Please try the URL privacy information feature enabled by clicking the flashlight icon above. This will reveal two icons after each link the body of the digest. The shield takes you to a breakdown of Terms of Service for the site - however only a small number of sites are covered at the moment. The flashlight take you to an analysis of the various trackers etc. that the linked site delivers. Please let the website maintainer know if you find this useful or not. As a RISKS reader, you will probably not be surprised by what is revealed…
via NNSquad https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/08/siemens-dhs-warn-of-low-skill-exploits-against-ct-and-pet-scanners/ Siemens identified the vulnerabilities in a customer alert on 26 Jul 2017, warning that the vulnerabilities were highly critical—giving them a rating of 9.8 out of a possible 10 using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The systems affected include Siemens CT, PET, and SPECT scanners and medical imaging workflow systems based on Windows 7. One of the vulnerabilities is in the built-in Window Web server running on the systems. "An unauthenticated remote attacker could execute arbitrary code by sending specially crafted HTTP requests to the Microsoft Web server (port 80/tcp and port 443/tcp) of affected devices," Siemens warned in its alert. The bug in the Web server software allows code injection onto the devices.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-fireeye-results-idUSKBN1AH56W SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday plans to introduce legislation seeking to address vulnerabilities in computing devices embedded in everyday objects—known in the tech industry as the Internet of Things—which experts have long warned poses a threat to global cyber security.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/4/16095244/us-army-stop-using-dji-drones-cybersecurity The editor of SUAS News has obtained what appears to be an internal memo from the U.S. Army asking all units to discontinue the use of DJI drones due to an increased awareness of cybervulnerabilities with DJI products. The memo notes that the Army had issued over 300 separate releases authorizing the use of DJI products for Army missions, meaning a lot of hardware may have been in active use prior to the memo, which is dated 2 Aug 2017. [See also https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/08/army-tells-troops-to-stop-using-dji-drones-immediately-because-cyber/ PGN]
Michael Byrne, *Motherboard*, 30 Jul 2017 via ACM TechNews, Friday, August 4, 2017 Researchers Marijn Heule and Oliver Kullmann envision brute-force problem solving playing a key role in security- and safety-critical systems by generating proofs in propositional logic, also known as Satisfiability (SAT) solving. "Today, SAT solving on high-performance computing systems enables us to conquer problems of high complexity, driven by practice," the researchers write in a paper published in the August issue of Communications of the ACM. "This combination of enormous computational power with 'magical brute force' can now solve very hard combinatorial problems, as well as proving safety of systems such as railways." As part of their work, Heule and Kullmann have demonstrated an automated SAT solver that has produced a 200-terabyte proof. "Now the task is to live up to big complexities, and to embrace the new possibilities," Heule and Kullmann note. "Proofs must become objects for investigations, and understanding will be raised to the next level, how to find and handle them." https://orange.hosting.lsoft.com/trk/click?ref=3Dznwrbbrs9_6-16060x212a24x076576&
A security researcher has shown off the potential danger of Internet connected speakers being used to listen in on private conversations by publishing details of how to hack earlier models of the Amazon Echo via a hardware-based vulnerability that cannot be fixed with a software patch. The 2015 and 2016 models of the Amazon Echo can be exploited by using 18 debug connection pads, accessible by removing the rubber base from the device, according to MWR InfoSecurity researcher Mark Barnes. An external SD card breakout board was attached to the debug pads, allowing Barnes to boot from an SD card and rewrite the onboard firmware, making it remotely accessible. http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/08/02/amazon-echo-vulnerability-allows-hackers-to-eavesdrop-with-always-on-microphone
A journalist and a data scientist secured data from three million users easily by creating a fake marketing company, and were able to de-anonymise many users https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/01/data-browsing-habits-brokers
Peter Wayner, InfoWorld, 3 Aug 2017 via ACM TechNews, 7 Aug 2017 Software development is being transformed by technologies such as continuous integration and smarter languages, while databases are improving and fulfilling a variety of niches. Frameworks are relieving programmers of the burden of writing everything from scratch, and routine libraries also are proving helpful. Meanwhile, the development of mechanisms and rules for enforcing uniform styles is making code easier to understand, and virtual machines are increasingly favored over physical hardware as instruments for running the code. Application programming interfaces have made it largely unnecessary to pack data tightly, and new user interfaces such as smart TVs and smartphones are creating many novel programming opportunities and challenges. In addition, infrastructure as a service and platform as a service are streamlining server and website building, while social media portals are increasingly necessary. Furthermore, performance monitoring is becoming a key necessity as code defects and bottlenecks are no longer restricted to a single machine. https://orange.hosting.lsoft.com/trk/click?ref=znwrbbrs9_6-1610dx212a47x076853&
Alison DeNisco, Tech Republic, 7 Aug 2017 via ACM TechNews, 7 Aug 2017 The Ruby programming language's popularity has plummeted steeply in the past few years, owing to scalability limits, slower application runtimes, and an inability to let computer scientists gain the same types of insight into their data as they can with other languages, according to experts. "[Ruby] might be a good language if somebody wants to start out doing programming, but true computer scientists don't look at it as introducing the true paradigms of computer programming," says Tufts University's Karen Panetta. Many companies have discarded Ruby for languages that offer easier expansion and lower long-term costs, including the MEAN stack, or Python and Java. Coding Dojo's Speros Misirlakis stresses the importance for developers to be agile and conversant in different languages. "Every developer realizes you can't specialize in one language and expect that to be true for 20 or 30 years," Misirlakis notes. "People should be open to learning multiple technologies, languages, and frameworks." https://orange.hosting.lsoft.com/trk/click?ref=znwrbbrs9_6-1610dx212a46x076853&
(via Dave Farber) President Xi Jinping has overseen a tightening of China's cyberspace controls, including tough new data surveillance and censorship rules. This push is now ramping up ahead of an expected consolidation of power at the Communist Party Congress this autumn. The drill asked Internet data centers to practice shutting down target web pages speedily and report relevant details to the police, including the affected websites' contact details, IP address and server location. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-internet-idUSKBN1AJ1XL
via NNSquad http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/hbo-hack-thousands-of-documents-stolen-1202513573/ The HBO hack may have been worse than the initial leaks of a few un-aired TV show episodes suggested. A security company hired by HBO to scrub search results for the hacked files from search engines has told Google that the hackers stole "thousands of Home Box Office (HBO) internal company documents." The disclosure came as part of a DMCA take-down notice sent to Google Tuesday to force the search engine to take down links to the leaked files. The take-down notice also detailed that the hackers did away with "masses of copyrighted items including documents, images, videos and sound." The company in question, IP Echelon, is frequently being used by HBO to remove links to infringing material from Google. An HBO spokesperson declined to comment on the take-down notice and the nature of any files stolen by the hackers when contacted by Variety Wednesday "due to an ongoing investigation."
Hackers behind attacks such as WannaCry might not have become hugely rich, but that doesn't mean they are going to give up any time soon https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/03/ransomware-future-wannacry-hackers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/08/02/uber-drivers-gang-cause-surge-pricing-research-says/ Researchers at the University of Warwick found Uber drivers in London and New York have been tricking the app into thinking there is a shortage of cars in order to raise surge prices. According to the study. drivers manipulate Uber's algorithm by logging out of the app at the same time, making it think that there is a shortage of cars. [Maybe they are just going through pUBERty? PGN]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/wells-fargo-faces-lawsuits-angry-lawmakers-over-car-lending/2017/08/02/ae8b0f06-77c3-11e7-8c17-533c52b2f014_story.html
Thanks to Ben Schneiderman for serendipitously reminding me that I have been meaning to mention Cathy O'Neil's book, Weapons of Math Destruction (which to my British colleagues would of course be Weapons of Maths Destruction -- seemingly closer phonetically). (Browsing that title turns up many hits.) Cathy has an item in *The Guardian* on problematic algorithms, which seems very relevant for RISKS: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/16/how-can-we-stop-algorithms-telling-lies
After years as a niche market for technologically sophisticated anarchists and libertarians, digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/style/what-is-cryptocurrency.html
A British security researcher, credited with stopping the spread of malicious software in May, was arrested in connection with a separate attack. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/technology/cybersecurity-researcher-hailed-as-hero-is-accused-of-creating-malware.html
More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they're on the brink of a mental-health crisis. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/
A jet-chartering service says its survey found that at least 6 percent boarded a commercial aircraft knowingly or unknowingly carrying a bladed object. prohibited by the TSA. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2017/08/03/more-than-1-in-5-travelers-knowingly-or-unknowingly-carried-prohibited-items-onto-aircraft-survey-finds/
via NNSquad https://lauren.vortex.com/2017/08/02/beware-the-browser-extensions-privacy-trap There's a story going around currently about a group of researchers who claim to have de-anonymized a variety of browser users' search data. The fact that proper anonymization of data is a nontrivial task is quite well known. Sloppy "anonymization" can be effectively as bad as no anonymization at all. But the interested observer might wonder ... where did these researchers get their search data in the first place? It turns out that the main source of this data are the individuals or firms behind third-party browser extensions and apps, which provide or sell the user data that they collect to data brokers and to other entities. And so we open up a very big can of worms. The major browsers (e.g., Google's Chrome) provide various means for users to install extensions and applications to extend browser functionalities. While the browser firms work extensively to build top-notch security and privacy controls into the browsers themselves, the unfortunate fact is that these can be undermined by such add-ons, some of which are downright crooked, many more of which are sloppily written and poorly maintained. Ironically, some of these add-on extensions and apps claim to be providing more security, while actually undermining the intrinsic security of the browsers themselves. Others (and this is an extremely common scenario) claim to be providing additional search or shopping functionalities, while actually only existing to silently collect and sell user browsing activity data of all sorts. The manner in which these apps and extensions end up being installed can be insidious, and relates to the fundamental complexity of the underlying security models, which are not understood by the vast majority of users, especially non-techie users. For the record, similar confusion exists regarding smartphone app security models, e.g. for Android. The bottom line is that most users, faced with a prompt to install an extension or app that claims to provide useful functions, will simply grant the requested permissions, no matter how privacy and/or security invasive those permission actually are. And why should we expect these users to do anything differently? Expecting them to really understand what these permissions mean is ludicrous. We're the software engineers and computer scientists—most users aren't either of these. They have busy lives—they expect our stuff to just work, and not to screw them over. I recently helped an older Chrome user whom I know clean out their Chrome browser on Windows 10. As is routine for me, I used Chrome Remote Desktop for this purpose (please see: "Google Asked Me How I'd Fix Chrome Remote Desktop—Here's How!") https://lauren.vortex.com/2017/07/24/google-asked-me-how-id-fix-chrome-remote-desktop-heres-how He must have had 25 or 30 "crap" extensions installed that I needed to individually remove (some of which appeared to have been "slave" extensions installed by other "master" extensions). He claimed not to have knowingly installed any of them. Almost certainly, these were all prompted installations at sites he visited once or twice, with which he could have easily interacted without installing any of these add-ons at all. But these sites push users very hard to install these privacy-invasive, data sucking extensions, and as noted above most users will grant requested permissions, implicitly assuming that they're protected by the browser itself. Underlying browser security models can complicate the situation. For example, one of the most common—and most easily abused—categories of permissions requested by extensions and apps is one that grants read and write access to all data at all websites you visit—or even that *plus* all data on your computer! Now, here's the kicker. While these sorts of permissions are the golden ticket for abuse by crooked and sloppy extensions or apps, there are many legitimate, well-written add-ons that also require such permissions to operate. But how is the average user to make a reasonable determination in this context, faced with a site urging them to install an add-on that is being portrayed as necessary? Most users don't have a site reputation database at hand for reference—they just want to get on with what they're trying to do online. I will note here that I know of various corporate environments where security policies absolutely prohibit the installation of apps or extensions with such broad permissions, with few if any exceptions (e.g. unless they're of internal origin and have passed rigorous internal security and privacy audits). I don't have a brilliant "magic wand" solution to this set of problems. Personally, I install as few browser extensions and apps as possible unless I am absolutely confident in the reputation of their origins, and I absolutely minimize the installation of any add-ons that require broad permissions either to websites or the local machines. Sometimes there are situations where an app or extensions looks very useful and enticing—but I still need to say "no go" to them the vast majority of the time. One last thing. I urge you to check right now to see what extensions and/or apps you have installed, and remove the ones that you don't need (or worse, don't even recognize). For most versions of Chrome, you can do this by entering on your browser address bar: chrome://extensions and: chrome://apps On the extension list, a little trash can at the right is where you click to remove an extension. On the app list page (page select is at the bottom of that page), right click to access the menu that includes a "Remove from Chrome" entry. On Chrome OS, you may not be able to access the app page(s) using the link above. If the link doesn't work in this case, click on the white circle in the bottom of screen toolbar to bring up the app page. Is this all too complicated? Yep, it sure is.
via NNSquad http://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org/
via NNSquad https://www.wired.com/story/wannacry-malwaretech-arrest Just three short months ago, security researcher Marcus Hutchins entered the pantheon of hacker heroes for stopping the WannaCry ransomware that ripped through the Internet and paralyzed hundreds of thousands of computers. Now, he's been arrested and charged with involvement in another mass hacking scheme--this time on the wrong side. Yesterday, authorities detained 22-year-old Hutchins after the Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas as he attempted to fly home to the UK, where he works as a researcher for the security firm Kryptos Logic. Upon his arrest, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Hutchins, charging that he created the Kronos banking trojan, a widespread piece of malware used to steal banking credentials for fraud. He's accused of intentionally creating that banking malware for criminal use, as well as being part of a conspiracy to sell it for $3,000 between 2014 and 2015 on cybercrime market sites like the now-defunct AlphaBay dark web market. The news of Hutchins' arrest shocked Defcon attendees and the wider cybersecurity community, in which Hutchins is a widely admired figure for his technical knowledge and his key actions to neuter the WannaCry epidemic in May.
R. James Woolsey and Brian J. Fox https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/opinion/open-source-software-hacker-voting.html?emc=edit_th_20170803&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=44068520
[Another animal-related power outage in the Pacific Northwest, to add to the fish tank item in RISKS-30.40. PGN] A bird dropped a fish on power lines in South Seattle, causing a 2.5-hour outage in the area. Connie MacDougal, a City Light spokesperson said, "It is rare, I've been here 16 years and I've heard of raccoon-caused outages, and many bird outages. But never a fish." [A short fish could not have caused the short, so therein lies a long tail. PGN]
Having spent a lot of time traveling through regional and rural parts of Australia (and having been a driver in two instances of a kangaroo and my car wanting to occupy the same point in space at the same time) I do wonder about how local knowledge can be incorporated into self-driving cars. For example, near where my parents-in-law live in central New South Wales, there are several roads (generally abutting dams) where you do not drive close to dawn or dusk to avoid the roos as they congregate to drink. (We drove out to one such place late one afternoon with a picnic dinner and watched over 30 kangaroos crossing the road in a 15-20 minute period during dusk.) Likewise there are many country roads where the verge creates puddles after rain which are also favoured spots for roos to get water (so you avoid these areas but only after rain). And there are other times when you are driving along and see one or more kangaroos hopping parallel to you and you switch off your headlights to ensure they do not veer toward you. Doubtless there are more examples for kangaroos, generally localized knowledge. I can imagine (but donât know) that Laplanders may have similar local knowledge and rules of thumb for avoiding reindeer, or Canadians with moose (or PGN with squirrels). The interesting questions then become: how hard would it be to incorporate this into the AI, and what would the cost/benefit ratio look like?
Rob Slade echoed a phrase I often use when cloud enthusiasts blithely skip over privacy and security issues, but I phrase it as "a computer belonging to someone else, probably in a different legal jurisdiction". A few years ago I was at a party where a friend invited everybody that she knew was turning 60. One of the people I met described how his iPhone had been lifted from his shorts pocket on a crowded transit train in Europe, leading him to panic when he realised that he had lost access to information about all his customers, needed to run his business Eventually someone suggested that he buy a new iPhone and restore access from Apple's cloud. That seemed to work for him. Problem solved? I just sat there, wondering if he had any idea about the legal ramifications under BC Provincial PIPEDA, Canadian Federal PIPA and other regulations. Take a device your business depends on along on a world tour, hooked to the contact and other Personally Identifiable Data of your customers. Then restore access from a server probably hosted in another country, subject to no notice access under the PATRIOT Act or similar legislation. Where to start, so I didn't. Most of us in Canada and the USA are familiar with out of country telephone scammers calling from India, for example, with claims that we are valued customers who have won ..., or that the IRS or CRA is about to arrest us. Canadian and USA Do Not Call List violation penalties have little deterrent effect of foreign scofflaws. How much effect do our Privacy Protection laws and regulations have on foreign criminals? There are very effective methods that could greatly reduce the number of these calls that ring through to our phones, but telecom providers seem slow to adopt them. I expect that there will be a similar organisational inertia reluctance to secure IoT and clouds. Smartphone users may be able to install an app, but those of us with Plain Old Telephone Service do not have that option to block the scammers. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/telcos-telemarketing-scams-spam-1.3334194 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/offshore-telemarketers-defy-canada-s-do-not-call-list-1.1323440 https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-16/materials/us-16-Marzuoli-Call-Me-Gathering-Threat-Intelligence-On-Telephony-Scams-To-Detect-Fraud-wp.pdf http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/09/news/tax-scam-india-arrest-ringleader/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/06/news/india-irs-scam-arrests/index.html https://www.pindrop.com/irs-phone-scam-live-call_analysis/ http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_bills/2016/05/robocalls_have_triumphed_over_the_do_not_call_list_whose_fault_is_it.html
> What goes un-noticed is that the legislature effectively grants to an > un-named, un-accountable body the power to unilaterally *amend the law*. Even better, they get to charge you money for the privilege of reading those laws to which you are subject. I'm not sure of the situation in the EU/US, but access to any/all (I think) Australian Standards documents requires significant payments to SAI Global.
> used a polished social media profile of a young, English woman using the name "Mia Ash" ... There is a meta-data giveaway here: The source could be identified by noting that "Mia Ash" means "my dear" in Persian. I wonder if the NSA scans the social network looking for such out-of-context gems. [If they do, I Foresee that Farsi might become Farce-y. PGN]
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