Category: Cybersecurity


Apple patches serious security holes in iOS devices

Filed under: 3G, 4G, Apple, Applications, Cybersecurity, Exploit, iOS, iPhone, iPhone Repair, Jailbreak, Repairs, Security, Software, Technology, Telecom, Unlocking, Wireless by Ryan Boese — Leave a comment
May 7, 2012

Apple has shipped a high-priority iOS update to fix multiple security holes affecting the browser used on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices.

The iOS 5.1.1 update fixes four separate vulnerabilities, including one that could be used to take complete control of an affected device.

Here’s the skinny of this batch of updates:

  • A URL spoofing issue existed in Safari. This could be used in a malicious web site to direct the user to a spoofed site that visually appeared to be a legitimate domain. This issue is addressed through improved URL handling. This issue does not affect OS X systems.
  • Multiple security holes in the open-source WebKit rendering engine. These could lead to cross-site scripting attacks from maliciously crafted web sites. These vulnerabilities were used during Google’s Pwnium contest at this year’s CanSecWest conference.
  • A memory corruption issue in WebKit. Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. This issue was discovered and reported by Google’s security team.

This patch is only available via iTunes. To check that the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad has been updated:

  1. Navigate to Settings
  2. Select General
  3. Select About. The version after applying this update will be “5.1.1″.

Ryan says: As always, do not update to 5.1.1 if your iPhone is unlocked or jailbroken already or if you plan doing this in the future.

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New iPhone app enables self-destructing sext messages

Filed under: 3G, 4G, Applications, Cybersecurity, Exploit, Internet, iPhone, Mobile, Software, Technology, Telecom, Wireless by Ryan Boese — Leave a comment
May 7, 2012

Sexting, or the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photographs between mobile phones, continues to grow increasingly popular. Mobile users often have private photos posted to the Internet without their permission, and politicians and celebrities alike have taken explicit photos that using mobile devices that were eventually leaked. Unfortunately for Anthony Weiner, the congressman wasn’t aware of an iPhone app by the name of Snapchat. The program is available for free in Apple’s App Store and allows users to send photos that self-destruct within 1-10 seconds. Images cannot be saved in the app, and Snapchat will even notify users if the recipient takes a screenshot — though there is no way to prevent screenshots from being taken, of course. It should also be noted that images are stored on the developer’s servers, and while the company “attempt(s) to delete image data as soon as possible after the message is transmitted,” it cannot guarantee messages will always be deleted. “Messages, therefore, are sent at the risk of the user,” the company’s privacy policy warns.

Source: Forbes / BGR

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If You Have a Smart Phone, Anyone Can Now Track Your Every Move

Filed under: Applications, Cybersecurity, Exploit, GPS, Mobile, Security, Technology, WiFi, Wireless, Wireless Internet by Ryan Boese — Leave a comment
April 20, 2012

Location services company Navizon has a new system, called Navizon I.T.S., that could allow tracking of visitors in malls, museums, offices, factories, secured areas and just about any other indoor space. It could be used to examine patterns of foot traffic in retail spaces, assure that a museum is empty of visitors at closing time, or even to pinpoint the location of any individual registered with the system. But let’s set all that aside for a minute while we freak out about the privacy implications.

Most of us leave Wi-Fi on by default, in part because our phones chastise us when we don’t. (Triangulation by Wi-Fi hotspots is important for making location services more accurate.) But you probably didn’t realize that, using proprietary new “nodes” from Navizon, any device with an active Wi-Fi radio can be seen by a system like Navizon’s.

Navizon’s technology is also reminiscent of the location data provided to retailers and marketers by Skyhook’s Spotrank system, which has a different set of pros and cons: That data is available for every point on the planet, but it only includes devices running Skyhook software.

The rollout of this technology means there are now at least three ways that users can track their locations indoors, where GPS is generally useless — bluetooth beacon, Spotrank (and proprietary vendor) databases of Wi-Fi hotspots, and Navizon’s I.T.S. nodes. It also marks the second way (that I know of) for you to be tracked via the location of your phone, whether you want to be or not. (The first requires access to your cell phone carrier, and is used for example to locate your position when you make a 911 call.)

It shouldn’t be surprising that carrying around a little RF transmitter in your pocket makes you visible to all sorts of tracking technology. Maybe it’s simply the (inevitable) commercialization of this fact that is somehow unnerving.

 

 

Source: Technology Review

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Half a million Mac computers ‘infected with malware

Filed under: Applications, Computers, Cybersecurity, Exploit, Hackers, Java, Mac, Malware, PC, RootKit, Security, Software, Virus by Ryan Boese — Leave a comment
April 6, 2012

More than half a million Apple computers have been infected with the Flashback Trojan, according to a Russian anti-virus firm.

Its report claims that about 600,000 Macs have installed the malware – potentially allowing them to be hijacked and used as a “botnet”.

The firm, Dr Web, says that more than half that number are based in the US.

Apple has released a security update, but users who have not installed the patch remain exposed.

Flashback was first detected last September when anti-virus researchers flagged up software masquerading itself as a Flash Player update. Once downloaded it deactivated some of the computer’s security software.

Later versions of the malware exploited weaknesses in the Java programming language to allow the code to be installed from bogus sites without the user’s permission.

Dr Web said that once the Trojan was installed it sent a message to the intruder’s control server with a unique ID to identify the infected machine.

“By introducing the code criminals are potentially able to control the machine,” the firm’s chief executive Boris Sharov told the BBC.

“We stress the word potential as we have never seen any malicious activity since we hijacked the botnet to take it out of criminals’ hands. However, we know people create viruses to get money.

“The largest amounts of bots – based on the IP addresses we identified – are in the US, Canada, UK and Australia, so it appears to have targeted English-speaking people.”

Dr Web also notes that 274 of the infected computers it detected appeared to be located in Cupertino, California – home to Apple’s headquarters.

Java’s developer, Oracle, issued a fix to the vulnerability on 14 February, but this did not work on Macintoshes as Apple manages Java updates to its computers.

Apple released its own “security update” on Wednesday – more than eight weeks later. It can be triggered by clicking on the software update icon in the computer’s system preferences panel.

The security firm F-Secure has also posted detailed instructions about how to confirm if a machine is infected and how to remove the Trojan.

Although Apple’s system software limits the actions its computers can take without requesting their users’ permission, some security analysts suggest this latest incident highlights the fact that the machines are not invulnerable.

“People used to say that Apple computers, unlike Windows PCs, can’t ever be infected – but it’s a myth,” said Timur Tsoriev, an analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

Apple could not provide a statement at this time.

Ryan: Download Apple’s security update for the Flashback Trojan here.

Source: BBC News

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WARNING: Factory Resetting your Android may leave private data on your device

Filed under: Android, Applications, Blackberry, Cybersecurity, Exploit, Google, Mobile, OpenSource, Security, Technology, Wireless by Ryan Boese — Leave a comment
March 31, 2012

It’s never fun to have to issue a warning, but a new study by the LA Times indicates that the Factory Reset function on Android devices may not work as advertised. The site worked with a security expert to run a test on BlackBerry, Android, and iOS devices as well as PCs. It discovered that important, sensitive data could be retrieved on a large portion of Android devices even after the Factory Reset feature had been properly used.

Robert Siciliano, an identity theft expert from McAfee performed the experiment, where he purchased 30 used devices (mostly smartphones and laptops) from random users on Craigslist. His goal was to see how smart people were about removing their personal information from phones, but as it turns out, even though a majority of owners did correctly Factory Reset their Android devices, he was still able to retrieve vital data like “Social Security numbers, child support documents, credit card account log-ins, and a host of other personal data.” This finding is all the more disturbing since he could find no problems with the way iPhones, iPads, or BlackBerry devices delete their data. The only other weak link was Windows XP, which is so old it’s almost expected.

We’ve reached out to Google’s Android team to try and learn more about this potential vulnerability, but have not heard back as of publication. We’ll update this article if and when we get some answers.

Until we learn more, we don’t recommend that you don’t sell your used Android devices to anyone that you don’t know or trust. It’s quite possible that personal information could be leaked from it.

Ryan: I’ve owned a couple Android phones and I also have the Galaxy Tab.. I am back to BlackBerry and using the 9900, I find Android Phones to drop calls and bug out with force close errors more often like I like when using a phone.  And I can’t seem to drop this keyboard.. emails are much quicker on a BlackBerry than other devices. It would be interesting if RIM decided to let other companies use their keyboard design.

Source: DigitalTrends

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Video: Microsoft responds to Pwn2Own IE hack

Filed under: Applications, Computers, Cybersecurity, Exploit, Hackers, IE9, Internet, Software, Technology, Windows by Ryan Boese — Leave a comment
March 12, 2012

Just moments after researchers from VUPEN used two zero-day vulnerabilities to hack into the Internet Explorer 9 browser, I caught up with Mike Reavey, senior director in the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) to get his response to the attack and some information on what happens next.

 

Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) director Mike Reavey talks about the CanSecWest Pwn2Own challenge that saw a successful exploit of two zero-day vulnerabilities in the Internet Explorer 9 browser.

Source: ZDNet

 

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iOS loophole gives developers access to photos, sources say a fix is coming

Filed under: Apple, Applications, Cybersecurity, Exploit, Hackers, iPhone, Jailbreak, Mobile, Repairs, Security, Software, Technology, Wireless by Ryan Boese — Leave a comment
February 29, 2012

Another day, another iOS security concern. Today’s confidence-defeating news comes from Nick Bilton at the New York Times. Bilton writes at the paper’s Bits blog that a loophole has been discovered in iOS which allows third-party developers access to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch’s photo and video location data… as well as the actual photos and videos themselves. It appears that if an app asks for photo location data on your device (and you approve the request for permission), that application will also be able to slurp down the photos and videos stored on your phone without any further notification. The Times report mirrors an earlier story from 9to5 Mac which detailed security issues on the platform.

Bilton had an unnamed developer create a dummy application which would replicate the offending functionality, and the developer was able to easily poach location information as well as photos and video from a test device. Other developers — such as Curio co-founder David E. Chen — sounded off on the issue. Chen told the Times that, “The location history, as well as your photos and videos, could be uploaded to a server. Once the data is off of the iOS device, Apple has virtually no ability to monitor or limit its use.” Camera+ developer John Casasanta said that, “It’s very strange, because Apple is asking for location permission, but really what it is doing is accessing your entire photo library.” The article also suggests that this loophole may have been introduced with the release of iOS 4 in 2010.

We reached out to Apple about the issue, but the company declined to comment.

All hope might not be lost, however. We spoke to sources familiar with the situation, and were informed that a fix is most likely coming for the loophole. According to the people we talked to, Apple has been made aware of the issue and is likely planning a fix with an upcoming release of iOS. Those sources also confirmed that the ability to send your photos and videos to a third-party is an error, not an intended feature. If we had to guess, the fix will likely come alongside a patch for Apple’s other recent security issue — the ability for apps to upload your address book information without warning.

This story has clear echoes of that controversy, which came to light when a developer discovered that the app Path was downloading all of your device’s contact information to the company’s servers. In a follow-up report, we discovered that Path wasn’t the only app grabbing your info.

It will be interesting to see how Apple reacts to security breaches of this nature in the future. The company has long made it clear that it’s working to respect user’s privacy; at a glance it looks like these recent slip-ups are exceptions, not the rule.

Source: The Verge

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Symantec says hackers stole source code in 2006

Filed under: Applications, Computers, Cybersecurity, Internet, PC, RootKit, Security, Software, Trojan, Virus by Ryan Boese — 1 Comment
January 18, 2012

Symantec Corp said a 2006 breach led to the theft of the source code to its flagship Norton security software, reversing its previous position that it had not been hacked.

The world’s biggest maker of security software had previously said that hackers stole the code from a third party, but corrected that statement on Tuesday after an investigation found that Symantec’s own networks had been infiltrated.

The unknown hackers obtained the source code, or blueprint for its software, to Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security, Norton Utilities, Norton GoBack and pcAnywhere, Symantec spokesman Cris Paden said.

Last week, the hackers released the code to a 2006 version of Norton Utilities and have said they planned to release code to its antivirus software on Tuesday. It was not clear why the source code was being released six years after the theft.

Source code includes instructions written in computer programming languages as well as comments that engineers share to explain the design of their software. For example, a file released last week from the source code of a 2006 version of Norton Utilities included a comment that said “Make all changes in local entry, so we don’t screw up the real entry if we back up early.”

Companies typically heavily guard their source code, which is considered the crown jewels of most software makers. At some companies access is granted on an as-needed basis, with programmers allowed to view code only if it is related to the tasks they are assigned.

The reason for all the secrecy is that companies fear rivals could use the code to figure out the “secret sauce” behind their technology and that hackers could use it to plan attacks.

Paden said that the 2006 attack presented no threat to customers using the most recent versions of Symantec’s software.

“They are protected against any type of cyber attack that might materialize as a result of this code,” he said.

Yet Laura DiDio, an analyst with ITIC who helps companies evaluate security software, said that Symantec’s customers should be concerned about the potential for hackers to use the stolen source code to figure out how to defeat some of the protections in Symantec’s software.

“What we are seeing from Symantec is ‘Let’s put the best public face on this,’” she said. “Unless Symantec wrote all new code from scratch, there are going to be elements of source code in there that are still relevant today.”

Symantec said earlier this month that its own network had not been breached when the source code was taken. But Paden said on Tuesday that an investigation into the matter had revealed that the company’s networks had indeed been compromised.

“We really had to dig way back to find out that this was actually part of a source code theft,” he said. “We are still investigating exactly how it was stolen.”

Paden also said that customers of pcAnywhere, a program that facilitates remote access of PCs, may face “a slightly increased security risk” as a result of the exposure.

“Symantec is currently in the process of reaching out to our pcAnywhere customers to make them aware of the situation and to provide remediation steps to maintain the protection of their devices and information.”

Ryan: This is one of the reasons I had been telling people for years not to use Symantec programs. I knew they had been hacked because Viruses had been disabling out Norton on machines I had been fixing and I was seeing a big trend with this.

Source: Reuters / Yahoo! News

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Any GSM phone vulnerable to new scam: researcher

Filed under: Cybersecurity, Exploit, GSM, Hackers, Mobile, Security, Tablets, Technology, Telecom, Wireless by Ryan Boese — 3 Comments
December 27, 2011

A well-known expert on mobile phone security says a vulnerability in a widely used wireless technology could allow hackers to gain remote control of phones, instructing them to send text messages or make calls.

They could use the vulnerability in the GSM network technology, which is used by billions of people in about 80 percent of the global mobile market, to make calls or send texts to expensive, premium phone and messaging services in scams, said Karsten Nohl, head of Germany’s Security Research Labs.

Similar attacks against a small number of smartphones have been done before, but the new attack could expose any cellphone using GSM technology.

“We can do it to hundreds of thousands of phones in a short timeframe,” Nohl told Reuters in advance of a presentation at a hacking convention in Berlin on Tuesday.

Attacks on corporate landline phone systems are fairly common, often involving bogus premium-service phone lines that hackers set up across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Fraudsters make calls to the numbers from hacked business phone systems or mobile phones, then collect their cash and move on before the activity is identified.

The phone users typically don’t identify the problem until after they receive their bills and telecommunications carriers often end up footing at least some of the costs.

Even though Nohl will not present details of attack at the conference he said hackers will usually replicate the code needed for attacks within a few weeks.

Source: Reuters

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Windows Phone SMS attack discovered, reboots device and disables messaging hub

Filed under: Cybersecurity, Exploit, Hackers, Microsoft, Security, Technology, Telecom, Windows, Windows Phone 7, Wireless by Ryan Boese — Leave a comment
December 13, 2011

Microsoft’s range of Windows Phone devices suffer from a denial-of-service attack that allows attackers to disable the messaging functionality on a device.

The flaw works simply by sending an SMS to a Windows Phone user. Windows Phone 7.5 devices will reboot and the messaging hub will not open despite repeat attempts. We have tested the attack on a range of Windows Phone devices, including HTC’s TITAN and Samsung’s Focus Flash. Some devices were running the 7740 version of Windows Phone 7.5, others were on Mango RTM build 7720. The attack is not device specific and appears to be an issue with the way the Windows Phone messaging hub handles messages. The bug is also triggered if a user sends a Facebook chat message or Windows Live Messenger message to a recipient.

The flaw appears to affect other aspects of the Windows Phone operating system too. If a user has pinned a friend as a live tile on their device and the friend posts a particular message on Facebook then the live tile will update and causes the device to lock up. Thankfully there’s a workaround for the live tile issue, at initial boot up you have a small amount of time to get past the lock screen and into the home screen to remove the pinned live tile before it flips over and locks the device.

Both Apple and Google have suffered from SMS bugs with their iOS and Android devices. Security researcher Charlie Miller discovered a flaw in the iOS 3.0 software that allowed attackers complete control over an iPhone at the time. Android-based phones also suffered in the SMS attack, but attackers could only knock a phone offline rather than gain full access. The attack described in this article does not appear to be security related. It appears, from our limited testing, that the bug is related to the way Windows Phone handles messages.

Khaled Salameh discovered the flaw and reported it to us on Monday. WinRumors is in the process of disclosing the bug directly to Microsoft privately in co-operation with Khaled. At this stage there doesn’t appear to be a workaround to fix the messaging hub apart from hard resetting and wiping the device. Please see the video below for a demonstration.

 

 

Source: WinRumors

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