Open the pod bay doors Google ...

Subject: General Tech | November 1, 2018 - 01:56 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: google, security, iot, Home Hub

There is an undocumented web API in Google's Home Hub which is causing a bit of concern over at The Register and elsewhere.  This mysterious connection is available to anything on the same WiFi network as the Home Hub and it does not check for any authentication or tokens which means anyone connected to your WiFi can successfully connect and start to play with your settings.  Currently there is code which is capable of rebooting the device or to completely delete the current configured network, requiring you to rebuild it from scratch.  That could be very annoying if the delete command is coming from malware already inside the house, as it were. 

Hopefully there will be some basic authentication added ASAP, as that is a very blatant oversight.

"A spokesperson for Google confirmed that any device, computer, or smartphone on the Wi-Fi network of a Home Hub can command the assistant as described above – that includes mischievous malware on a PC, for example."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Apple's iOS 12.1 lockscreen can be bypassed using FaceTime group call exploit @ The Inquirer
• iOS 12.1 Extends Controversial Processor Throttling Feature To the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X @ Slashdot
• Apple Kernel Code Vulnerability Affected All Devices @ Hack a Day
• TSMC opens 12-inch fab in Nanjing @ DigiTimes
• Spectrum-starved Wi-Fi vendors look at DSRC band, sharpen knives @ The Register

Do Not Track is no more effective than placebo

Subject: General Tech | October 17, 2018 - 01:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: do not track, placebo, fooled you, security

To the cynics among us it will come as no surprise that the Do Not Track option on your browser does almost nothing to protect your privacy.  The option was conceived as an additional string sent out with your metadata, DNT:1, which the website you connected to would receive and honour.  That, of course, is the rub.  You have to trust sites which depend, at least in part, on advertising revenue to refrain from targeting you with advertisements.  This does not happen apart for a very few exceptions which has led Mozilla to consider incorporating stronger protections in their browser. 

Follow the links from Slashdot to learn more.

"According to a recent survey by Forrester Research, a quarter of American adults use "Do Not Track" to protect their privacy. (Our own stats at Gizmodo Media Group show that 9% of visitors have it turned on.) We've got bad news for those millions of privacy-minded people, though: "Do Not Track" is like spray-on sunscreen, a product that makes you feel safe while doing little to actually protect you. "

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Chrome 70 Arrives With Option To Disable Linked Sign-Ins, PWAs On Windows, and AV1 Decoder @ Slashdot
• Fed up with cloud giants ripping off its database, MongoDB forks new 'open-source license' @ The Register
• Analyzing Graphics Card Pricing: October 2018 @ Techspot

Wondering if your email was included in a data dump?

Subject: General Tech | September 26, 2018 - 01:40 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: security, firefox, Have I Been Pwned

Have I Been Pwned has been around for some time now, letting you determine if your email address was included in one of the disturbingly frequent data breaches which have occurred in the past few years.  FireFox Monitor is a new site which uses that database to search email addresses users enter, with two added features. When you submit your email, it turns it into an SHA-1 hash which is then compared to the emails in the database, offering you a bit more protection if you so desire.  You can also request that your email address be monitored, with automated searches sent in occasionally so you don't need to remember to check on them yourself.  According to the discussion The Inquirer has with Mozilla, there are plans to integrate this into Firefox to make it even easier to keep tabs on your emails.

"Mozilla on Tuesday debuted a service called Firefox Monitor that it has been testing to help people see whether their email addresses have been compromised."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Microsoft's Windows 10 October Update might arrive next week @ The Inquirer
• Windows 10 passes 700 million devices, 1 billion still far off @ Ars Technica
• Bug? Feature? Power users baffled as BitLocker update switch-off continues @ The Register

Are you sure you want to bite into that Apple?

Subject: General Tech | September 17, 2018 - 01:43 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: apple, security, webroot, webkit, SecureAnywhere

There is a bit of a fuss being made by Apple fans today, as once again reality contradicts their claims of the invulnerability of their favourite devices.  The less serious but still active bug is more an inconvenience than a threat, but having your device crash simply because you visited a webpage is more than a little embarrassing.

The second vulnerability involves SecureAnywhere and while it has been mitigated in recent updates (9.0.8.34) it was unpatched for quite a while.  The patch was released several months ago, but it is only this week we are learning about it, with the justification offered to The Register following the usual claims that letting people know might expose more devices to the threat.  Security through obscurity can lead to delayed upgrades as users wait to see if a patch has negative effects, while leaving themselves open to attack.  In this case the vulnerability was only effective on an already compromised device, hopefully that reduced the number of people targetted.

"Details of a locally exploitable but kernel-level flaw in Webroot's SecureAnywhere macOS security software were revealed yesterday, months after the bug was patched."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• This Xbox 360 is Powered by Steam @ Hack a Day
• Linus Torvalds is taking a break from Linux to wash his soapy mouth out @ The Inquirer
• Quantum Computing and Cryptography @ Linux.com
• Google's search engine for China could link searches to users' phone numbers @ The Inquirer
• Microsoft Windows U-turn Removes Warning About Installing Chrome, Firefox @ Slashdot
• Tracing The Groundwork Of NVIDIA’s Turing Architecture @ Techgage
• Google Remotely Changed the Settings on a Bunch of Phones Running Android 9 Pie @ Slashdot
• Customizing Windows 10's Context Menu: Add, Remove Items & More @ TechSpot

Reopening a cold boot case

Subject: General Tech | September 14, 2018 - 03:31 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: security, Lenovo, dell, apple

Many, many moons ago a vulnerability was discovered which would let you grab some or all of the data last written to RAM.  A computer in sleep mode could be powered off, the firmware specifically modified and then booted from a USB drive, allowing an attacker to extract data from the RAM.  This requires physical access and a specific skill set but does not take all that long.  This new attack is used to grab the encryption keys from memory, which then allows them to gain access to the data stored on your encrypted drives.  The Inquirer reports that there is a solution to this resurrected vulnerability, however it is only easy to implement before a system is provided to customers, worrying for companies using these commonly deployed brands.

"But F-Secure principal security consultant Olle Segerdahl, along with other researchers from the security outfit, claim they've discovered a way to disable that safety measure and extract data using the ten-year-old cold boot attack method."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Smartphone vendors looking for new thermal management solutions for 5G phones @ DigiTimes
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Unboxing @ TechPowerUp
• Adobe chatting up Marketo – reports @ The Register
• Native Support For Windows File Sharing Coming To Chrome OS @ Slashdot
• Lenovo announces a joined-up security offering and shows off a ThinkPad with an i9 chip @ The Inquirer

Why hack into Apple devices when the userbase is willing to pay to have their device infected?

Subject: General Tech | September 10, 2018 - 01:10 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: apple, security, app store, Adware Doctor

Adware Doctor is a $5.00 app available on the macOS app store which is a rip off of Malwarebytes for Mac with some extra data harvesting included.  The app will grab all your history from Chrome, Firefox, and Safari and send it off to parts unknown as well as a list of running processes which implies it can get around Apple's sandbox implementation.  The researchers who discovered this also informed The Register of other apps which have the same behaviour, including Open Any Files, Dr. Antivirus, and Dr. Cleaner.  The new version of macOS, due in the near future, should ameliorate this issue but in the mean time you should check what apps you have installed on your devices and reconsider your next purchase on the App Store carefully.

"As Wardle – an expert in Apple security – noted, Adware Doctor, which sold for $4.99, was the fourth-highest grossing app in the "Paid Utilities" category of the macOS App Store."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Tor browser arrives on Android to protect your secret searches @ The Inquirer
• Official AMD Athlon APU with Radeon Vega Graphics Tech Briefing @ TechARP
• It's been 5 years already, let's gawp at Microsoft and Nokia's bloodbath @ The Register
• How to Create a Windows 10 Virtual Machine with VMware Player and VirtualBox @ Techspot
• Intel to outsource 14nm chip production due to tight supply @ DigiTimes
• Popular VPNs Contained Code Execution Security Flaws, Despite Patches @ Slashdot
• Wyze Cam Pan: Is this $30 security camera worth a buy? @ Techspot
• Tt eSPORTS X COMFORT AIR Gaming Chair Review @ NikKTech

Of Intel, Foreshadow, horses and barn doors

Subject: General Tech | August 24, 2018 - 12:29 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Foreshadow, Intel, hyperthreading, L1TF, spectre, security, patch

In a move which should not come as a shock to anyone, Intel removed the wording which was revealed yesterday along with their Foreshadow patch for desktop CPUs prohibiting publishing comparative performance results.   The reason Intel would rather you didn't post performance comparisons, pre and post patch, is that along with the microcode update HyperThreading needs to be disabled which has a noticeable effect on any multi-threaded application.  Debian were of great help with this, refusing to deply the microcode patch with the gag order in place. 

Red Hat foreshadowed what you will see with their results from the server chip patches, The Register notes as being "from a +30 per cent gain, to -50 per cent loss and beyond. Most HT testing, however, showed losses in the 0-30 per cent range."

"Intel has backtracked on the license for its latest microcode update that mitigates security vulnerabilities in its processors – after the previous wording outlawed public benchmarking of the chips."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• IRC Turns 30 @ Slashdot
• Intel reportedly blocked an ARM-based version of the Surface Go @ The Inquirer
• Teardown chaps strip away magic from Magic Leap's nerd goggles @ The Register
• Now you can say you have Windows 95 as an app. Good luck explaining what for @ The Inquirer
• Hackers Stole Personal Data of 2 Million T-Mobile Customers @ Slashdot
• Reeven Twila RGB LED Light Strip @ Benchmark Reviews

Your smart plug's connected to your idiotbox, the idiotbox is connected to your WiFi, the ...

Subject: General Tech | August 22, 2018 - 12:59 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: iot, security

Belkin offers a smartplug called the Wemo Insight which provides real time energy usage stats, allows you to program your lights to turn on and off at various times and is a decent  replacement for The Clapper; it is also a fairly serious security risk.  The UPnP protocol it utilizes is vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack which could allow an attacker access to other devices connected to your WiFi network.  The proof of concept provided by McAfee shows a successful attack on a Roku, initiated from the smartplug, as you can see over at El Reg.

Perhaps you should keep that old tech if you don't like touching light switches.

"The flaw, spotted in Belkin's Wemo Insight smartplugs, would potentially allow an attacker to not only manipulate the plug itself, but also allow hopping to other devices connected to the same Wi-Fi home network."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Chrome 69 is Coming: Not Just a New Look But Flash's Life is About To Get Even Harder @ Slashdot
• Fire chief says Verizon throttled department's data in the middle of massive Cali wildfires @ The Register
• Qualcomm starts sampling 7nm mobile processor with 5G support @ The Inquirer
• TSMC 7nm, 5nm to enjoy strong demand for AI chips @ DigiTimes