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Category — digital Certificate
Critical DoS Flaw found in OpenSSL — How It Works

Critical DoS Flaw found in OpenSSL — How It Works

Sep 23, 2016
The OpenSSL Foundation has patched over a dozen vulnerabilities in its cryptographic code library, including a high severity bug that can be exploited for denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. OpenSSL is a widely used open-source cryptographic library that provides encrypted Internet connections using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) for the majority of websites, as well as other secure services. The vulnerabilities exist in OpenSSL versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2 and 1.1.0 and patched in OpenSSL versions 1.1.0a, 1.0.2i and 1.0.1u. The Critical-rated bug ( CVE-2016-6304 ) can be exploited by sending a large OCSP Status Request extension on the targeted server during connection negotiations, which causes memory exhaustion to launch DoS attacks, the OpenSSL Project said . What is OCSP Protocol? OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol), supported by all modern web browsers, is a protocol designed to perform verification and obtain the revocation status of a digital ...
Chinese Certificate Authority 'mistakenly' gave out SSL Certs for GitHub Domains

Chinese Certificate Authority 'mistakenly' gave out SSL Certs for GitHub Domains

Aug 29, 2016
A Chinese certificate authority (CA) appeared to be making a significant security blunder by handing out duplicate SSL certificates for a base domain if someone just has control over its any subdomain. The certificate authority, named WoSign , issued a base certificate for the Github domains to an unnamed GitHub user. But How? First of all, do you know, the traditional Digital Certificate Management System is the weakest link on the Internet today and has already been broken? Billions of Internet users blindly rely on hundreds of Certificate Authorities (CA) around the globe to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of their personal data. But, these CAs have powers to issue valid SSL cert for any domain you own, despite the fact you already have one purchased from another CA. ...and that's the biggest loophole in the CA system. In the latest case as well, WoSign issued a duplicate SSL certificate for GitHub domains without verifying ownership of the base domain. ...
What Is Attack Surface Management?

What Is Attack Surface Management?

Feb 03, 2025Attack Surface Management
Attack surfaces are growing faster than security teams can keep up – to stay ahead, you need to know what's exposed and where attackers are most likely to strike. With cloud adoption dramatically increasing the ease of exposing new systems and services to the internet, prioritizing threats and managing your attack surface from an attacker's perspective has never been more important. In this guide, we look at why attack surfaces are growing and how to monitor and manage them properly with  tools like Intruder . Let's dive in. What is your attack surface? First, it's important to understand what we mean when we talk about an attack surface. An attack surface is the sum of your digital assets that are 'reachable' by an attacker – whether they are secure or vulnerable, known or unknown, in active use or not. You can also have both internal and external attack surfaces - imagine for example a malicious email attachment landing in a colleague's inbox, vs a new FTP server being...
What is Certificate Transparency? How It helps Detect Fake SSL Certificates

What is Certificate Transparency? How It helps Detect Fake SSL Certificates

Apr 11, 2016
Do you know there is a huge encryption backdoor still exists on the Internet that most people don't know about? I am talking about the traditional Digital Certificate Management System … the weakest link, which is completely based on trust, and it has already been broken several times. To ensure the confidentiality and integrity of their personal data, billions of Internet users blindly rely on hundreds of Certificate Authorities (CA) around the globe. In this article I am going to explain: The structural flaw in current Digital Certificate Management system. Why Certificate Authorities (CA) have lost the Trust. How Certificate Transparency (CT) fixes issues in the SSL certificate system. How to early detect every SSL Certificates issued for your Domain, legitimate or rogue? First, you need to know Certificate Authority and its role: Certificate Authority and its Role A Certificate Authority (CA) is a third-party organization that acts as a centr...
cyber security

Practical, Tactical Guide to Securing AI in the Enterprise

websiteTinesEnterprise Security / AI Security
Supercharge your organization's AI adoption strategy, and go from complex challenges to secure success.
Let's Encrypt Project issues its First Free SSL/TLS Certificate

Let's Encrypt Project issues its First Free SSL/TLS Certificate

Sep 16, 2015
Last fall the non-profit foundation EFF ( Electronic Frontier Foundation ) launched an initiative called Let's Encrypt that aimed at providing Free Digital Cryptographic Certificates (TLS) to any website that needs them. Today, Let's Encrypt – a free automated Open-source Certificate Authority (CA) – has signed its first certificate, hitting what it calls a major milestone to encrypt all of the Web. Let's Encrypt enables any Internet site to protect its users with free SSL/TLS (Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security) certificates that encrypt all the data passed between a website and users. Not just free, but the initiative also makes HTTPS implementation easier for any website or online shopping site owner in order to ensure the security of their customers' data. "Forget about hours (or sometimes days) of muddling through complicated programming to set up encryption on a website, or yearly fees," EFF explains . "Let's Encr...
Free Encryption Project to issue First SSL/TLS Certificates Next Month

Free Encryption Project to issue First SSL/TLS Certificates Next Month

Jun 19, 2015
Let's Encrypt , a project aimed to provide free-of-charge and easier-to-implement way to obtain and use a digital cryptographic certificates (SSL/TLS) to secure HTTPS website, is looking forward to issue its first digital certificates next month. With Let's Encrypt , any webmaster interested in implementing HTTPS for their services can get the certificates for free, which is a great move for encouraging people to encrypt their users' connections to their websites. Let's Encrypt is a combined effort of digital-era rights advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Mozilla Foundation , Cisco Systems , Internet content distributor Akamai Technologies , certificate provider IdenTrust and researchers from the University of Michigan . Generally, the process of implementation of an SSL certificate, including the need to obtain and install a certificate, is complicated for most web developers as it sounds. In most cases, the cost related issues force web adm...
Chinese Government Executes MITM Attack against iCloud

Chinese Government Executes MITM Attack against iCloud

Oct 21, 2014
Apple iCloud users in China are not safe from the hackers — believed to be working for Chinese government — who are trying to wiretap Apple customers in the country. Great Fire , a reputed non-profit organization that monitors Internet censorship in China, claimed that the Chinese authorities have launched a nationwide Man in the Middle (MITM) campaign against users of Apple's iCloud service, designed to steal users' login credentials and access private data. MAN-IN-THE-MIDDLE ATTACK The attacks on the iCloud service was first reported on Saturday and come as Apple begins the official rollout of its latest launched iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on the Chinese mainland. If we talk about less publicized but more danger, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack is the most common one. By attempting MitM attack, a potential attacker could intercept users' internet communication, steal sensitive information and even hijack sessions. ACCESS TO CREDENTIALS AND ALL PERSONAL DATA Usin...
POODLE SSL 3.0 Attack Exploits Widely-used Web Encryption Standard

POODLE SSL 3.0 Attack Exploits Widely-used Web Encryption Standard

Oct 15, 2014
Another Heartbleed-like vulnerability has been discovered in the decade old but still widely used Secure Sockets Layer ( SSL ) 3.0 cryptographic protocol that could allow an attacker to decrypt contents of encrypted connections to websites. Google's Security Team revealed on Tuesday that the most widely used web encryption standard SSL 3.0 has a major security vulnerability that could be exploited to steal sensitive data. The flaw affects any product that follows the Secure layer version 3, including Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Researchers dubbed the attack as " POODLE ," stands for Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption , which allows an attacker to perform a man-in-the-middle attack in order to decrypt HTTP cookies. The POODLE attack can force a connection to "fallback" to SSL 3.0, where it is then possible to steal cookies, which are meant to store personal data, website preferences or even passwords. Three Google security engineers - Bodo Möll...
Android "Fake ID" Vulnerability Allows Malware to Impersonate Trusted Apps

Android "Fake ID" Vulnerability Allows Malware to Impersonate Trusted Apps

Jul 30, 2014
Due to the majority in the mobile platform, Google's Android operating system has been a prior target for cybercriminals and a recently exposed weakness in the way the operating system handles certificate validation, left millions of Android devices open to attack. Researchers at BlueBox security , who identified the vulnerability, dubbed the flaw as Fake ID , which affects all versions of Android operating system from 2.1 ( released in 2010 ) up to Android 4.4, also known as KitKat . ALL VERSIONS ARE VULNERABLE UPTO KITKAT Researchers marked the vulnerability as critical because it could allow a fake and malicious app to masquerade as a legitimate and trusted application, enabling an attacker to perform various actions such as inserting malicious code into a legitimate app, infiltrating your personal information or even take complete control of an affected device. Specifically, devices running the 3LM administration extension are at risk for a complete compromise, whic...
Gmail App for iOS leaves Users vulnerable to Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

Gmail App for iOS leaves Users vulnerable to Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

Jul 12, 2014
Google has failed to provide a very important security measure in its Gmail application for iOS that left millions of its Apple device users to Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks capable of monitoring encrypted email communications. Researcher at mobile security firm Lacoon has discovered that Google's Gmail iOS application, run on Macintosh mobile devices, does not perform what's known as "certificate pinning" when establishing a trusted connection between the mobile applications and back-end web services, which means an attacker can view plaintext emails and steal credentials in MitM attack. WHAT IS CERTIFICATE PINNING Certificate Pinning is a process designed to prevent user of the application from being a victim of an attack made by spoofing the SSL certificate . Certificate pinning automatically rejects the whole connection from sites that offer bogus SSL certificates and allow only SSL connections to hosts signed with certificates stored inside the application, whic...
Google catches Indian Government Agency with Fake Digital Certificates

Google catches Indian Government Agency with Fake Digital Certificates

Jul 09, 2014
Google has identified and blocked unauthorized digital certificates for a number of its domains issued by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) of India, a unit of India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. National Informatics Center (NIC) holds several intermediate Certification Authority (CA) certs trusted by the Indian government's top CA, Indian Controller of Certifying Authorities (India CCA), which are included in the Microsoft Root Store and so are trusted by a large number of applications running on Windows, including Internet Explorer and Chrome. The use of rogue digital certificates could result in a potentially serious security and privacy threat that could allow an attacker to spy on an encrypted communication between a user's device and a secure HTTPS website, which is thought to be secure. Google became aware of the fake certificates last Wednesday on July 2 and within 24 hours, the Indian Controller of Certifying Authorities (Ind...
Fake Digital Certificates Found in the Wild While Observing Facebook SSL Connections

Fake Digital Certificates Found in the Wild While Observing Facebook SSL Connections

May 12, 2014
Visiting a website certified with an SSL certificate doesn't mean that the website is not bogus. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protect the web users in two ways, it uses public key encryption to encrypt sensitive information between a user's computer and a website, such as usernames, passwords, or credit card numbers and also verify the identity of websites. Today hackers and cyber criminals are using every tantrum to steal users' credentials and other sensitive data by injecting fake SSL certificates to the bogus websites impersonating Social media, e-commerce, and financial websites as well. DETECTING FAKE DIGITAL CERTIFICATES WIDELY A Group of researchers, Lin-Shung Huang , Alex Ricey , Erling Ellingseny and Collin Jackson , from the Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with Facebook have analyzed [ PDF ] more than 3 million SSL connections and found strong evidence that at least 6;845 (0:2%) of them were in fact tampered with forged certificates i.e. self-signed di...
Beware of Zeus Banking Trojan Signed With Valid Digital Signature

Beware of Zeus Banking Trojan Signed With Valid Digital Signature

Apr 06, 2014
A new dangerous variant of ZeuS Banking Trojan has been identified by Comodo AV labs which is signed by stolen Digital Certificate which belongs to Microsoft Developer to avoid detection from Web browsers and anti-virus systems. Every Windows PC in the world is set to accept software " signed " with Microsoft's digital certificates of authenticity, an extremely sensitive cryptography seal. Cyber Criminals somehow managed to hack valid Microsoft digital certificate, used it to trick users and admins into trusting the file. Since the executable is digitally signed by the Microsoft developer no antivirus tool could find it as malicious. Digitally signed malware received a lot of media attention last year. Reportedly, more than 200,000 unique malware binaries were discovered in past two years signed with valid digital signatures. A Comodo User submitted a sample of the malicious software that attempts to trick user by masquerading itself as file of Intern...
98% of SSL enabled websites still using SHA-1 based weak Digital Certificates

98% of SSL enabled websites still using SHA-1 based weak Digital Certificates

Feb 06, 2014
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) had published a document on Jan 2011 that the SHA-1 algorithm will be risky and should be disallowed after year 2013, but it was recently noticed by Netcraft experts that NIST.gov website itself were using 2014 dated SSL certificate with SHA-1 hashes. " From January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2013, the use of SHA-1 is deprecated for digital signature generation. The user must accept risk when SHA-1 is used, particularly when approaching the December 31, 2013 upper limit. SHA-1 shall not be used for digital signature generation after December 31, 2013. " NIST in the document. Digital signatures facilitate the safe exchange of electronic documents by providing a way to test both the authenticity and the integrity of information exchanged digitally. Authenticity means when you sign data with a digital signature, someone else can verify the signature, and can confirm that the data originated from you and was not...
France Government used Rogue Google SSL Digital Certificates to Spy on users

France Government used Rogue Google SSL Digital Certificates to Spy on users

Dec 11, 2013
Google has found that the French government agency using unauthorized digital certificates  for some of its own domains to perform man-in-the-middle attacks on a private network. Google security engineer Adam Langley described the incident as a "S erious Security breach ", which was discovered in early December. Rogue digital certificates that had been issued by French certificate authority ANSSI, who closely work with the French Defense agency. "In response, we updated Chrome's certificate revocation metadata immediately to block that intermediate CA, and then alerted ANSSI and other browser vendors. Our actions addressed the immediate problem for our users" Google has immediately blocked the misused intermediate certificate and updated Chrome's certificate revocation list to block all dodgy certificates issued by the French authority. In a statement, ANSSI said that the intermediate CA certificate was used to inspect encrypted traffic with the user's knowle...
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