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Internet Security News
Breaking news and updates in Internet security
Last Updated: September 4th, 2010 22:42:39 CDT -0500
Windows XP Security Patch
This week, Microsoft released a new security patch for issues affecting the XP and Server 2003 operating systems. The vulnerabilities were all related to remote code execution, though only the XP patches were listed as critical by the Microsoft Security Bulletin.
 | | Windows XP Security Patch |  |
On June 5, Tavis Ormandy, a Google security researcher discovered a zero-day vulnerability in Windows Help that he reported to Microsoft. When Microsoft and Ormandy could not agree on the terms of creating a fix, he published the vulnerability four days later, creating a huge media storm. There were people on both sides, some arguing that Ormandy acted irresponsibly by spoon feeding a security exploit to hackers who would use it to cause harm. Others argued that without full disclosure, Microsoft would not have taken this threat seriously and wouldn't act towards fixing the issue.
Whether or not Ormandy was right in his actions, the outcome speaks in his favor. This past Tuesday, Microsoft released Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-042, which addresses these vulnerabilities. This is an amazingly quick turnaround. The normal time frame for "responsible disclosure" is to allow the software manufacturer a 60 day window to fix the problem before public release. To have a fix only five weeks after the bug was brought to Microsoft's attention makes a strong argument for the proponents of full disclosure.
On the other hand, since the release of this particular bug, Microsoft has reported over 10,000 computers have been affected by hackers using this security hole. This is a significant amount of people being affected by a previously unpublished issue. The fact that it was unpublished does not necessarily mean that it was unknown to the people who could exploit it. It is unlikely that Ormandy was the only person that would ever discover this problem. Thanks to his actions, we now have a solution to what could have become a serious problem for more than just the 10,000 people who were unfortunately targeted.
iTunes Store to Receive Security Makeover
Apple is in the news this week about the new security measures it will be implementing in the wildly popular iTunes store. Granted, this is not a major security upgrade, but it does help to prevent the kind of security holes that have been recently exposed.
 | | iTunes Store To Receive Security Makeover | |
This all began when a Vietnamese app developer named Thuat Nguyen's apps covered 42 of the top 50 apps in the app store. This raised a few red flags, especially after people commented on the apps that they never purchased them. After some investigating, Apple determined that Nguyen had obtained account information from 400 accounts with stored credit card information and had used them to purchase his apps from the App Store. He then used these accounts to purchase his apps, driving up sales and his revenue.
In order to combat this type of security breach, iTunes will now require an extra step be taken by its customers. On accounts with saved credit card information, customers will need to enter their CCV code from the back of their card more frequently. That's it. Admittedly, this is not a full security overhaul, but the truth is that that would be unnecessary. The "hacked" accounts are more than likely victims of fishing attacks, as Apple has stated that their servers were unaffected by any kind of security breach.
Overall, the damage caused by this problem was minimal (assuming you are not one of the 400 accounts that were targeted). 400 accounts out of 150 million comes to roughly 0.0003% of accounts worldwide. This coupled with the fact that Nguyen and his apps have been banned from the App Store makes this a fairly open and shut case. For anyone who was affected by this fraud, Apple recommends that you contact your credit issuing agency about canceling your card and issuing a charge back for unauthorized transactions.
The "New" Paper Trail
These days, with threats of computer hackers stealing data to insurance companies "accidentally" publishing hundreds of thousands of peoples most sensitive information on the internet, data security is a very prevalent issue. A CBS news investigation recently turned up a new source of potential data leakage, the standard office copy machine.
 | | The "New" Paper Trail | |
Unknown by the majority of Americans, almost every single copier built since 2002 has an internal hard drive which stores a digital copy of each document copied, scanned, or printed using the machine. This can be a useful feature for storing fax cover sheets and other commonly used documents. The problem comes when personal information is copied for office use. For example, doctors making copies of medical records, insurance companies making copies of claims information, or employers making copies of drivers licenses. Each time a copy is made, that information is stored in a way that is easily retrievable by anyone with access to the machine.
There are numerous rental services which rent out copiers to businesses with no set policies on dealing with this kind of security. Some offer to scrub the hard drive when it is returned, but they can charge up to $500 for the service. There are also refurbished copiers for sale containing data from any previous owners. At least in these cases, the owner has physical access to the machine to be able to take steps on their own, such as purchasing an encryption service for the internal hard drive, or their own data deletion tools. What is more worrisome are the copy and print shops where there are no guarantees on document security. Anything copied there is stored on their machines, where it is unlikely that any measures are taken to wipe the drives on a regular basis, if ever.
If your office handles private information, or anything else that doesn't need to be shared with others, steps should be taken to make sure that the information stored inside your copier is safe. There are usually services available from the manufacturers to have the data removed from the device after each job is completed, or at least encrypted, although this can significantly add to the cost of the machine.
McAfee: Cyberwarfare A Big Threat
It might not be long before we return to the days of schoolchildren diving under their desks in warfare preparedness drills. Only now, instead of hiding from nukes, the kiddos may be unplugging their computers, since McAfee has indicated that a cyberarms race is taking place.
 | | McAfee: Cyberwarfare A Big Threat | |
Dave DeWalt, the president and CEO of McAfee, said in a statement, "[S]everal nations around the world are actively engaged in cyberwar-like preparations and attacks." These include China, France, Israel, Russia, and the U.S., and it's no secret that the members of this group aren't all on great terms.
What's more, cyberwarfare's barrier to entry is so low in comparison to traditional hostilities (a roomful of computers vs. thousands of men, tanks, and airplanes) that lots of other countries are almost sure to pursue the idea.
Then, if and when the virtual bullets start flying, things could get really nasty. McAfee reported, "Attackers are not only building their cyberdefenses, but cyberoffenses, targeting infrastructure such as power grids, transportation, telecommunication, finance and water supplies, because damage can be done quickly and with little effort."
At least this state of affairs would create a good job market for security professionals. Everybody else might benefit in a physical manner from the dive-and-unplug exercises, too.
ICSA Labs Finds Flaws In New Security Products
It's sometimes fun to be an early adopter, as the long lines and waitlists for things like iPhones and the new Camaro have proven. But where security products are concerned, do yourself a favor and let other folks go first, since a fresh report indicates that it can take more than a single try to get things right.
 | | ICSA Labs Finds Flaws In New Security Products | |
ICSA Labs, which is based in Pennsylvania and has been around for 20 years, tests and sometimes certifies products. Emphasis on "sometimes."
An ICSA Labs Product Assurance Report indicated that just 4 percent of security products attain certification following a first round of testing. Most have to try again between one and three times before making the cut.
And it's not guaranteed that a product will ever meet the necessary standards, either. According to ICSA Labs, only about 82 percent of products attain certification in the end, meaning about one-fifth of all applicants (and perhaps a much larger percentage of products) aren't up to snuff.
So leave the shakedown cruises to less cautious individuals. Just repeat "patience is a virtue" a few times and read reviews while you're waiting, and remember that things will be less likely to blow up in your face when you finally get onboard.
Nigeria Announces Early Results Of Anti-Scammer Initiative
No one's sure how many there are to go, but according to a Nigerian official, there are about 800 scam email addresses and 18 criminals that can be considered "down." Mrs. Farida Waziri, the chairperson of a government agency, announced that some shutdowns and arrests occurred thanks to an initiative called Project Eagle Claw.
 | | Nigeria Announces Early Results Of Anti-Scammer Initiative | |
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is the force behind Project Eagle Claw, and with Microsoft's help, has just started ramping it up. Waziri explained in a statement, "We expect that Eagle Claw as conceived will be 100% operational within six months and at full capacity, it will take Nigeria out of the top 10 list of countries with the highest incidence of fraudulent e-mails."
She then gave some very interesting details, continuing, "[U]pon full deployment, the capacity to take down fraudulent e-mails will increase to 5,000 monthly. Further it is projected that advisory mails to be sent to victims and potential victims will be about 230,000 monthly."
Anything Nigeria can do to address the problem of scammers operating from within its borders will of course be good for the country's image. More than that, it might help honest Nigerians become part of the online world (since some entities have just taken to blocking troubled regions as a whole).
Then there will be the benefit to the rest of the world, with maybe millions of dollars not getting lost. For that reason, Project Eagle Claw is likely to gain a lot of fans.
MessageLabs Names Most- (And Least-) Spammed States
When considering where to live, it's wise to look up stats about an area's climate, the cost of living, and its proximity to other important stuff in your life. Symantec's MessageLabs recently supplied some information about your odds of getting spammed, too.
 | | MessageLabs Names Most- (And Least-) Spammed States | |
Somewhat surprisingly, the states you might imagine as being the "most wired" - California, New York, Washington - weren't at the top of the list. Instead, the state in which spam represents the highest percentage of all emails received is Idaho, with 93.8 percent.
In an email to SecurityProNews, a Symantec/MessageLabs representative then listed the other top states (in order) as Kentucky, New Jersey, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Maryland.
The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico wound up on the opposite end of the list, followed by Montana, Alaska, Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Florida.
We're not quite sure what to make of these findings; the states don't appear to be ordered according to Internet penetration rates, GDP per capita, overall population, physical size, or anything else. Still, if you're looking to move, now you have a better idea of how to decrease the odds of getting bombarded with spam at your new home.
Enormous Malware Archive Creates Stir
A Dutch company known as the Frame4 Group has created what's almost the computing equivalent of a Center for Disease Control lab. The Malware Distribution Project is, according to its own site, the "world's biggest private malware archive."
 | | Enormous Malware Archive Creates Stir | |
Don't jump to the conclusion that the project's run by a bunch of supervillains; the malware samples are supposed to be "offered for the purposes of analysis, testing and malware research."
Also, customers are screened, and a monthly access fee of about $1,235 should act to keep out some of the riffraff.
It actually seems possible that the Malware Distribution Project could be of great help to the security community. When you consider that medical researchers don't have to wander from house to house, asking people if they have cancer, every time they want to start a new experiment, certain practices start to seem a little outdated.
There is a potential for problems, though. One nightmare scenario relates to the Malware Distribution Project's figurative walls failing and everything getting out. Having all of that malware run amuck at once - particularly if security researchers' computers were the first things it'd come across - would be bad.
Then there's the possibility that some unpleasant person would gain access to the Malware Distribution Project's archive and just sort of go on a shopping spree. This way, some relatively stupid hacker might be able to get his (or her) hands on the most sophisticated viruses in existence.
As you might imagine, the Malware Distribution Project is definitely proving divisive.
Anyway, at last count, the repository contained a whopping 3,336,503 files.
UPDATE (10-13-09): Anthony Aykut, the Managing Director of Frame4 Security Services, got in touch with SecurityProNews this morning to pass along some information. In an email, he wrote, "[T]he malware is neither downloadable via the web site or accessible in any other way via the www; in fact, the (secure) servers where the malware is stored (or analyzed/processed) is not even connected to the outside world."
Aykut also stressed that nothing is sold to the public, and added, "Largely due to the security measure(s) mentioned above, and also based on to the fact that the storage media are protected by biometric devices, getting access to the MD:Pro archive is, well, pretty impossible."
Avsim Hacker (Maybe) Brought Before Cops
Perhaps people who like to spend their spare time in the cockpits of imaginary F-16s should be left alone. The man in charge of a flight simulator site that was attacked claims to have identified the hacker and forwarded information to the authorities.
 | | Avsim Hacker (Maybe) Brought Before Cops | |
Avsim is one of the best-known flight sim communities in existence. It's been around for a long time, too. Unfortunately, a hacker managed to wipe about a decade's worth of modification info and forum posts from the site's servers back in May.
Now, though, Tom Allensworth, the publisher and CEO of Avsim, has told the BBC, "We . . . have incontrovertible evidence of the individual that performed the hack. We have protected the forensic evidence and provided that evidence to the London police. We are committed to bringing justice to bear on this case."
Allensworth is confident in the outcome, too, adding, "We fully expect that the criminal complaint . . . will result in the perpetrator spending some time behind bars - under UK law." (Since Avsim's located in the US, this means he's not pushing for extradition or anything of that sort.)
Neither London's Metropolitan Police Service nor the accused individual (who hasn't been publicly named) has made any comment yet.
Email Password Hackers Present Real Threat
The next time you have something really important to tell someone, consider whether a drive over to his or her house wouldn't be a nice way of spending a few minutes. One reporter has found that it's quite easy (and perhaps all too common) for people to buy email accounts' passwords from hackers.
 | | Email Password Hackers Present Real Threat | |
Tom Jackman wrote in an article for the Washington Post, "[S]ervices as YourHackerz.com are still active and plentiful, with clever names like 'piratecrackers.com' and 'hackmail.net.' They boast of having little trouble hacking into such Web-based e-mail systems as AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook and Hotmail, and they advertise openly."
Jackman found that prices for passwords range from around $30 to $100, which means that even the average ten-year-old can probably afford these hackers' services.
Plus, unless someone important is involved or things get rather serious, law enforcement isn't terribly likely to look into (or at least resolve) the matter, because accessing a computer without authorization is just a misdemeanor in most areas and tracking down a perpetrator can be difficult.
And it doesn't help, of course, that all of these facts have now been publicized in a widely-read newspaper.
So if you've got some nasty business rivals or psycho exes, at least try to play it safe by changing your password often for as long as you're in the person's sights. Then there's always the option of putting a few more miles on the odometer, too.
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