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Google Releases 'nogotofail' Network Traffic Security Testing Tool

Google Releases 'nogotofail' Network Traffic Security Testing Tool

Nov 05, 2014
Google introduced a new security tool to help developers detect bugs and security glitches in the network traffic security that may leave passwords and other sensitive information open to snooping. The open source tool, dubbed as Nogotofail , has been launched by the technology giant in sake of a number of vulnerabilities discovered in the implementation of the transport layer security, from the most critical Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL to the Apple's gotofail bug to the recent POODLE bug in SSL version 3. The company has made the Nogotofail tool available on GitHub, so that so anyone can test their applications, contribute new features to the project, provide support for more platforms, and help improve the security of the internet. Android security engineer Chad Brubaker said that the Nogotofail main purpose is to confirm that internet-connected devices and applications aren't vulnerable to transport layer security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encry
Android 4.3 and Earlier versions Vulnerable to Critical Code-Execution Flaw

Android 4.3 and Earlier versions Vulnerable to Critical Code-Execution Flaw

Jun 27, 2014
A critical code-execution vulnerability almost affecting everyone those are not running the most updated version of Google Android , i.e. Android version 4.4 also known as KitKat. After nine months of vulnerability disclosure to the Android security team, researchers of the Application Security team at IBM have finally revealed all the possible details of a serious code-execution vulnerability that still affects the Android devices running versions 4.3 and earlier, which could allow attackers to exfiltrate sensitive information from the vulnerable devices. " Considering Android's fragmented nature and the fact that this was a code-execution vulnerability, we decided to wait a bit with the public disclosure ," said Roee Hay, a security research group leader at IBM. The researchers found the stack buffer overflow vulnerability that resides in the Android's KeyStore storage service, which according to the Android developers' website is the service code running in Androi
Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Mar 21, 2024Operational Technology / SCADA Security
When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it's easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the historical attacks to see how those types compare.  The Types of OT Cyber-Attacks Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the need for improved cybersecurity practices in IT's lesser-known counterpart, OT. In fact, the lines of what constitutes a cyber-attack on OT have never been well defined, and if anything, they have further blurred over time. Therefore, we'd like to begin this post with a discussion around the ways in which cyber-attacks can either target or just simply impact OT, and why it might be important for us to make the distinction going forward. Figure 1 The Pu
Google Unveils BoringSSL, Another Flavor of OpenSSL

Google Unveils BoringSSL, Another Flavor of OpenSSL

Jun 21, 2014
The open source encryption protocol, OpenSSL, which is used by several social networks, search engines, banks and other websites to enable secure connections while transmitting data, came to everybody's attention following the Heartbleed vulnerability , a critical bug in the OpenSSL's implementation of the TLS/DTLS heartbeat extension that allows attackers to read portions of the affected server's memory, potentially revealing users data, that the server did not intend to reveal. Now, the biggest Internet giant Google is launching a new fork of OpenSSL, which they dubbed as BoringSSL, developed by its own independent work with the code. " We have used a number of patches on top of OpenSSL for many years, " Adam Langley, a cryptography engineer and Google employee, wrote in a blog post introducing BoringSSL. " Some of them have been accepted into the main OpenSSL repository, but many of them don't mesh with OpenSSL's guarantee of API and ABI
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
OpenSSL Vulnerable to Man-in-the-Middle Attack and Several Other Bugs

OpenSSL Vulnerable to Man-in-the-Middle Attack and Several Other Bugs

Jun 05, 2014
Remember OpenSSL Heartbleed vulnerability ? Several weeks ago, the exposure of this security bug chilled the Internet, revealed that millions of websites were vulnerable to a flaw in the OpenSSL code which they used to encrypt their communications. Now once again the OpenSSL Foundation has issued software updates to patch six new vulnerabilities, and two of them are critical. MAN-IN-THE-MIDDLE ATTACK (CVE-2014-0224) First critical vulnerability (CVE-2014-0224) in OpenSSL is " CCS Injection " - resides in ChangeCipherSpec (CCS) request sent during the handshake that could allow an attacker to perform a man-in-the-middle attack against the encrypted connection servers and clients.  By exploiting this vulnerability an attacker could intercept an encrypted connection which allows him to decrypt, read or manipulate the data. But the reported flaw is exploitable only if both server and client are vulnerable to this issue. According to the OpenSSL advisory , " An attacker
Beware Of Fake 'HeartBleed Bug Remover Tool', Hijacks System with Malware

Beware Of Fake 'HeartBleed Bug Remover Tool', Hijacks System with Malware

May 28, 2014
I am considering that you all must have read my last article on OpenSSL Heartbleed , a critical bug in the OpenSSL's implementation of the TLS/DTLS heartbeat extension that allows attackers to read portions of the affected server's memory, potentially revealing users data, that the server did not intend to reveal. The Heartbleed vulnerability made headlines around the world and my last article explains everything about probably the biggest Internet vulnerability in recent history, but still some readers are not aware of its nature, otherwise they would not have been a victim of the spam campaigns. Spammers are very smart on gaining from every opportunity they get, so this time they are taking advantage of the infamous Heartbleed bug and frighten the users into installing Anti-Heartbleed Software onto their systems, which is obviously a malware. The researchers at Symantec have unearthed a spam campaign targeting people by sending spam emails that warns them their
300,000 Servers Still Vulnerable to Heartbleed Vulnerability After One Month

300,000 Servers Still Vulnerable to Heartbleed Vulnerability After One Month

May 09, 2014
It's more than a month since we all were warned of the critical OpenSSL Heartbleed vulnerability , but that doesn't mean it disappeared. The critical bug compromised many popular websites and after been discovered the problem was solved. But is that so? No, not at all! A recent finding from the security researcher Robert David Graham claims that there are still more than 300,000 servers apparently remain vulnerable to the most critical OpenSSL bug, Heartbleed, which is admittedly down in numbers from the previous which resulted in over 600,000 systems a month ago. Graham announced on the Errata Security blog that he arrived at the number through a recently done global internet scan (or at least the important bits: port 443 of IPv4 addresses), which reveals that exactly 318,239 systems are still vulnerable to the OpenSSL Heartbleed bug and over 1.5 million servers still support the vulnerable "heartbeat" feature of OpenSSL that allowed the critical bug. "
Hacker exploits Heartbleed bug to Hijack VPN Sessions

Hacker exploits Heartbleed bug to Hijack VPN Sessions

Apr 19, 2014
Cyber criminals have explored one more way to exploit Heartbleed OpenSSL bug against organisations to hijack multiple active web sessions conducted over a virtual private network connection. The consulting and incident response Mandiant investigated targeted attack against an unnamed organization and said the hackers have exploited the " Heartbleed " security vulnerability in OpenSSL running in the client's SSL VPN concentrator to remotely access active sessions of an organization's internal network. The incident is the result of attacks leveraging the OpenSSL Heartbleed vulnerabilities, which resides in the OpenSSL's heartbeat functionality, if enabled would return 64KB of random memory in plaintext to any client or server requesting for a connection. The vulnerability infected almost two-third of internet web servers, including the popular websites. Recently, there has been an arrest of a Canadian teen of stealing usernames, credentials, session IDs and other da
Several Tor Exit Nodes Vulnerable To Heartbleed Bug

Several Tor Exit Nodes Vulnerable To Heartbleed Bug

Apr 17, 2014
Half of the Internet fall victim to the biggest threat, Heartbleed bug and even the most popular online anonymity network Tor is also not spared from this bug. Tor is one of the best and freely available privacy software, runs on the network of donated servers that lets people communicate anonymously online through a series of nodes that is designed to provide anonymity for users and bypass Internet censorship. When you use the Tor software, your IP address remains hidden and it appears that your connection is coming from the IP address of a Tor exit relay or nodes, which can be anywhere in the world. An Exit relay is the final relay that Tor encrypted traffic passes through before it reaches its destination. But some of these Tor exit nodes are running on the servers with the affected version of OpenSSL installed which are vulnerable to the critical Heartbleed Flaw. This means an attacker can grab the hidden information from the Tor network which is actually restricte
19-Year-Old Teenager Arrested for Exploiting Heartbleed Bug to Steal Data

19-Year-Old Teenager Arrested for Exploiting Heartbleed Bug to Steal Data

Apr 17, 2014
A teenager has been arrested by the Canadian police in relation to the infamous malicious breach on the country's taxpayer system using one of the most critical internet flaws, Heartbleed . Heartbleed bug , that made headlines over past two weeks and every websites around the world flooded with its articles. Every informational website, Media and Security researchers are talking about Heartbleed, probably the biggest Internet vulnerability in recent history. According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), a 19-year-old ' Stephen Arthuro Solis-Reyes ' of London, Ontario, is charged with the unauthorized access of the computer and criminal mischief in relation to the data breach of taxpayer's private information from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website. " The RCMP treated this breach of security as a high priority case and mobilized the necessary resources to resolve the matter as quickly as possible ," Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud said in
HeartBleed Bug Explained - 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions

HeartBleed Bug Explained - 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions

Apr 15, 2014
Heartbleed – I think now it's not a new name for you, as every informational website, Media and Security researchers are talking about probably the biggest Internet vulnerability in recent history. It is a critical bug in the OpenSSL's implementation of the TLS/DTLS heartbeat extension that allows attackers to read portions of the affected server's memory, potentially revealing users data, that the server did not intend to reveal. After the story broke online, websites around the world flooded with the heartbleed articles, explaining how it works, how to protect, and exactly what it is. Yet many didn't get it right. So based on the queries of Internet users, we answered some frequently asked questions about the bug. 1.) IS HEARTBLEED A VIRUS? Absolutely NO, It's not a virus. As described in our previous article , The Heartbleed bug is a vulnerability resided in TLS heartbeat mechanism built into certain versions of the popular open source encryption standard Open
Billions of Smartphone Users affected by Heartbleed Vulnerability

Billions of Smartphone Users affected by Heartbleed Vulnerability

Apr 13, 2014
Heartbleed has left a worst impression worldwide affecting millions of websites and is also supposed to put millions of Smartphones and tablets users at a great risk. Heartbleed is a critical bug ( CVE-2014-0160 ) in the popular OpenSSL cryptographic software library, that actually resides in the OpenSSL's implementation of the TLS/DTLS heartbeat extension, which allows attackers to read portions of the affected server's memory, potentially revealing users data such as usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers, that the server did not intend to reveal. OpenSSL is a widely-used cryptographic library which implements the SSL and TLS protocol and protects communications on the Internet, and mostly every websites use either SSL or TLS, even the Apache web server that powers almost half of the websites over internet utilizes OpenSSL. But to assume that the users using desktop browsers to visit websites are vulnerable to the Heartbleed bug, will be wrong. Despite 40
NSA denies Report that Agency knew and exploited Heartbleed Vulnerability

NSA denies Report that Agency knew and exploited Heartbleed Vulnerability

Apr 12, 2014
The Bloomberg claimed that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) knew about the most critical Heartbleed flaw and has been using it on a regular basis to gather " critical intelligence " and sensitive information for at least past two years and decided to keep the bug secret, citing two sources ' familiar with the matter '. In response to the above report, NSA has issued a ' 94 character' statement today denying the claims that it has known about the Heartbleed bug since two years and that it has been using it silently for the purpose of surveillance. " NSA was not aware of the recently identified Heartbleed vulnerability until it was made public ," the U.S. intelligence agency said on its Twitter feed . Heartbleed is one of the biggest Internet vulnerabilities in recent history that left large number of cryptographic keys and private data such as usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers, from the most important sites and services on the Int
German Developer responsible for HeartBleed Bug in OpenSSL

German Developer responsible for HeartBleed Bug in OpenSSL

Apr 12, 2014
We have already read so many articles on Heartbleed, one of the biggest iNternet threat that recently came across by a team of security engineers at Codenomicon , while improving the SafeGuard feature in Codenomicon's Defensics security testing tools.  The story has taken every media attention across the World, as the bug opened doors for the cyber criminals to extract sensitive data from the server's memory and almost every major site have been affected by it. UNINTENTIONAL  BIRTH OF HEARTBLEED More than two years ago, German programmer Robin Seggelmann introduced a new feature called " Heartbeat " in the most secured open source encryption protocol, OpenSSL , which is used by several social networks, search engines, banks and other websites to enable secure connections while transmitting data. But introducing heartbeat feature cost him dearly, as here the most critical bug resides. Dr. Seggelmann allegedly was just trying to improve OpenSSL and wo
How to Protect yourself from the 'Heartbleed' Bug

How to Protect yourself from the 'Heartbleed' Bug

Apr 10, 2014
Millions of websites, users' passwords, credit card numbers and other personal information may be at risk as a result of the Heartbleed security flaw , a vulnerability in widely used cryptographic library ' OpenSSL '. [ READ DETAILS HERE ] Netcraft survey says that about half a million widely trusted active websites on the internet are vulnerable to the heartbleed bug, which means the information transmitting through hundreds of thousands of websites could be vulnerable, despite the protection offered by encryption techniques. According to Netcraft, " the heartbeat extension was enabled on 17.5% of SSL sites, accounting for around half a million certificates issued by trusted certificate authorities. These certificates are consequently vulnerable to being spoofed (through private key disclosure), allowing an attacker to impersonate the affected websites without raising any browser warnings. " Among the trusted names running OpenSSL is Yahoo!, which has been
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