Android vulnerabilities 'increasing'

Android vulnerabilities, increased online banking threats and availability of sophisticated, inexpensive malware toolkits are among the growing concerns cited as major cyber-security threats in a report.

Trend Micro's Q2 2013 Security Roundup Report describes cyber-security threats from the previous quarter combined with analysis to evaluate and anticipate emerging attacks.

The report showed the number of malicious and high-risk Android apps has grown to 718,000 in the second quarter – a massive increase from the 509,000 high-risk apps found in the previous quarter.

These malicious apps are on track to exceed one million by year's end, as predicted by Trend Micro in the 2013 forecast. By way of comparison, it took a decade for PC malware to amass this number, said a statement.

Linda Barrabee, research director, Connected Intelligence at The NPD Group, said approximately only 30 per cent of all Android smartphones and tablets in the US, have any type of security app installed.

"Due to the fractured nature of the Android network, it is very difficult for patches to reach all users in an effective timeframe. In some cases, users will never get patches as vendors leave their customers at risk of attack," said JD Sherry, vice president, technology and solutions, Trend Micro.

"Until we have the same urgency to protect mobile devices as we have for protecting PCs, this very real threat will continue to grow rapidly. To fight this, Android users need to take great care when using their devices and take the simple, but effective, step of adding security software to all mobile devices."

The report also warned of increasing hazards to online banking, which saw malware increasing 29 per cent from the previous quarter. The US was the top target of malware, with more than one million instances amounting to 28 percent of global compromises, followed by Brazil at 22 percent and Australia at five percent.

Preventative measures, such as closely monitoring account activity and using third-party security solutions, will help mitigate this growing threat, said the report.

The report found that malware toolkits are being sold via inexpensive, free or bundled pricing schemes, such as two-for-one packages. The ease of access to these effective malware toolkits increases the hazards Internet users will face going into the remainder of 2013 and beyond, it said.
- TradeArabia News Service

The five scariest hacks we saw last week

(CNN) -- If something can connect to a network, it can be hacked. Computers and phones are still popular targets, but increasingly so are cars, home security systems, TVs and even oil refineries.

That was the message at this year's Black Hat and DefCon computer security conferences, which took place last week in Las Vegas. The annual conferences draw a mix of computer researchers and hackers who present the latest bugs and vulnerabilities they've discovered. It's a combination of public service, business and sport.

These are some of the more popular targets covered at this year's conferences. By drawing attention to them, the "white-hat" hackers hope to encourage greater security from the various manufacturers and industries, and more vigilance from consumers.

Typically, the presenters inform manufacturers of bugs ahead of their talks so the companies can fix the issues before they are exploited by criminals.

Remote-controlled cars

Someone hacking your computer can be an inconvenience. Someone hacking your car can be deadly.

A pair of presentations on hacking cars kicked off the DefCon conference on Friday. Australian hacker Zoz outlined the security issues fully autonomous cars will face and said car-hacking is inevitable.

Autonomous vehicles like cars and drones are essentially robots, and they rely on sensors to operate. He said a hacker could theoretically take complete control of a car over wireless networks or trick its various sensors into feeding a motorist false information about location, speed and the proximity of other cars or objects.

Fully driverless cars are still a few years away, but computerized systems are common in vehicles on the road today. Electronic control units can control a range of car functions, including braking, accelerating and steering. They manage security features, in-car displays and even seat belts.

Researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, funded by a grant from the U.S. military's DARPA, looked into what kind of damage hackers could do to a car by taking control of a Toyota Prius and a Ford Escape.

To access the systems, they had to physically connect a computer to the cars through a diagnostics port. They wrote custom software that let them hijack the cars' systems.

Once in control, they disabled brakes, changed the display to show incorrect speed or gas levels, and messed with the steering and seat belts. They were able to kill the engine and toy with with less consequential features like the car's horn and lights.

Toyota played down the wired demonstration and said it is focusing on security measures to prevent wireless attacks.

Compromising smartphones

Attacks on personal computers used to be the bread and butter of cybercriminals, spawning a lucrative industry of black-market malware and the anti-virus programs that fight them.

The next big target is smartphones. Mobile devices are not impervious to attacks, even though walled-off app stores have kept much of the malware at bay.

Kevin McNamee demonstrated how a piece of malware could turn an Android smartphone into a "spy phone" that remotely monitors its owner, sending information on the location, communications and content, like photos, back to a third party.

The hack isn't new, but McNamee managed to inject the malicious code into popular apps like "Angry Birds." Once it was installed, the user would have no idea that their phone was acting as a remote surveillance device.

Verizon "femtocells" -- small boxes used to extend cell service --were hacked by security researchers at iSEC Partners to intercept calls and any other data sent over cellular networks like texts, images and browsing history. The wireless carrier issued a fix for all its femtocells, but researchers say other networks could still have the same issue.

With $45 in hardware, researchers Billy Lau, Yeongjin Jang and Chengyu Song turned an innocent-looking iPhone charger into a tool for gathering information such as passcodes, e-mails and other communications, and location data directly from the smartphone. Apple thanked the researchers and said it is deploying a fix for the bug in its iOS 7 software update, which comes out this year.

The too-smart home

Thanks to cheap, low-power sensors, anything in your house can become a "smart" device, helpfully connecting to the Internet so you can control it from a computer or smartphone. Smart home security devices have the potential to cause the most damage if hacked, and two separate demonstrations showed how to break in by opening "smart" front-door locks.

Another unsettling trend at the conferences was spying on unwitting people through their own cameras. Home security cameras could be disabled by someone who wanted to break in, or they could be turned into remote surveillance devices. One researcher showed how she easily took over the camera stream on a child's toy from a computer.

Researchers Aaron Grattafiori and Josh Yavor found bugs in the 2012 model of the Samsung Smart TV that allowed them to turn on and watch video from the set's camera. Samsung said it had released a software update to fix the issue. (Many security experts suggest placing a piece of tape over any cameras you don't want surreptitiously watching you, just to be safe.)

Hackers get personal

Even in the wake of this year's NSA revelations, a homemade surveillance device that sniffs out pieces of data from your various computing devices, even when they're not online, is disturbing.

Brendan O'Connor, who runs a security firm and is finishing a law degree, has created such a device, dubbed CreepyDOL (DOL stands for Distributed Object Locator; "Creepy" is self-explanatory). The device cost $57 to make and consists of a Raspberry Pi computer, a USB hub, two WiFi connections, an SD card and USB power inside an nondescript black case.

Computers and phones act as tracking devices and leak information constantly, according to O'Connor. When plugged in, CreepyDOL detects nearby phones and computers and uses them to track people's location and patterns, figuring out who they are, where they go and what they do online.

To demonstrate the device without breaking any laws, O'Connor showed his own information as sniffed out by one of the devices. Using a gaming engine and Open Street Maps, he hovered over his dot on a map. It brought up his name, e-mail address, a photo, the dating website he used, details about his devices and the locations he visited in town.

In a worst-case scenario, as imagined by O'Connor, a miscreant could plug in one of the devices under any Starbucks near a capital building to pick up the scent of a state senator and wait for them to do something compromising.

"You find somebody with power and exploit them," said O'Connor.

The creation is remarkable for how simple it is. It's likely others have similar knowledge and setups that exploit the same security flaws in applications, websites, devices and networks.

Industrial facilities

The most frightening targets highlighted at the conference were the opposite of personal.

Critical infrastructure such as oil and gas pipelines or water treatment plants are potential targets for hackers. Many industries are controlled with supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems.

The systems are older, installed at a time when people weren't concerned about cyberattacks, and connect to the Internet over an unsecured network protocol.

The reason the systems are online in the first place is so that they're easier to monitor. Some, like oil pipelines, are often in remote locations.

Multiple demonstrations at the conferences showed just how simple it is to hack energy systems.

Researchers Brian Meixell and Eric Forner staged a mock hack of an oil well using pumps and a liquid container filled with teal liquid. They got into the system, turned the pumps on and off and overflowed the containers by feeding the system false data. If it happened on an actual oil well, the hack could result in an environmental catastrophe, according to the researchers.

It's possible to shut down an entire industrial facility from 40 miles away using a radio transmitter, according to researchers Carlos Penagos and Lucas Apa. They demonstrated injecting fake measurements, causing the device that received them to behave differently. For example, someone could trigger a water tank to overflow by faking an abnormally high temperature.

The industries and U.S. government are aware that industrial systems are vulnerable, but their remoteness and age make upgrading difficult and expensive. There is no built-in system for releasing software patches, like there is with personal computers.

By Heather Kelly, CNN

Microphones of Android phones can be remotely activated: Former US official

Former US official noted that sophisticated hacking tools can remotely activate the microphone on an Android device to spy on anyone.

Google Android mobile operating system has been the constant target of the hackers and Google's team has worked hard to patch all possible holes. However, there are perhaps several workarounds in Android that are not publicly talked about. Now according to a report of The Wall Street Journal, a former US Government official said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses sophisticated tools that can remotely activate the microphone on the Google Android based devices.
As per the report, the FBI uses some internally developed tools to collect information from the cyber space, computers and even mobile phones with the help of some private companies.

There are tools that can remotely activate the microphone on any Android OS running smartphone and the conversations can be recorded. This can be done remotely and the user would have no clue about it. This is just one of the methods that have been revealed. It is quite possible that any legitimate third party app can access the data on the phone and pass it on over the mobile internet without the knowledge of the user. Everything lies deeply under the permissions allowed to particular app.

Businesses Lack Security Knowledge, Vulnerable to Malware Threats

The majority of respondents have seen an uptick in more sophisticated and targeted malware attacks over the last 24 months.

The most likely avenue for a malware attack, and cause for successful malware attacks, is lack of user knowledge about cyber-security risks, according to a survey of 315 North American-based IT security professionals working at enterprise-class organizations (1,000 employees or more) sponsored by Malwarebytes and conducted by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).

The study also revealed that enterprise organizations are seeing an increase in more sophisticated malware and are making it a strategic priority to add new layers of endpoint security to protect their organizations against advanced zero-day and polymorphic threats commonly used for targeted attacks.

"As cyber-attacks become more sophisticated, IT security professionals are realizing that relying on only one layer of endpoint security isn't enough. Each endpoint needs multiple layers of malware detection to ensure complete protection," Marcin Kleczynski, CEO of Malwarebytes, said in a statement. "The reality is, most antivirus products will miss nine out of 10 zero-day malware threats, and having a layered approach blocks advanced threats that traditional antivirus scanners may fail to detect."

The ESG report found the majority of respondents have seen an uptick in more sophisticated and targeted malware attacks over the last 24 months. However, 62 percent of organizations surveyed said endpoint security software is not effective for detecting zero-day and/or polymorphic malware, which leaves them vulnerable to these attacks

Likely avenues for malware to compromise an organization’s system included employees opening an infected e-mail attachment and unwittingly clicking on an infected URL while surfing the Web. Survey respondents indicated an employee clicking on an infected URL posted within an e-mail was the most likely vector for malware to infiltrate their organizations.

On average, it took 57 percent of respondents hours to detect that an IT asset had been compromised by malware. It took 19 percent of organizations several days to determine there had been an attack, and 29 percent of respondent organizations that have suffered a successful malware attack believe the increasing use of social networks is responsible for those attacks.

In addition, two-thirds of U.S.-based respondents do not believe the U.S. federal government is doing enough to help the private sector cope with the current cyber-security and threat landscape, and 85 percent of IT security professionals expressed concern about some type of massive cyber-attack that could impact critical infrastructure, the economy and/or national security.

"When it comes to managing malware risk, enterprises would be best served by implementing a layered approach using proactive and reactive lines of defense through their networks. Antivirus software plays a key role in protecting organizations, but it should not be the only method used to deter malware attacks," Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst at ESG, said in a statement. "Additionally, sometimes the biggest vulnerability in an organization is the computer users. Because employee actions can greatly impact computer security, educating employees on potential threats and how to avoid them should be made a priority."

By Nathan Eddy

Forensic Imaging system exposes critical data

A breakthrough from US Forensic Imaging company CyanLine has allowed investigators to reveal the true number of times a hard disk has been in active use and when it was first activated.

CyanLine's  Fast Disk Acquisition System (FDAS) exposes vital metadata from the disk controller that reveals information previously thought unavailable.

“The discovery of this new information can be utilised in nearly every case that uses computer forensic imaging as evidence,” said Steven Branigan, founder of CyanLine and forensic scientist. “The information from FDAS can be used to confirm or overturn cases, if the metadata aligns with their claims.”

Cyber crime suspects can buy brand new drives and copy only the ‘evidence’ they want investigators to see, according to Branigan.

“Forensic investigators can search a suspect’s metadata, and if they find that the drive was in use for just 20 hours, but the computer is three years old, it shows that evidence was not only tampered with, but it was also hidden elsewhere,” he added.

Branigan states that the biggest problem in digital forensics cases are that lawyers and investigators have not known to look for metadata, nor realise that suspects can and will replace their disk drives to hide evidence.

“FDAS not only provides a faithful copy of the evidence disk, but it also provides information about the disk drive itself. It is this data can be used to determine age and usage of the disk,” Branigan said.

Lawyers and investigators can now use FDAS to confirm that the data under review is, in fact, the right data.

CyanLine says that FDAS is the only forensic imaging system that reports on this key metadata, which not only adds value, but also offers evidence that can crack and close a case. For more information, visit http://www.cyanline.com.

SIM Cards Vulnerable to Hacking...

Millions of mobile phones may be vulnerable to spying due to the use of outdated, 1970s-era cryptography, according to new research due to be presented at the Black Hat security conference.

Karsten Nohl, an expert cryptographer with Security Research Labs, has found a way to trick mobile phones into granting access to the device's location, SMS functions and allow changes to a person's voicemail number.

Nohl's research looked at a mobile phones' SIM (Subscriber Identification Module), the small card inserted into a device that ties it to a phone number and authenticates software updates and commands sent over-the-air from an operator.

More than 7 billion SIM cards are in use worldwide. To ensure privacy and security, SIM cards use encryption when communicating with an operator, but the encryption standards use vary widely.

Nohl's research found that many SIMs use a weak encryption standard dating from the 1970s called DES (Data Encryption Standard), according to a preview posted on his company's blog.

DES has long been considered a weak form of encryption, and many mobile operators have upgraded now to more secure forms. It is relatively easy to discover the private key used to sign content encrypted with DES.

In its experiment, Security Research Labs sent a binary code over SMS to a device using a SIM with DES. Since the binary code wasn't properly cryptographically signed, it would not run on the device.

But while rejecting the code, the phone's SIM makes a crucial mistake: it sends back over SMS an error code that carries its own encrypted 56-bit private key, according to the company. Because DES is considered a very weak form of encryption, it's possible to decrypt the private key using known cracking techniques.

Security Research Labs did it in about two minutes on a regular computer with the help of a rainbow table, a mathematical chart that helps convert an encrypted private key or password hash into its original form faster.

With the private DES key in hand, it is then possible to "sign" malicious software updates with the key, and send those updates to the device. The device believes the software comes from a legitimate source and then grants access to sensitive data.

The company outlined an attack scenario against SIM cards that run some form of Java virtual machine, a software framework for Java applications.

Using the SIM's private key, an attacker could force the SIM to download Java applets, which are essentially very small programs that perform some function. Those applets would be "allowed to send SMS, change voicemail numbers, and query the phone location, among many other predefined functions."

"These capabilities alone provide plenty of potential for abuse," the company wrote.

Possible remedies to the problem including ensuring SIM cards use state-of-the-art cryptography and also using Java virtual machines that restrict applets' access to certain information.

Nohl's presentation, "Rooting SIM cards," will take place at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on July 31.

By Jeremy Kirk

By Jeremy Kirk

Millions of mobile phones may be vulnerable to spying due to the use of outdated, 1970s-era cryptography, according to new research due to be presented at the Black Hat security conference.
Karsten Nohl, an expert cryptographer with Security Research Labs, has found a way to trick mobile phones into granting access to the device's location, SMS functions and allow changes to a person's voicemail number.
Nohl's research looked at a mobile phones' SIM (Subscriber Identification Module), the small card inserted into a device that ties it to a phone number and authenticates software updates and commands sent over-the-air from an operator.
More than 7 billion SIM cards are in use worldwide. To ensure privacy and security, SIM cards use encryption when communicating with an operator, but the encryption standards use vary widely.
Nohl's research found that many SIMs use a weak encryption standard dating from the 1970s called DES (Data Encryption Standard), according to a preview posted on his company's blog.
DES has long been considered a weak form of encryption, and many mobile operators have upgraded now to more secure forms. It is relatively easy to discover the private key used to sign content encrypted with DES.
In its experiment, Security Research Labs sent a binary code over SMS to a device using a SIM with DES. Since the binary code wasn't properly cryptographically signed, it would not run on the device.
But while rejecting the code, the phone's SIM makes a crucial mistake: it sends back over SMS an error code that carries its own encrypted 56-bit private key, according to the company. Because DES is considered a very weak form of encryption, it's possible to decrypt the private key using known cracking techniques.
Security Research Labs did it in about two minutes on a regular computer with the help of a rainbow table, a mathematical chart that helps convert an encrypted private key or password hash into its original form faster.
With the private DES key in hand, it is then possible to "sign" malicious software updates with the key, and send those updates to the device. The device believes the software comes from a legitimate source and then grants access to sensitive data.
The company outlined an attack scenario against SIM cards that run some form of Java virtual machine, a software framework for Java applications.
Using the SIM's private key, an attacker could force the SIM to download Java applets, which are essentially very small programs that perform some function. Those applets would be "allowed to send SMS, change voicemail numbers, and query the phone location, among many other predefined functions."
"These capabilities alone provide plenty of potential for abuse," the company wrote.
Possible remedies to the problem including ensuring SIM cards use state-of-the-art cryptography and also using Java virtual machines that restrict applets' access to certain information.
Nohl's presentation, "Rooting SIM cards," will take place at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on July 31.
- See more at: http://www.computerworld.in/news/sim-cards-vulnerable-hacking-research-120732013#sthash.oJOyPach.dpuf

Digital Carjackers Show Off New Attacks

Cyber Security Threats...

Employees bigger cyber security threat than dedicated criminals

Over half of business leaders see their own employees as a bigger threat to cyber security than external attackers, according to the survey ‘Boardroom Cyber Watch 2013'.

The survey, delivered by IT Governance, collated the views of 260 senior executives from across the globe, representing organisations ranging in size and revenue from US $5 million to US $500 million. 

Perhaps surprisingly, despite recent high-profile cases of external hackers derailing government and corporation IT systems, employees are seen as the biggest threat to an organisation's cyber security - being the number one threat chosen by 53 per cent of respondents.

A more modest number, at 27 per cent, consider cyber criminals their number one threat. State-sponsored cyber-attackers (12 per cent) and rival organisations (8 per cent) followed.

Worryingly, a quarter of all respondents admit to facing a cyber attack in the last 12 months alone, whilst a further 20 per cent concede that an attack in the last year may have occurred. Despite this, only 30 per cent of the senior executives questioned properly value the need for an understanding of IT security vulnerabilities when hiring executive staff.

Alan Calder, Chief Executive of IT Governance, commented on the findings: “In the face of the rapid development and deployment of new cyber-threats, such infrequent executive oversight of IT security status seems alarmingly casual.

"In the boardroom, many companies still appear too removed from the action for directors to meet their governance obligations.”

To provide an incentive to brush up on cyber security, the survey has revealed that half of the companies have been asked by customers about information security measures in the past 12 months - a more proactive attitude that could provide a competitive advantage if followed.

Calder explained: “The best way for organisations to prove their cyber security credentials is to comply with, and be certificated against, ISO 27001, the global best practice standard for information security management. This lets you signal to customers anywhere in the world that you have a robust method for addressing the entire range of risks associated with systems, people and technology."

By: Information Daily Staff Writer 

Google issues security patch for Android devices

SYDNEY: Search engine Google has reportedly issued a patch to mend the security flaw detected by security firm BlueBox which made almost all Android phones vulnerable to hacking. 

As revealed earlier by the security firm, Android uses the cryptographic signature as a way to check that an app or program is legitimate and to ensure it has not been tampered with, however, BlueBox found a method of tricking the way Android checks these signatures so that malicious changes to the apps go unnoticed. 

According to News.com.au, Google has released a patch to original equipment manufacturers in a bid to address the bug which reportedly affected up to 900 million Android devices since the release of Android 1.6 in 2009. 

Google's Android Communications Manager, Gina Scigliano said that there has not been any evidence of exploitation in Google Play or other app stores because of the loophole. 

The report said that while the security hole exists, there is no indication that it has yet been exploited and Android users can manually check for system updates through the settings menu or can rely upon their hardware providers for the update.