it comes time to start replacing or upgrading your equipment.

Joseph Martin

New Facebook Messenger App For Kids Raises Privacy Questions

December 27, 2017 by Joseph Martin

On the surface, the new Facebook For Kids messenger app looks like a solid win that should put the minds of parents all over the world at ease.

The company conducted extensive interviews and assembled a Blue-Ribbon panel of experts to help them craft the new tool, aimed at children ages 6-12. The app itself is user-friendly and filled with bright, cheerful primary colors that appeal to kids, but there are problems, or, at the very least, valid concerns.

For one thing, Facebook has made no mention of how it plans to monetize its new app, other than to say that it won’t contain any advertising. It’s not difficult to imagine some possibilities, however, and none of them good.

For another, the company essentially used scare tactics to get parents to sign their kids up for the service, saying essentially that kids are going to chat online anyway, and if they don’t use Facebook’s new offering, they are at greater risk of talking to a child predator.

Then, there’s the issue that Facebook requires the child’s full name, and behind the scenes, the app is busily mapping out the child’s social network – who his parents are, the friends of both the children and their parents and so on.

According to the company, it has no plans to turn children’s accounts into full-fledged Facebook profiles, but given the amount of data being collected, it’s not hard to imagine them offering a one-click export function that would turn these accounts into regular Facebook accounts on the day the child turns 13.

What’s most disheartening of all is the fact that the company could have chosen another, far less intrusive route. Rather than requiring the child’s full name and the establishment of a familial relationship, the app could have been nested directly under the parent’s account, with a nickname or even a colorful symbol used to denote the child. This approach would have been far fewer data intensive and far less intrusive.

How well the new app will be received remains to be seen, much like the long-term consequences of its launch.

Joseph Martin

Windows 10 Third Party Password Manager Could Have Security Issue

Researchers Find Malware Targeting Industrial Systems

Microsoft Word Gets Update To Disable DDE After Malware Concerns

DirecTV Genie DVR May Have A Major Vulnerability

Adobe, Target & Snapchat. Is Your Company at Risk?

Data On 123 Million US Households Leaked Online

USB Drives Could Be Huge Factor In Data Loss, Theft

Popular Android Keyboard App Collected Private Information, Has Been Breached

Large Number Of HP Models May Have Keyloggers

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