Hacking, Security & Privacy News - Page 99

A report was released last fall that claimed using a single repeating digit was a stronger pin code for your iPhone than using unique digits. All bets are off, however, when you are dealing with Micro Systemation, a Swedish security firm that helps police and military around the world crack digital security systems.

Just last week, the company released a video showing just how simple it is to crack an iPhone or Android device that is password protected. The video, which you can see below, documents a process where the company spokesperson uses an application called XRY and accesses the contents of the mobile phone in less than two minutes.

Immediately, all user information becomes available. This information includes GPS location, call history, contacts, and messages. The software doesn't use a flaw put there by the manufacturer. Instead it uses a brute-force method to try all of the combinations to guess the correct password. It's more akin to jailbreaking than hacking.

Instead of just sitting around waiting for the police to take action against online crime, Microsoft filed a civil suit in order to gain a warrant to sweep two office buildings in Pennsylvania and Illinois. The sweeps occurred Friday and resulted in a bunch of evidence, deactivated servers, and Microsoft seizing control of hundreds of Web addresses.

Why would Microsoft waste their money filing these civil suits and attacking cyber crime? Well, as it stands, Microsoft has a vested interest in taking down these cyber criminals. Many computers are powered by Windows, and since it has such a large market share, it is a main target for hackers. If Microsoft can make Windows more secure, they can combat Apple's main claim that OSX is more secure and stop losing market share.

Additionally, they can provide a better end-user experience, which Microsoft's customers would appreciate. "Taking the disruption into the courthouse was a brilliant idea and is helping the rest of the industry to reconsider what actions are possible, and that action is needed and can succeed," said Richard Perlotto, director at the Shadowserver Foundation.

This is a cautionary story for all of those iOS 5 users out there, including the new iPad 3 users. Germany security firm MajorSecurity discovered a bug earlier this month that can be used to trick you into visiting potentially malicious Web sites. The bug was first discovered in iOS 5 and was replicated in iOS 5.1. Apple was informed of the bug by MajorSecurity on March 3, but has not yet issued a patch.

"The weakness is caused due to an error within the handling of URLs when using javascript's window.open() method," explained David Vieira-Kurz of MajorSecurity. "This can be exploited to potentially trick users into supplying sensitive information to a malicious Web site, because information displayed in the address bar can be constructed in a certain way, which may lead users to believe that they're visiting another web site than the displayed web site."

Apple has acknowledged the bug, so they should be able to produce a patch, and I would encourage you to upgrade when it becomes available. Until then, watch the sites you go to, as it may not be where the URL bar is telling you you are at. If you would like to see for yourself, go here on your mobile device, select Demo in the upper left corner. This will open a new page that says Apple and looks like Apple but is still on MajorSecurity's server.

We live in a modern age where technology seems to be taking over everything we do, from e-mails taking over for letters, to Turbo Tax taking over handwritten taxes. But, where do we draw the line? Can all of this technology be bad? Well, in one man's case, it is. A bug in the Norwegian's tax web portal has allowed anyone who went there to see his, his wife's, and his employer's information.

Users hoping to get an early start on their taxes went to the site, which resulted in a crash. When the servers were brought back up, everybody was inexplicably logged in as Kennith, the man in question. It seems that his login details were stored in the server's cache when the system went down, and after it was brought back up, logged everyone in as him.

The bug lasted only 15 minutes because they brought the servers back down, however, during that time period, anyone was able to log on and see his very private tax information. This isn't the first time the service has had issues. In response to the recent issues, the managing company has admitted that there were bugs when the system first launched and that they lacked the expertise to properly manage it.

No, I'm not trying to use scare tactics. No, I don't want you to rip out your link to the internet. I just want you to beware: Microsoft may have had a hand in leaking executable code that was used in a proof-of-concept (PoC). The data packet that was used was the same that Luigi Auriemma, an Italian security researcher, discovered and reported way back in May of 2011. Last Tuesday, Microsoft updated all flavors of Windows to patch the critical RDP vulnerability. Both Microsoft, and I, strongly recommend that you update and patch all of your machines running Windows.

Auriemma has stated:

In short it seems written by Microsoft for [its] internal tests and was leaked probably during its distribution to their 'partners' for the creation of antivirus signatures and so on. The other possible scenario is [that] a Microsoft employee was [the] direct or indirect source of the leak. [A] hacker intrusion looks the less probable scenario at the moment.

Sony are having a bad time with this hacking news, it just feels like a bad smell that won't go away for them. The latest news is Michael Jackson's entire music catalog was stolen during the hack, which reportedly accounts for some 50,000 individual tracks and a wide variety of unreleased material.

This was known in May of last year, in the aftermath of the hack which left the PlayStation Network and Qriocity (which is now known as Sony Entertainment Network Music Unlimited) users without a server for nearly an entire month. There were two men based in the UK who were arrested with the theft, and have appeared in court where they denied the charges.

The two men were released on bail and are now due to stand trial in January 2013. Sony had originally paid $250 million to the Jackson estate back in 2010 for the rights to literally everything that Michael had recorded, and whilst Sony haven't told us how widespread the theft is, multiple 'sources' have reported that the entire collection was taken.

Last Friday, a group of purportedly Gazan hackers defaced Israel's Fire and Rescue Services website. They didn't just do any old hack, but added a "death to Israel" message on the website and a tweaked picture of Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, where they superimposed foot prints over his face.

Ayalon is the public official responsible for a strongly worded statement denouncing hacking, likening it to terrorism and threatening (bad move) that:

Israel has active capabilities for striking at those who are trying to harm it, and no agency or hacker will be immune from retaliatory action.

First up - this does not surprise me. I've thought for a very long time that this happens, as with most things, right under our noses and no one even knows. I'm sure it goes much deeper than this, and we'll never find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes, but on with the news. A group of Indian hackers known as "The Lords of Dharmaraja" had posted documents that were pillaged during the hack of an Indian military network. It was removed, but thanks to Google Cache, you can see an image of it below, and if that's not good enough, click here to read it directly.

Slashdot had reported on it too, and unveils some more info:

The memo suggests that, "in exchange for the Indian market presence" mobile device manufacturers, including RIM, Nokia, and Apple (collectively defined in the document as "RINOA") have agreed to provide backdoor access on their devices. The Indian government then "utilized backdoors provided by RINOA" to intercept internal emails of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a U.S. government body with a mandate to monitor, investigate and report to Congress on 'the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship' between the U.S. and China.

Anonymous don't rest during the holidays like most people, they've donned their Santa hats and hacked their way into thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of a U.S.-based security think tank, Stratfor.

One of the hackers said their goal was to take the funds from individuals' accounts to give away as Christmas donations. Anonymous boasted of stealing Stratfor's confidential client list, which includes entities including Apple, the U.S. Air Force, and even where Dexter Morgan works, the Miami Police Department. They mined it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.

Stratfor is an Austin, Texas-based company which provides political, economic and military analysis to help clients reduce risk, according to their YouTube page. They charge subscribers for its reports and analysis, which are delivered through the web, e-mail and videos.

U.S. cyber security analysts and experts are reporting that fewer than 12 different Chinese groups are responsible for most of the China-based cyber attacks that have resulted in critical data being stolen from U.S. companies and government agencies. The analysts spoke to The Associated press where they've said the intrusions have resulted in the loss of billions of dollars of intellectual property and other critical data.

The attacks may have been stealthy, agressive and somewhat ninja, but the distinct signatures the hackers leave behind make it possible for U.S. cyber security investigators to more or less accurately identify which teams were responsible for the attacks. According to the report, the U.S. gives unique names or numbers to the attackers, and at times can tell where the hackers are and even who they may be.

It's virtually impossible, however, to prosecute hackers based in China due to the lack of any form of agreement between the two countries. Even if it were 100-percent possible to provide definitive proof of where and who the attacks came from, China would most likely not even bat an eyelid. Given that at least a handful of the groups are believed to have financial backing from the Chinese government or military.