The Right Way

Salient comments from Sheriff Andy Taylor.

FAA Advisory - Boeing 787 Hacking

Gee, no worries here... The Federal Aviation Administration issued an advisory outlining possible wireless security threats to Boeing's 787-8 aircraft.

On-board wired and wireless devices may also have access to parts of
the airplane's digital systems that provide flight critical functions.
These new connectivity capabilities may result in security
vulnerabilities to the airplane's critical systems. For these design
features, the applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain
adequate or appropriate safety standards for protection and security of
airplane systems and data networks against unauthorized access.

Last year was a hot one for UFO sightings

One of Canada’s leading UFO researchers says there were 736 reported sightings across the country last year.

Chris Rutkowski says the 2006 Canadian UFO Survey recorded the third largest number of sightings in its 17-year history and shows there’s still a great deal of interest in unexplained phenomena in the sky.

cDc Launches - Cowfeed

A feed aggregator of all cDc-related content everywhere!

"Based in Lubbock, Texas, CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc) is the most-accomplished and longest-running group in the computer underground. Founded in 1984 and widely considered to be the most elite people to ever walk the face of the earth, this think tank has been referred to as both "a bunch of sickos" (Geraldo Rivera) and "the sexiest group of computer hackers there ever was" (Jane Pratt, _Sassy_ and _Jane_ magazines). The cDc is a leading developer of Internet privacy and security tools, which are all free to the public. In addition, the cDc created the first electronic publication, which is still going strong."

Virginia Tech rampage

I wish I could find the appropriate words to explicitly express how underly pathetic and sensationalistic the media coverage of this tragedy has been in general.

In my mind the only issues that should be covered at this juncture are that there has been a terrible and senseless loss of human life and that the only one at fault/to blame here - is the one who pulled the trigger...

Note: on average there are 2.4 US military fatalities every day in IRAQ - 3,308 total so far. Most the same age or younger as the VT students.

Rock Phish

A phishing demo from F-Secure showing examples created with Rock Phish - a phishing kit that allows non-technical folks to create and implement phishing attacks.

Red Tape Chronicles

Red Tape Chronicles is MSNBC.com's effort to unmask government bureaucracy, corporate sneakiness and outright scam artists.

Secure Future? Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?

No bees, no pollination, no food...

If it is phones, then why now?

It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.

They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

Full story here.

Geek Accused of Videotaping Woman in Her Shower

Their mom called Best Buy's Geek Squad for help with their computer. Now two sisters are suing Best Buy, claiming the technician who showed up secretly taped one of them in the shower.

Full story here.

Happy Friday - One From the Vault

"The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"

Credit Union - Laptop Theft

"The computer was protected by two layers of security, a unique user-identifier and a multiple-character, alpha-numeric password."

Whew, that's a relief! Press release here.

The laptop was lost by a consultant from Protiviti:

"Protiviti is a leading provider of independent internal audit and business and technology risk consulting services."

Now I know where not to bank and who not to pick as my auditor...

ShmooCon 07 Videos

http://www.shmoocon.org/2007/videos/

2 Years - 709 Posts - we are still here...

From Russia with Love

I just love Russia...

An interview with a former cyber gangster, who claims to have now joined the “white hats” and was prepared to share his experience anonymously. His first name is Victor, but his last name will be kept secret. He is 30 years old and a resident of St. Petersburg, Russia.

TAOF - The Art Of Fuzzing

This website provides some useful tools for fuzzing.

A Phishing Attack Demo Against the BOA SiteKey Authentication

A demonstration of a "deceit-augmented man in the middle attack" against the SiteKey ® service used by Bank of America.

From the slight paranoia blog:

Executive Summary

We present this demonstration of a "deceit-augmented man in the middle attack" against the SiteKey ® service used by Bank of America (the underlying technology is also used by other companies). This, or a similar attack, could be used by a phisher to deceive users into entering their login details to a fraudulent website. BoA's own website tells users: "[W]hen you see your SiteKey, you can be certain you're at the valid Online Banking website at Bank of America, and not a fraudulent look-alike site. Only enter your Passcode when you see the SiteKey image and image title you selected."

See the demo here.

In the News

Sometimes GP you have to blow your own horn... Otherwise who will?

Microsoft Defends Effort to Patch Flaw
IT execs, researchers split over pace of work on ANI fix

Hugh McArthur, director of information systems security at Online Resources Corp. in Chantilly, Va., said that in general, Microsoft’s 100-day turnaround time for patching the so-called ANI vulnerability doesn’t seem all that unusual.

It wasn’t as if the software vendor was “just sitting back and doing nothing,” McArthur said. “My take is that Microsoft was hoping they could get the fix written and tested prior to an exploit being written. In this case, they didn’t make it.”

Despite all the hoopla, the vulnerability “ultimately wasn’t a big issue” for Online Resources, McArthur said. But he added that the online bill-processing company treated the threat “very seriously” and made sure that its antivirus software was up to date and that its monitoring tools were configured to detect any exploit attempts on its systems.

Hak.5 - Episode 2×09 Release (ShmooCon)

In this special episode of Hak5 the crew heads to Washington DC for ShmooCon, the only annual security conference with complementary foam balls.

Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 released

While Ubuntu is my favorite these days, these guys were the first Linux distro that I felt comfortable with...

The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release of Debian GNU/Linux version 4.0, codenamed etch, after 21 months of constant development. Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system which supports a total of eleven processor architectures and includes the KDE, GNOME and Xfce desktop environments. It also features cryptographic software and compatibility with the FHS v2.3 and software developed for version 3.1 of the LSB.

Using a now fully integrated installation process, Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 comes with out-of-the-box support for encrypted partitions. This release introduces a newly developed graphical frontend to the installation system supporting scripts using composed characters and complex languages; the installation system for Debian GNU/Linux has now been translated to 58 languages.

How to get it here.

Happy Easter! Whitehouse Security - Cheney Style

Opening Desk Lock with Jiggler Key

So prOn is Dangerous After all

Three Japanese naval officers who swapped pornography on their computers triggered a scandal over a possible leak of sensitive data linked to Japan's missile defence system, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Police launched a probe last week after a navy officer married to a Chinese woman was found to have taken home a computer disk containing information about the high-tech Aegis radar system, domestic media said.

Aegis is used on Japanese destroyers that are to be fitted with SM-3 missile interceptors from this year as part of the missile defence program. The officer told police he accidentally copied the confidential data onto his computer's hard disk when copying porn from a computer belonging to a crew member from another destroyer, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.

Story here.

Below the Hole

Think there might be a hacking opportunity here?

The no-tolerance policy fits Augusta National's image. The club fancies itself as the most tradition-bound of golf bodies, one that prohibits anything high-tech from disturbing the peace on its grounds. The scoreboards for the Masters are all manually operated. The only prominent clock at Augusta National is a sundial dedicated to Bobby Jones. Blimps are forbidden in the skies overhead. Even electric vacuum cleaners are taboo in the clubhouse.

All of this makes for great theater, as golfers, visitors, and TV viewers are transported back to a world free of Jumbotrons and Gnarls Barkley ringtones. But while the Masters brass has carefully cultivated a technology-hating image, all this Luddism is a façade. Beneath the club's manicured greenery lies an arsenal of technological wonders that keeps the course looking timeless and pristine. Indeed, take a deep enough divot at Augusta National and you'll unearth the most technologically advanced setup in golf.

The greens, for one, are state-of-the-art. Beneath each putting surface is a latticework of pipes, pressurized valves, electric motors, and radio controls.

I asked exactly what he was up to, all he would say was, "data collection." The club's PR department wouldn't elaborate.

Full story here.

From root kit to boot kit: Vista's code signing compromised

Good Stuff...

At the Black Hat Conference in Amsterdam, security experts from India demonstrated a special boot loader that gets around Vista's code signing mechanisms. Indian security experts Nitin and Vipin Kumar of NV labs have developed a program called the VBootkit that launches from a CD and boots Vista, making "on the fly" changes in memory and in files being read. In a demonstration, the "boot kit" managed to run with kernel privileges and issue system rights to a CMD shell when running on Vista RC2 (build 5744), even without a Microsoft signature.

Experts say that the fundamental problem that this highlights is that every stage in Vista's booting process works on blind faith that everything prior to it ran cleanly. The boot kit is therefore able to copy itself into the memory image even before Vista has booted and capture interrupt 13, which operating systems use for read access to sectors of hard drives, among other things.

More here.

Softer flashlights for LA cops

Los Angeles police have unveiled their latest tool in the fight against crime - a flashlight powerful enough to stun suspects but too lightweight to beat them with.

The new flashlight, developed specifically for the Los Angeles Police Department and expected to be acquired by police forces around the world, replaces the heavy 13-inch (33-cm) metal flashlights controversially used by city officers to strike a car theft suspect three years ago.

More here.

The 7060 LED will be available to the general public in June. More information on Pelican's 7060 is available at www.pelican7060.com.

Survey Shows Public Feels Safer in City Spaces Lit by LEDs

Seems like these type of lights would be a win/win for both improved safety/security and power consumption.

"When “LED City” Raleigh and Cree Inc. turned on new light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex’s parking garage, people’s opinions about the quality of the lighting improved threefold."

More here.

NRO: 40 Years of Reconnaissance

Forty Years of Reconnaissance. This is actually a music video about the NRO. Sample lyrics:

"And we'll be there when you call
Even Friday night's all right
We'll see and hear it all
Taking it on with all our might."

[5min, 37sec]

Go here for the video at the Internet Archive and here for more NRO videos at the Memory Hole.

Amazing "Threat Alert"

KcPentrix 2.0: LiveDVD

A liveDVD, It features a lot of new or up to date tools for auditing and testing a network, from scanning and discovering to exploiting vulnerabilities

Kcpentrix is based on SLAX 5, a Slackware live DVD.

2006 Operating System Vulnerability Summary

Excellent summary of the 06 security scene and system vulnerabilities.

"The summarized coverage of 2006 vulnerabilities by SANS showed the most prevalent attack vectors were not directly against the operating systems themselves.4 However, this article approaches the operating system as an entity in and of itself for analysis of only the vulnerabilities of core features. As such, vulnerability scans were conducted against 2006's flagship operating systems in various configurations to determine weakness from the moment of installation throughout the patching procedure. From Microsoft, testing included Windows XP, Server 2003 and Vista Ultimate. Examinations against Apple included Mac OS9, OSX Tiger and OSX Tiger server.5 Augmenting Apple's UNIX representation, security tests were also performed on FreeBSD 6.2 and Solaris 10. Rounding up the market share, Linux security testing included Fedora Core 6, Slackware 11, SuSE Enterprise 10 and Ubuntu 6.10. Before delving into the specifics of the vulnerabilities, it is helpful to understand the security scene of 2006."

A Security Vendor Don't

One of the vendors (Core Impact) at ShmooCon got some unwanted attention this past weekend - they had a pretty string of USB light up hubs strung along the front of their table. Since the hubs needed to be powered to light up, they plugged the string into one of their laptops on the table...

RenderMan noticed this and happened to have a USB toolkit in his pocket. He was subsequently able to plug his USB key into the string of USB hubs unnoticed and retrieved it a bit later after it had collected password files and other assorted goodies.

The whole event was relayed to the entire audience at the closing ceremonies. It's a nice lesson on what not to do when exhibiting at events such as a "hacker" con...

Firefox Add-on - Tamper Data

Tamper Data 9.8.1 Kind of a handy dandy add-on - use tamperdata to view and modify HTTP/HTTPS headers and post parameters, trace and time http response/requests and security test web applications by modifying POST parameters, etc...

24-Point Identity Theft Recovery Checklist

Step 1: Take a deep breath and act rather than react.

The rest here.

Metasploit 3 is Out

http://framework-mirrors.metasploit.com/msf/download.html

ShmooCon 07 - Day 3

Last but not least the final day of ShmooCon 07. Not as many sessions today, but I wanted to hear Chuck Willis from Mandiant - Assess the Security of Your Online Bank (Without Going to Jail).

While his talk didn't really focus on Online Banking that much, it was a good primer on non-evasive testing of web facing applications. Chuck fits the Mandiant profile - clean cut - smart guy... The tool that Chuck used in many of his examples is Paros. Hs slides should be posted on his site soon.

I also sat in on on Joel Bruno and Eric Smith's (PSKL) talk on - VOIP, Vonage, and Why I Hate Asterisk. They have done some neat work on RTP playback and in particular Vonage VOIP calls. You can find the SIPinator v1.0 code here. They also made a nice/funny commercial for ShmooCon.

The work the folks at the OLPC project are doing is way cool. Not going into details here, but ck them out.

Quick Summary -

Can't say enough about what a great value ShmooCon is and while not every session was exceptional, the event as a whole was. More highlights in the coming days as I parse thru notes etc...

ShmooCon 07 - Day 2

First things first, the Wirefly Marathon messed-up traffic this AM royally!

The rest of the day was good - any Shmoo day is a good day...

One session was a bit different - Michael Schearer from The Church of WiFi presented: A Hacker in Iraq. A Naval Flight Officer - theprez98 talked about his experiences during his 9-month tour in Iraq embedded with Army units on the ground. He put his expertise in electronic warfare to good use against the biggest threat to coalition forces - the improvised explosive device (IED).

He also mentioned on how one of the best sources of real news from the war are the military blogs.

The Hacker Arcade was in full swing today along with Deviant and company's lock picking area. There are a couple of Nitro boxes running in the conf. NOC wonder who gave them that ideal.

Some of the security podcast folks were recording - I saw the CyberSpeak folks in action... look for Shmoo reports from Sploitcast and Hak.5.

More fun on Sunday...

ShmooCon 07 - Day 1

ShmooCon 07 started today and things got off to a good start - bigger space, more folks, but overall same great con. After Bruce Potter's opening remarks @ 15:30 there were six approx 20 min. long presentations before Aviel Rubin's keynote @ 19:00.

Eoin Miller and Adair Collins Auditing Cached Credentials with Cachedump and Johnny Long's No-Tech Hacking were probably my two favorites. Johnny's no-tech hacking talk was excellent in both content and presentation. A good deal of it focused on physical security and on demonstrating what an important hacking tool the power of observation can be.

Aviel Rubin ended things nicely with an exelent keynote. A copy of his presentation can be found here.

Dr. Rubin vs. Dr. Cole... my money is on Dr. Rubin

Tool Time - Nessj

Nessj is an application/network security scanner client for Nessus and Nessus compatible (OpenVAS etc.) servers. In addition to an improved user interface, it provides session management with templates, report generation using XSLT including charts/graphs, and vulnerability trending. It is cross-platform, with platform specific releases available for Linux, OSX, and Windows, written in Java using SWT for a native experience, and it is open-source. It's provided by Intekras, Inc. under the Clarified Artistic License.

Get it here.

Top 10 U.S. Government Web Break-ins of All Time

Network Security Journal has an interesting list of when hackers take on the feds.

Identity Theft is Getting more Businesslike

Speaking of business - can you think of a better way to sell your security products than to preach doom and gloom? How neutral do you think Symantec is when the worse things are, the better life is for them?

Via their semiannual Internet Security Threat Report - Symantec reported that much of the malicious computer code they identified was compiled, or translated into usable software, during standard, 9-to-5 work shifts in the country of origin.

"The hobby-horse hacker is a thing of the past. These guys work business hours,'' Huger said. "It's pretty organized, which is the scary part. Now we're seeing a well-oiled machine for stealing data.''

Among the other items reported was that China had 26 percent of the world's bot-infected computers, more than any country, a statistic mostly explained by the torrid growth of the Chinese technology industry. Also noted was that more than half of all underground economy servers known to Symantec were based in the United States.

However, a recent report from Symantec competitor McAfee tells us that Internet domains from Romania, Russia, and the tiny island of Tokelau are among the riskiest.

What we do know is that phishing and spam is up... now apparently we just need a way to figure out where it is coming from. Unfortunately it is more often the destination that counts, not the journey and the US might be the way and/or the means, but it certainly isn't the end.

Super Bowl Hack?

Prank or Hoax? What do you think? If a hoax, it's was a very nice job. If a prank, it was quite the stunt. Either way, it's worth a look.

"To promote the new ZUG book, PRANK THE MONKEY, we wanted to show how easy it would be to broadcast a secret terrorist message not just on national TV, but on TV's biggest event. "

Absolut

Friday Fun - WiFi Vibrator

I Make Projects posted plans for "giving yourself a sixth sense for wireless networks" through a small wearable device. It's made from a cannibalized Wi-Fi detector, microcontroller, vibrating motor, and a bit of custom electronics.

Hackers get bum rap for corporate America's digital delinquency

This is good stuff...

If Phil Howard's calculations prove true, by year's end the 2 billionth personal record -- some American's social-security or credit-card number, academic grades or medical history -- will become compromised, and it's corporate America, not rogue hackers, who are primarily to blame.

Howard and Erickson also found that:

• Malicious intrusions by hackers make up a minority (31 percent) of 550 confirmed incidents between 1980 and 2006; 60 percent were attributable to organizational mismanagement such as missing or stolen hardware; the balance of 9 percent was due to unspecified breaches.
• Likely as a result of California's law and similar legislation adopted by other states, the number of reported incidents more than tripled in 2005 and 2006 (424 cases) compared to the previous 24 years (126 cases).
• The education sector, primarily colleges and universities, amounted to less than 1 percent of all lost records, but accounted for 30 percent of all reported incidents.

Article here more related material at www.wiareport.org

File-sharing Software could Jeopardize National Security

A recently released report from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office suggests that networked file and music sharing could harm children and threaten national security. The 80 page November, 2006, report, entitled "Filesharing Programs and Technological Features to Induce Users to Share," can be found here.

"This report also reveals that these filesharing programs threaten more than just the copyrights that have made the United States the world’s leading creator and exporter of expression and innovation: They also pose a real and documented threat to the security of personal, corporate, and governmental data."

"But such condemnations just beg a more fundamental question: Why do children, grandparents, and poor single mothers end up sharing hundreds or thousands of infringing files inadvertently?"

The Silver Bullet Security Podcast

How can you go wrong? When you have vicodin, music and security...

On the 12th episode of The Silver Bullet Security Podcast, Gary talks with Becky Bace, Advisor to Venture Capital firm Trident Capital. Becky spent twelve years at the NSA working on intrusion detection and cryptography from 1984 until 1996, followed by a stint at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Gary and Becky discuss growing up in rural America, explosives, and Becky’s Jimmy Hoffa sponsored college funding situation. They also talk about the evolution of security cirricula in academia, rampant commercialization of computer security, Becky’s involvement in tracking down the notorious Kevin Mitnick, vicodin-induced creativity, and eclectic music.

French Pick Ubuntu

Well they finally got something right... Ubuntu is a great Linux distro!

When French MPs and their assistants return from their summer break this June, they will conduct parliamentary business on PCs running Ubuntu. From the next session of parliament, 1,154 desks will feature the Linux-based PCs.

More here.

The 50 Most Important People on the Web

PC World's list of the 50 most important people on the web.

Personal favorites:

31. Bruce Schneier - Cryptographer
32. Kevin Rose - Founder, Digg
47. Leo Laporte - Creator, This Week in Tech (TWiT) podcast

Who did they miss?

Independent Comparatives of Anti-Virus software

The AV Comparatives Web site tested 17 AV products - including several free anti-virus programs as well.

Surprise! Microsoft's OneCare was on the bottom of the list...

BTW when the was the last time you had a virus on your system? Seems that a little common sense can go a long way in keeping a system clean, but don't tell the AV vendors that.

Network Information with Javascript

This is the second article in a series focusing on retrieving system (or client) information using JavaScript and presenting the same on a web page. You can directly copy and paste all of the code samples present in this article into a file with extension “.htm” and open them in Internet Explorer 5.5+.

Securing Dinner - Finding Nemo 2

Police use MySpace

He's about 60, with graying hair and a bald spot on the crown of his head -- and he looks forward to meeting "more bank tellers so that I can continue my crime spree!!!"

As police continue searching for a suspect in four bank robberies across Arkansas, one local department has taken the unusual step of creating the man a profile on the social networking Web site MySpace, hoping someone will recognize him.

Story here.

5,000 years of conquest in the Middle East.

See 5,000 years of history in 90-seconds...

True? BBC Reported Building 7 Had Collapsed 20 Minutes Before It Fell

Revealing, shocking video shows reporter talking about collapse with WTC 7 still standing in background. Google has removed the clip.

More here.

"Paranoia"

From here.

Friday Fun - School Security

Meth selling Principal Found Naked With Sex Toys Watching Gay Porn In Office...

As authorities stormed into a middle school office to arrest an alleged meth-dealing principal inside, they found an even more surprising scene inside.

Sources said 50-year-old John Acerra, of Allentown, was naked and watching gay pornography when they arrived at Nitschmann Middle School in Bethlehem to arrest him on Tuesday.

Acerra also had sex toys, drugs, cash and a pipe in his school office when authorities stormed his office, the sources added.

Story here.

What a day...

• Air Force Officer Found Guilty of Raping 4 Men
• Miracle U.K. Baby Comes Back From the Dead
• Rats Chew Off Newborn Baby's Nose, Upper Lip in Kansas City, Mo., Apartment
• Human Head, Hand Found Along San Diego Freeway After Unidentified Body Found in River
• Wolfgang Puck Catering May Have Exposed Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue Party Revelers to Hepatitis

Some days, this world is a very strange and not so secure place...

Default Router Passwords

Handy little list here.

Hacking with Metasploit on a Nokia N800

Using a free utility from Maemo.org and a custom-built Ruby package, David Maynor has found that it is pretty easy to get Metasploit running on the $399.00 Nokia N800.

"Its not as fast as a laptop but it's still pretty quick," Maynor said, explaining that he was able to break into a Windows 2000 SP4 server using a Metasploit exploit.

David's blog here.

Lab Rats! Episode 61: Windows Security 101

This episode provides a nice primer on windows security...

Episode 61: Windows Security 101

Release date: February 19, 2007

In episode 61, Andy and Sean show you how to tighten security on Windows XP and Vista PCs.

Friday Fun - Foul-mouthed CDs get Blown in Church

Three CD players hidden under a cathedral's pews blared sexually explicit language in the middle of an Ash Wednesday Mass, leading a bomb squad to detonate two of the devices.

Authorities determined the music players were not dangerous and kept the third one to check it for clues, said police Capt. Gary Johnson.

The CD players, duct-taped to the bottoms of the pews, were set to turn on in the middle of noon Mass on Wednesday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

More here.

Home Security - When one sword in hand deserves another...

Who said chivalry was dead...

"It was a woman screaming," he recalled Tuesday. "She was screaming for help."

Sword in hand, he bounded up the stairs, kicked in the door and confronted a man who turned out to be alone - watching a pornographic movie.

"Now I feel stupid," Van Iveren said.

Worse yet, police seized his sword - a family heirloom - carted him to jail and referred the case to a prosecutor who charged Van Iveren with three criminal counts.

Full story here.

Smokers may be the weak IT security link

This article from Infoworld talks about how smokers are being targeted in social engineering attacks during security testing. This same premise is valid (even maybe more so) for drinkers at the local watering hole, etc...

The company hired NTA to test if it was possible to get inside the premises without proper identification, Hills said. The penetration tester waited until the smokers finished their break, then slipped in through the unlocked door, which wasn't the main one but publicly accessible.

The tester -- who skirted past other employees by saying the IT department had sent him -- made his way to a meeting room, where he hooked up his laptop to the company's VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) network, Hills said. The tester could have launched a denial-of-service attack or intercepted phone calls.

The Silver Bullet Security Podcast #11

On the 11th episode of The Silver Bullet Security Podcast, Gary talks with Dorothy Denning, a professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Portgraduate School. Previously, Dorothy was a distinguished professor at Georgetown University and a professor at Purdue University. Gary and Dorothy discuss Dorothy’s involvement in the Clipper Chip controversy (which earned Dorothy the moniker “clipper chick”), the concept of geo-encryption, and a famous 1990 paper she wrote describing a series of interviews with malicious hackers.

Get it here.

Product Spotlight - USB Keylogger

Got a spare $80.00 bucks in your pocket?

2 Megabytes (16 Mbit) over 2,000,000 keystrokes
(around 1 years worth of intensive typing)

This keystroke recorder has up to 8 Megabytes memory capacity, organized into an advanced flash file system. Super fast data retrieve is achieved by switching into Flash Drive mode for download. Completely transparent for computer operation, no software or drivers required. Supports national keyboard layouts.

Buy it here.

Missing FBI Laptops Still a Problem

Nice example for the rest of us...

Three or four FBI laptop computers are lost or stolen each month and the agency is unable to say in many instances whether information on the machines is sensitive or classified, the Justice Department's inspector general said Monday.

Of the 160 laptops lost or stolen over a 44-month period, 10 contained sensitive or classified information. The bureau did not have records on whether 51 others contained such data.

In a report five years ago, the inspector general said 354 weapons and 317 laptop computers were lost or stolen during a 28-month review.

Full Story form the AP here.

Home Security - Apperanntly TV can Kill You!

Mummified body found in Hampton Bays home

Southampton police responding to burst water pipes in a Hampton Bays home found the mummified body of the owner -- dead for more than a year -- sitting in a chair in front of a television, officials said Friday.

The television was still on.

Vincenzo Ricardo, 70, appeared to have died of natural causes in his home on Wakeman Road, said Dr. Stuart Dawson, Suffolk deputy chief medical examiner.

The medical examiner's office considered his body mummified because the lack of humidity in his home preserved his features, morgue assistant Jeff Bacchus said.

Full Story.

Judge Limits New York Police Taping

Could this set a precedent for other cities?

In a rebuke of a surveillance practice greatly expanded by the New York Police Department after the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal judge ruled yesterday that the police must stop the routine videotaping of people at public gatherings unless there is an indication that unlawful activity may occur.

Four years ago, at the request of the city, the same judge, Charles S. Haight Jr., gave the police greater authority to investigate political, social and religious groups.

In yesterday’s ruling, Judge Haight, of United States District Court in Manhattan, found that by videotaping people who were exercising their right to free speech and breaking no laws, the Police Department had ignored the milder limits he had imposed on it in 2003.

NY Times story here.

Friday Fun - Batman Sighting Puts Schools on Lockdown

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- To an Arizona middle school, Batman! Three schools in the north Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek were on lockdown for about 45 minutes Wednesday morning after a student at Desert Arroyo Middle School reported seeing a person dressed as Batman run across campus, jump a fence and disappear into the desert, Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said.

More here.

Wow, lockdown.... Holy panic Batman!

Fine for Stolen Laptop

The Nationwide Building Society has been fined £980,000 by the City watchdog over security breaches.

The fine follows the theft of a laptop from a Nationwide employee's home which contained confidential customer data.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) found security was not up to scratch after the man had put details of nearly 11 million customers on his computer.

The FSA also found that the Nationwide did not start an investigation until three weeks after the theft occurred.

Full story here.

Do you think fines on this side of the pond would help?

Substitute Teacher Faces Jail Time Over Spyware

More on this previously posted story -

A 40-year-old former substitute teacher from Connecticut is facing prison time following her conviction for endangering students by exposing them to pornographic material displayed on a classroom computer.

Brian Krebs from the Washington Post, has an update on the case here.

Hiatus is over, posting returns....

This makes me smile...

TRENTON, Ohio -- Two Edgewood High School students were arrested Thursday and accused of hacking into the school district’s Web site to schedule an unplanned – and unauthorized – snow day.

School officials had originally planned a one-hour delay for Monday morning, following an established procedure, so they were surprised to see an announcement Sunday night that classes were canceled.

Full story here.

"I asked for a car, I got a computer. How's that for being born under a
bad sign?" - Ferris Bueller

Hack5 Episode 2×07 LIVE February 3rd

The folks from hak5 will be broadcasting live today...

We’re excited to be announcing that episode 2×07 will be broadcasted LIVE over the Internets this February 3rd at 3:00 PM EST (-5 GMT). This schedule should work better for our European viewers.

We welcome you to sign up at hak5.org/live if you have a question for the cast and would like to be a guest on the show. There you can also find information on the stream and connecting.

Friday Fun - Humvee driving in Iraq

On the one hand, the story with this video says that American soldiers have to drive like this to limit the risk of attack. Some in the comments say its arrogant, and it’s no wonder Iraqis hate Americans. Others says if the driver slows down, gunfire would start, and thats not safe for anyone. What do you think?

ShmooCon - Reminder!

The next (and last) round of tickets will go on sale today - Feb. 1st at noon EST.

Get yours here.

Airport Security Game

See if you can keep up with the ever-changing airport security rules.

Play here.

Securing a 'Buzz' - Just what the Doctor Ordered...

'Buzz Donut' offers sweet caffeine fix

Dr. Robert Bohannon wants you in his world. It's fast, upbeat, jovial and driven by caffeine -- lots of it.

But four to six cups of coffee a day aren't enough for Bohannon. And he believes others share his need for more options when it comes time to pursue that caffeine buzz.

So the molecular scientist who moonlights as a café owner developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, one that eliminates the natural, bitter taste of caffeine.

"This gives people the opportunity if they want to have a glass of milk and want to have caffeine. It will get them going," Bohannon said.

The amount of caffeine in his creations can vary, but Bohannon can easily put 100 milligrams of caffeine -- the equivalent of a 5-ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee -- into the treats he plans to market under the "Buzz Donuts" and "Buzzed Bagels" names.

Full story here.

X-ray cameras 'see through clothes'

From across the pond...

The Government is considering installing X-ray cameras on lampposts to spot armed terrorists and other criminals.

According to a leaked memo seen by The Sun, "detection of weapons and explosives will become easier" if the scheme drawn up by Home Office officials is adopted.

However, officials acknowledged that it would be highly controversial as the cameras can "see" through clothing.

"The social acceptability of routine intrusive detection measures and the operational response required in the event of an alarm are likely to be limiting factors," the memo warned.

"Privacy is an issue because the machines see through clothing."

Full story here.

Kaspersky Lab releases an article about Vista and security

The Kaspersky Lab folks have released a new article entitled Vista vs. Viruses, in which Alisa Shevchenko, a Kaspersky Lab antivirus expert, analyzes various aspects of IT security with specific reference to Windows Vista.

You can read the full version of the article, Vista vs. Viruses, on Viruslist.com.

Vista Version - What would you pick?

National Security

What do you think... good thing or bad thing?

While you were sleeping (Bush took over the Government)

United States President stealthily took over the Federal Government last week through a new executive order last week that takes away all autonomy from Agencies, according to public interest organizations.

The order amends a series of previous executive orders that culminated in Executive Order No. 12,866, which the White House has used to give itself the power to review regulations before they can be officially published in the Federal Register.

Full story here:

Some "Brief" Friday Fun

From the website:

The "Brief Safe" is an innovative diversion safe that can secure your cash, documents, and other small valuables from inquisitive eyes and thieving hands, both at home and when you're traveling. Items can be hidden right under their noses with these specially-designed briefs which contain a fly-accessed 4" x 10" secret compartment with Velcro closure and "special markings" on the lower rear portion. Leave the "Brief Safe" in plain view in your laundry basket or washing machine at home, or in your suitcase in a hotel room - even the most hardened burgler or most curious snoop will "skid" to a screeching halt as soon as they see them. (Wouldn't you?) Made in USA. One size. Color: white (and brown).

To add realistic smell, check out "Doo Drops".

One Hacker Kit Accounts For 71% Of Dec Attacks

Tagged with the moniker "Q406 Roll-up," the attack kit was behind 70.9% of last month's attacks, reported Atlanta, Ga.-based Exploit Prevention Labs. Up to a dozen different exploits make up the kit, which includes several exploits derived from the proof-of-concept code that researcher HD Moore published in July 2006 during his "Month of Browser Bugs" project.

Exploit Prevention Labs launched a line of exploit detection tools -- LinkScanner Lite and LinkScanner Pro -- in November. The former is free, while the latter is priced at $19.99 for a one-year subscription.

More info here:

Low Tech Fix for High Tech Problem

Handheld Paper Shredder The Shredder Hand is the most convenient and compact way to get rid of those expired coupons, unwanted papers and old, confidential paper documents. At first glance it's just a pair of scissors, but with further exploration you will see that you can shred documents, or just parts of documents, without any electric or battery-operated power. Being the cheapest shredding option around it is amazing to think that it also has a long life and is small enough to be transported easily from the home to the office or classroom.

The Silver Bullet Security Podcast

The tenth episode of The Silver Bullet Security Podcast features a panel discussion with the Fortify Software Technical Advisory Board, several of whom have been featured on previous episodes. The group discusses what commercial software tools can learn from academic research, the state of software security in China, real world lessons learned while using static analysis tools, and software security pedagogy.

Aircrack-ng 0.7 is Released

aircrack is an 802.11 WEP and WPA-PSK keys cracking program that can recover keys once enough data packets have been captured. It implements the standard FMS attack along with some optimizations like KoreK attacks, thus making the attack much faster compared to other WEP cracking tools. In fact aircrack is a set of tools for auditing wireless networks.

Aircrack-ng is the next generation of aircrack with lots of new features (planned and wanted).

Risky Business - Greynets

We know very well that many security breaches occur due to simple human error. While most people know by now, not to write down passwords and/or leave their laptops unprotected, they may not know about a relatively new threat: greynets.

A new FaceTime study reports -

2007's Biggest Risk: Employees Undermining Corporate Security

The danger of this new breed of malware is compounded by the increasingly risky behavior of today's employees, who frequently introduce consumer greynet applications onto the corporate network– most often without the sanction of their IT department. The user is squarely at the cornerstone of enterprise security concerns, according to FaceTime's Second Annual Greynets Survey (October, 2006). The survey revealed that:

• Four in ten end users (39%) believe they should be allowed to "install the applications they need on their work computers," independent of IT oversight or policy.
• Fifty-three percent of end users report they "tend to disregard" company policies that govern greynet usage, specifically IM and peer-to-peer file sharing.
• Eight in ten IT managers are at locations that have experienced greynet-related attacks within the last six months
• The number of greynet applications installed on a typical enterprise network have increased dramatically; work locations where eight or more greynet applications are in use have doubled, growing from 20 percent of all locations in 2005 to 41 percent in 2006.
• Sixty percent of managers report that within the past six months, security attacks have been more likely to have invisible effects (like keyloggers) rather than outcomes apparent to the end user, such as a hijacked browser, making compromised PCs more difficult to detect.

Swedish bank hit by 'biggest ever' online heist

Two take-aways from this story...

One - this wasn't an online bank heist, this was just a plain old dumb user heist.

Nordea spokesman for Sweden, Boo Ehlin, said that most of the home users affected had not been running antivirus applications on their computers.

Ehlin blamed successful social engineering for the heist, rather than any deficiencies in Nordea's security procedures.

"It is more of an information, rather than a security problem," said Ehlin. "Codes are a very important thing. Our customers have been cheated into giving out the keys to our security, which they gave in good faith."

Two - why should the bank be responsible for this? If I break into your house and steal your checkbook and/or a credit card, is the bank responsible? How is this different?

The bank has borne the brunt of the attacks and has refunded all the affected customers.

RF Jammer

Ninja Strike Force member Lady Ada has posted a design for a self-tuning, microprocessor controlled, wide band RF jammer.

This website details the design and construction Wave Bubble: a self-tuning, wide-bandwidth portable RF jammer. The device is lightweight and small for easy camoflauging: it is the size of a pack of cigarettes.

Lost HOPE?

2600 Magazine's hacker conference Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) has been held at the Hotel Pennsylvania since 1994...

HOTEL PENN THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION - HOPE CONFERENCES IN JEOPARDY

We received this disturbing news earlier in the month. Apparently the realty company that owns the Hotel Pennsylvania, site of our HOPE conferences, wants to tear down the historic hotel and replace it with a huge financial tower. Such a move could spell the end of HOPE.

The Hotel Pennsylvania was built in 1919 and has a very rich history. It has been home to many a "big band" concert in its early years and was the inspiration for the famous Glenn Miller song "PEnnsylvania 6-5000," a phone number that still rings at the Hotel Pennsylvania switchboard. The building itself, as any HOPE attendee knows, is filled with hidden corridors, rooms, and even floors. Being right across the street from Penn Station (New York's main train station), it's extremely easy to get to for those coming to New York for the first time. And because it's not an overly expensive place to stay, it's proven very popular for travelers from all over the world.

We've hosted five HOPE conferences at the Hotel Pennsylvania since 1994 and the next one is set for 2008. In preparation for this, and to discuss the fate of the hotel among other things, we are today launching a web-based forum for all things HOPE-related. You can reach this brand new forum at talk.hope.net.

Secure Relationship?

1 in 8 men would dump their girlfrend for an iPod

Yes, this is a fairly silly survey conducted on behalf of a company that wants you to use it to buy more gadgets. But still, the fact that one in eight men would apparently consider swapping their partner for the latest iPod, widescreen TV, home cinema system or fridge freezer is pretty shocking.

Full story here.

Verisign's ongoing Quarterly Vulnerability Challenge

Computer security firm Verisign (iDefense) is offering some hefty bounties on vulnerabilities reported in Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system and IE7 web browser. It's a part of Verisign's ongoing Quarterly Vulnerability Challenge, where hackers of the world are invited to exploit various categories of software for fun and profit...

Vulnerability Challenge Ground Rules:

• The vulnerability must be remotely exploitable and must allow arbitrary code execution in a default installation of one of the technologies listed above
• The vulnerability must exist in the latest version of the affected technology with all available patches/upgrades applied
• 'RC' (Release candidate), 'Beta', 'Technology Preview' and similar versions of the listed technologies are not included in this challenge
• The vulnerability must be original and not previously disclosed either publicly or to the vendor by another party
• The vulnerability cannot be caused by or require any additional third party software installed on the target system
• The vulnerability must not require additional social engineering beyond browsing a malicious site

Security Now 74: Peter Gutmann On Vista Content Protection

Steve Gibson's Security Now podcast just aired a very good interview with Peter Guttman, the security researcher who wrote "A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection".

Personal Security - Dirty Hospitals

Two million patients are infected in hospitals each year and 90,000 of those Americans die.

Of every 20 people who go into a U.S. hospital, one of them picks up something extra: an infection. It's a lousy card to draw. Infection stalls recovery, sometimes requiring weeks of intravenous antibiotics or a grueling round of surgeries to remove infected tissue. And for 90,000 Americans a year, the infections are a death sentence.

Full story here.

WTF or TGIF... It's Friday - Teacher found guilty of exposing kids to smut

State Prosecutor David Smith said he wondered why Julie Amero didn't just pull the plug on her classroom computer.

The six-person jury Friday may have been wondering the same thing when they convicted Amero, 40, of Windham of four counts of risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child. It took them less than two hours to decide the verdict. She faces a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.

Full story here.

Those poor kids! I imagine they will be scared for life and their morals impaired forever...

Secure World? Not

George W. Bush told Americans he would send over 20,000 more U.S. troops to halt Iraq's collapse into civil war.

The surge in troops will do nothing to change the underlying dynamics that continue to drive the violence in Iraq: deep-seated religious, ethnic, and tribal divisions and hatreds; and a high and rising level of antipathy among Iraqis across the sectarian divide towards the continuing occupation of their country by Western armies...

Bedtime reading...

http://www.metaeye.org/

Metaeye defines itself as metamorphic security that relates to definite change in the structural components of computer security with the passage of time and to incarnate itself by providing protective and innovative solutions.The Metaeye generically sets an element of metamorphism to this present security world.

Did the NSA Fix Vista?

Things that make you go hmmm... Wonder what else they have stuck in there?

When Microsoft introduces its long-awaited Windows Vista operating system this month, it will have an unlikely partner to thank for making its flagship product safe and secure for millions of computer users across the world: the National Security Agency.

For the first time, the giant software maker is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as part of the Bush administration's effort to combat terrorism. The agency said it has helped in the development of the security of Microsoft's new operating system -- the brains of a computer -- to protect it from worms, Trojan horses and other insidious computer attackers.

Full story here.

That's Nice... Do Something That Looks Illegal, But Isn’t, Then Sue

Woman settles case over flour-filled condoms

A U.S. college student imprisoned for three weeks for trying to take flour-filled condoms onto an airplane has settled her lawsuit against Philadelphia for $180,000, a city spokesman said on Friday.

Janet Lee, 21, a student at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, was arrested at Philadelphia International Airport in 2003 after police and security officials thought the flour was an illegal drug.

She was held in Philadelphia on drug-trafficking charges and released only when tests proved the substance in the three condoms was flour.

The condoms, which are sometimes used to smuggle drugs, were a joke among the students, and Lee was taking them home to Los Angeles.

Her civil rights case against Philadelphia, which had been set to go to trial on Thursday, was settled for $180,000, said Ted Qualli, spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor John Street.

System/Software Inspection Tool

Secunia Software Inspector is a handy new online tool. Do you think this is a good thing? Or a great way to collect data?

Feature Overview - The Secunia Software Inspector:
* Detects insecure versions of applications installed
* Verifies that all Microsoft patches are applied
* Assists you in updating your system and applications
* Runs through your browser. No installation or download is required.