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Putting the r00t in Rootkit
- The last quarter of 2005 was an interesting period for
malcode. We saw the first Web-only worms propagate through
popular forums and portals using cross-site scripting; we
saw a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer that was
quickly adapted to install spyware and backdoors on
vulnerable hosts browsing hundreds of porn and warez
sites... |
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"Own-the-Internet" for Fame
and Profit - Keeping an eye on the latest security
advisories is core to staying ahead in the world of security
consulting, but advisories offer more than that. Security
advisories largely drive the security vulnerability
industry, reminding clients of threats and reinforcing the
need to maintain constant vigilance. |
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Worms that Fail to Turn -
A couple times each year we see Microsoft release fixes for
a vulnerability that sends system administrators, security
researchers, blackhats and worm writers scrambling. This
years first was MS06-040, or more specifically, the August
buffer overflow in the Microsoft Windows Server Service. |
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Platform Popularity - Security
in Obscurity? - For several years there has been
mudslinging between the various proponents of the Microsoft
Windows and Linux operating systems pertaining to the
security of their favorite operating system. Many
professionals have joined the fray, but the final verdict
for most users has been a confused draw. In the end, the
security... |
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Obfuscating Scripts - In
recent years there has been a marked shift in the number of
attacks that have centered upon compromise of the desktop
through web browser vulnerabilities. The attacks typically
rely upon the user navigating to a website or, more often, a
specially constructed web page which has been designed to
exploit a vulnerability within the web... |
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Breaking up the Attack -
For several years now, some of the more advanced commercial
penetration testing tools have made use of packet
fragmentation techniques to obfuscate vulnerability checks
or exploit attempts in an attempt to bypass legacy firewall
and intrusion detection systems. In most cases, depending
upon the actual security device defending... |
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Scaling an Attack - When I
meet with an organizations CSO or Head of Security and we
talk about the latest threats or the motivations behind a
high profile security incident, they are often surprised at
the scale of some of the targeted attacks now underway. They
are all used to the endless rain of unsolicited and unwanted
Spam messages which constitute 80-90% of all... |
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The Common Vulnerability
Scoring System (CVSS) - Over the years I’ve seen, and
used, a diverse range of methods to evaluate and explain the
risks associated with a particular security threat or
vulnerability. Depending upon the audience and the nature
of the environment being evaluated there has always been –
and always will be – a frequent need to reclassify the... |
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The Worm that Turned - As
expected, the first major vulnerability this year within a
Microsoft operating system (2006) - exploitable through a
default network-accessible service - had the exploit writers
pulling out all stops to be the first on the block with
exploit code. Within days the virus and worm writers had a
half dozen code exploit examples for the Plug and Play
vulnerability and were updating their creation kits with
them. |
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Wireless Security - As the
number of wireless access points dotted along the
high-street and within airport terminals around the world
continue to grow and propagate a “connect-anywhere-anytime”
philosophy, similar to that of the mobile phone phenomenon
in the early ‘90’s, organizations are struggling to
understand the latest security implications for their
mobile... |
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Embedded Operating Systems
- Each week, as we sit and watch the news, we hear about the
latest security vulnerability or worm that places our
computer at risk. The story has been repeating itself for
over a decade — with only the names changing on a weekly
basis. Worms such as Slammer or vulnerabilities like
Microsoft’s RPC DCOM have been consigned to... |
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Happy Birthday Phishers -
2006 marks the 10th anniversary of the first public
acknowledgement of a Phishing attack. Way back in 1996 the
objective of a Phisher was to obtain AOL authentication
credentials and higher download quotas, but it wasn’t until
March 1997 that the term “phishing” was publicly coined in a
popular computing magazine. A lot of things have... |
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RFID: Security Threat? -
Media interest in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has
increased substantially in recent months, and you may have
been quizzed about the security implications of the
technology. RFID technology is based on attaching a chip
with a small antenna (referred to as an RFID Tag) to an
object that will emit a unique signal response (the
identifier) when... |
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Mac OSX vs. Microsoft XP
First Published: X-Force Monthly Magazine Not less than two
years ago, Microsoft found itself fully engaged in combating
accusations that Windows was less secure than Linux. After
several detailed analytical studies relating to
vulnerabilities, out-of-the-box configurations, default
services and security patch responses, the end verdict for
most... |
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From Botnet to Malnet -
Throughout 2006 X-Force observed an exponential increase in
attackers seeking to compromise a victim’s desktop through
vulnerabilities in Web browsers or Spam-based payloads. Most
commonly the attackers sought to install malware armed with
‘best-of-breed’ rootkit functionality, command-and-control
channels, auto-updating and ... |
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Free Access Equals More
Vulnerabilities - A common question I’m asked by clients
and at various security conferences is why some software
vendors have more vulnerabilities than others – in
particular, why the software developed by the biggest
vendors continually appears to be vulnerable to the latest
attacks, while the small niche vendors seem to be immune. |
