Elude those electronic trails with TAILS 3.12

Subject: General Tech | January 31, 2019 - 01:10 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: security, linux, TAILS, debian, tor

TAILS is a Debian based Linux distro, specifically designed for you to boot from a USB to avoid storing any data locally as well as providing tools to keep online eyes from prying into your business.  Even those who have become jaded over the years by their knowledge of the prevalence of online tracking raised an eyebrow over the past week with the news about tracking by Apple, Google and Facebook, to name just a few.  TAILS will protect your browsing with TOR and as you are booting from a USB you won't end up with new trackers on your system.  The new version is based on the 4.19 kernel, with the variety of updates that offers, especially when it comes to graphics cards.  The Register has some advice before you install it though, which you can check out here.

In other news, we are sad to announce Ryan failed in his attempt to takeover Intel.

"Hot on the heels of Apple's latest privacy blunder, The Amnesic Incognito Live System (TAILS) has emitted version 3.12."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Et tu, Google? Firm rushes to remove spyware app that breaks Apple rules @ The Inquirer
• Google+ shuts down April 2, all data will be deleted @ Ars Technica
• Stop, collaborate, and listen: Microsoft Teams gets an Atlassian glisten @ The Register
• 3D Print That Charging Dock For Your 3DS @ Hackaday
• Microsoft blames Intel's ongoing CPU shortage for tumbling Windows revenues @ The Inquirer
• Intel names interim chief Bob Swan as permanent CEO @ The Inquirer
• Guru3D Rig of the Month - January 2019

Remember when steganography was going to be used for good?

Subject: General Tech | January 25, 2019 - 12:55 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: steganography, Java, security, ios, VeryMal

In the ancient times before the turn of the millennia, steganography was going to be the way to stick it to the man, offering a way to hide secrets in plain sight by embedding data in pictures.  It is much older than that, dating back thousands of years but it wasn't until the mid-80's that it was brought to mainstream computing.  It is in the headlines today as Confiant and Malwarebytes have detected it being used to hide code in banner ads and taking advantage of a JavaScript vulnerability on Macs to redirect browsers to a site where you get the opportunity to install a Flash 'update'.  It looks to have been most active between January 11th and 13th, but evidence suggests it was active since December, so make sure to update your protection ASAP.

If you are interested in how VeryMal works, The Register has a good write up here.

"A strain of malware has been clocked using steganography to run malicious JavaScript on Macs via images in online banner ads, it was claimed this week."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Intel reports 13% revenues growth for 2018 @ DigiTime
• Facebook to combine Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger @ The Inquirer
• Nintendo throws out Metroid Prime 4 work, restarts with Retro Studios @ Ars Technica
• More money than sense? Turn your iPhone into a spoon with the Kickstarter nobody asked for @ The Inquirer
• Hole-punch, foldable screens rising as new handset designs @ DigiTimes
• Intel Is Working On A Vulkan Overlay Layer, Inspired By Gallium3D HUD @ Slashdot
• You're an admin! You're an admin! You're all admins, thanks to this Microsoft Exchange zero-day and exploit @ The Register
• Windows Server 2019 vs. Linux vs. FreeBSD Gigabit & 10GbE Networking Performance @ Phoronix
• Sprint subscribers: What do your updated iPhone and Tonga have in common? Both are cut off from the world @ The Register

Happy 2019, year of the UEFI infections

Subject: General Tech | January 2, 2019 - 02:54 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: uefi, lojack, security, LoJax

Welcome to a new year and a new vulnerability which has the potential to ruin your day, even if you wipe your computer and start afresh.  Researchers have spotted a rootkit which installs itself in your motherboards UEFI using technology adopted from LoJack, which is properly used to access a stolen computer without the person who currently has it knowing about it. 

LoJax lives on your motherboard's SPI flash memory and the code silently executes on boot so it is hard to figure out if you have been infected at a glance.  If you are then the only way to remove it is to flash a BIOS which overwrites that specific area of flash ... or toss the motherboard out.  You can read a lot more about this over at Slashdot.

"Researchers hunting cyber-espionage group Sednit (an APT also known as Sofacy, Fancy Bear and APT28) say they have discovered the first-ever instance of a rootkit targeting the Windows Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) in successful attacks."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• AMD's 16-core Ryzen 9 CPU prematurely listed by Russian retailer @ The Inquirer
• Microsoft's 2018, part 1: Open source, wobbly Windows and everyone's going to the cloud @ The Register
• Windows 10 is now the world's most used operating system @ The Inquirer
• It's the end of 2018, and this is your year in security @ The Register
• GIMP Developers Outline Plan For 2019 @ Slashdot
• Steam finally gives up on Windows XP and Vista @ The Inquirer
• 7 Tech Predictions for 2019 @ Techspot
• Hitman 2 Prologue + Holiday Hoarders Are FREE @ TechARP

Out on a branch, speculating about possible architectural flaws

Subject: General Tech | December 10, 2018 - 12:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: spectre, splitspectre, speculator, security, arm, Intel, amd

The discovery of yet another variant of Spectre vulnerability is not good news for already exhausted security experts or reporters, but there is something new in this story which offers a glimmer of hope.  A collaborative team of researchers from Northeastern University and IBM found this newest design law using an automatic bug finding tool they designed, called Speculator.

They designed the tool to get around the largest hurdle security researchers face, the secrecy of AMD, Intel and ARM who are trying to keep the recipe for their special sauce secret, and rightly so.  Protecting their intellectual properly is paramount to their stockholders and there are arguments about the possible effectiveness of security thorough obscurity in protecting consumers from those with nefarious intent but it does come at a cost for those hunting bugs for good. 

Pop by The Register for details on how Speculator works.

"SplitSpectre is a proof-of-concept built from Speculator, the team's automated CPU bug-discovery tool, which the group plans to release as open-source software."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• MAMR Mia – it's not just WD: Toshiba's popped to the microwave too @ The Register
• At least one major carrier lied about its 4G coverage, FCC review finds @ Ars Technica
• APC UPS 600VA BE600M1 Battery Backup & Surge Protector Review @ Legit Reviews
• Hydrogen Powered Nerf Blaster Is Dangerously Awesome @ Hackaday
• Ars Technica’s ultimate board game gift guide, 2018 edition

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