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NewsHackers Target Third Party Apps to Squirm Their Way Through Windows Security

Posted 11/10/08 at 10:33:13 AM by Paul Lilly

Microsoft last week released the fifth volume of its Security Intelligence Report (SIR) covering the period between January through June of 2008. The report, which purports to offer an "in-depth perspective on software vulnerabilities and exploits, malicious code threats, and potentially unwanted software," uses data derived from what Microsoft claims are hundreds of millions of Windows users, all of which is analyzed and laid out in a tidy 13MB PDF download.

According to the 150-page report, hackers are increasingly honing in on third party applications rather than attempting to attack Microsoft directly. Vulnerabilities in programs like RealPlayer, QuickTime, WinZip, and other non-operating system software provide hackers with a greater number of exploits requiring a low degree of complexity, the report claims.

"It is alarming to see that more than 90 percent of vulnerabilities disclosed in 1H08 affected applications, and nearly half of all industry vulnerabilities are rated as High Severity," Microsoft says in its report. "Additionally, 1H08 showed how threats are increasingly affecting a variety of vendors beyond Microsoft."

The report also notes several geographical trends in security threats. Among them, password stealers such are Win32/Bancos are most prominent in Brazil where the overall infection rate has risen an alarming 81.8 percent from 2H07 to 1H08. In the U.S., trojan downloaders, like Win32/Zlob, account for the largest single category of threat.

Comments: 1
TAGS: windows, microsoft, Software, Security, hackers, security intelligence report, sir

NewsHackers Get in the WiFi Cracking Game with Nvidia GPUs

Posted 10/14/08 at 11:33:36 AM by Paul Lilly

When it comes time to shop for a videocard, most people are concerned about the pixel pushing power and how well a new GPU can handle Crysis. Yet others are more concerned with a videocard's ability to fit into a home theater PC setup, both physically and functionally. Some GPUs are even sought after for their ability to fold proteins, but apparently there's another use emerging, one with malicious intent.

According to Global Secure Systems, a Russian firm used Nvidia GPUs to break through WPA and WPA2 encryption. Assuming the report is accurate, the implications are nothing less than frightening, as GSS claims the brute force attack managed to accelerate WiFi 'password recovery' times by up to 10,000 percent.

"This breakthrough in brute force decryption of WiFi signals by Elcomsoft confirms our observations that firms can no longer rely on standards-based security to protect their data," noted David Hobson, managing director of GSS. "As a result, we now advise clients using WiFi in their offices to move on up to a VPM encryption system as well."

But even moving to a VPN may not be enough, as many VPNs use AES encryption just like WPA2. And by throwing videocards into the mix (it remains unclear which specific Nvidia GPUs were utilized), accessibility quickly becomes a growing concern.

Does this latest attack concern you? Hit the jump and post your thoughts.

Comments: 8
TAGS: Security, videocard, graphics card, wireless, nvidia, gpu, WiFi, hackers

NewsNew 'Clickjacking' Threat Could Compromise Your Webcam, Interrupt Striptease. NoScript to the Rescue?

Posted 10/10/08 at 10:46:57 AM by Paul Lilly

Those kooky hackers, what will they think of next? The latest fad sweeping the underground community involves a new type of attack (new in how it's being used, anyway) dubbed 'clickjacking,' whereby surfers click on seemingly harmless websites only to end up unknowingly forfeiting control of their webcam and microphone.

So far, clickjacking has been confirmed to affect Adobe's Flash player and for every major browser, such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, and yes, it affects Google's Chrome browser too.

"It is a very serious problem," said Giorgio Maone, author of the NoScript Firefox extension. "Clickjacking is a very simple attack to build, and now that the details are out, any script kid can try it successfully. There's no estimate to the number of trap sites."

Maone went on to warn that clickjacking is impervious to signature-based scanning. Adobe has recognized the threat as being "critical" and is instructing users on how to turn off Flash access to webcams and microphones. But is it a cure all? According to Robert Hansen, CEO of SecTheory, Flash clickjacking represents but a single variant of what could turn out to be a widespread threat, and that the only real fix will be in changing existing web standards, not the individual applications themselves.

Find out how the latest version of NoScript helps Firefox users fight back against clickjacking after the jump.

Comments: 3
TAGS: Security, webcam, hackers, clickjacking

NewsBorder Gateway Protocol: A Gaping Security Hole in the Internet

Posted 09/02/08 at 03:45:22 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Two researchers, Alex Pilosov and Anton Kapela, have concocted a technique to exploit the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) – internet’s core routing protocol. They demonstrated their technique at the DefCon hacker conference in Las Vegas. The threat emanates from the innate credulity of the routing protocol: the BGP apparently is designed to trust all nodes and can be exploited to redirect insane volumes of internet traffic to malevolent networks.

It can be used for spying at a truly unprecedented scale. No, we are not talking about stalking someone on Facebook but nation-state espionage. Millions of users can be exposed within moments of such an attack. A few solutions have already been propounded, but ISPs seem to be watching quietly from the sidelines.

Comments: 4
TAGS: Software, Security, Internet, defcon, hackers, threat, Attack, BGP, routing protocol, risk

NewsStolen Bank Data Gets Cheaper on Web

Posted 07/15/08 at 01:58:24 PM by Paul Lilly

A surge in the volume of stolen data has caused the price of hacked bank and credit card details to fall sharply, Reuters reports. According to researchers for Finjan, a Web security firm, account details with PIN codes that once sold for $100 or more might now only bring in $10 to $20. Taking its place are new types of stolen data, such as patient healthcare information that can be used to commit insurance fraud or to acquire prescription medication to sell on the black market. Other data commanding a high price now includes business information, company personnel files, and intercepted commercial emails.

Click the jump to see what new types of data are commanding a bigger premium, an why your banking institution might not always have your back.