Whonix : Not just another ANONYMOUS OS!!!

1.     When u simply Google on "How to surf Anonymously on the web ? ".....u get a whooping 5,510,000 results in 0.19 seconds!!!!!but when u have such a plethora of options..how do u actually decide on which is actually worth? So there is TOR, then there is Anonymous OS.....did some one think Incognito?....:-)..so we have millions in the line!...so now what I am going to mention here is about Whonix OS.....few points about this as follows :

- An anonymous general purpose Operating System based on Virtual Box, Debian GNU/Linux and Tor.

- By Whonix design, IP and DNS leaks are impossible.

- Not even malware with root rights can find out the user's real IP/location.

- Whonix consists of two (virtual) machines.

-  One VM solely runs Tor and acts as a gateway, which we call Whonix-Gateway.

-  The other VM, which we call Whonix-Workstation, is on a completely isolated network.

-  Only connections through Tor are possible.

2.  When you download the image from the source forge site at http://sourceforge.net/projects/whonix/files/whonix-0.5.6/ you get basically three files.Two in the appliance format and one as a vmdk.So here is the basic diagram explaining the working architecture in WHONIX.

(Click on the image to enlarge)

3.   There is a small difference when we install this OS.Unlike the regular OSs wherein you get the .iso image of the OS and you install it in the typical manner,here the files you need to install are actually virtual appliances in form of .ovf and .ova format.How the installation is done is shown in the video cast below :

Twitter Session Cookie Vulnerability

1.    This one is pretty easy to show and understand..but the only thing not understandable is the fact that it actually exists even today.....so this one is about Twitter Session Cookie Vulnerability.I got to know of this at Null's delhi meet where Rishi Narang (http://www.wtfuzz.com/ )gave this demonstration of which I made a video cast subsequently and uploaded it here at your tube.

2.    In brief it goes like this...u login into your twitter account,an auth_token cookie is generated in the crowd  of various other cookies.Now this cookie only will be able to log you in your twitter account from anywhere across the web....simply watch how to exploit!!!!

3.   Thanks Rishi Narang @ http://www.wtfuzz.com/

Raspberry Pi : Whats this?

1.    Over last few months I have been seeing this term being mentioned in newly raised OS and applications...in the form like such and such OS/Application is Raspberry Pi compatible...so initially it did not  make me enthu enough to do some google/wiki on this..but when I read about Kali Linux being compatible with this Raspberry Pi...i thought I must see this when knowing it is just a click away...so goes like this for the first time readers about Raspberry Pi......

-  Raspberry Pi is a Credit-Card-Sized Single-Board Computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation 

- Developed and introduced with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools....(sounds grt...we never had this...bugged with 8086 boards in our times...)

-  It has a Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip (SoC)

-  Includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor 

-  Offers OEM Fiited 256 megabytes of RAM, later upgradable upto 512MB.

-  Does not include a built-in hard disk or solid-state drive, but uses an SD card for booting and long-term storage.

-  Extremely useful for Engineering Students for Projects Related to Robotics

2.    How does it look like ?

Click to Enlarge
Image Courtesy : http://www.derkbraakman.com

Click to Enlarge
Image Courtesy : http://www.raspberrypi.org

3.    More at http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs

MODULAR DATA CENTERs

1.   Modular data center system's are a portable method of deploying data center capacity ie an alternative to the typical building set up like traditional data center.

2.   In general Modular data centers come in two types of form factors. 

-    Containerized Data Centers  fits data center repository (servers, storage and networking equipment) into a standard shipping container.A perfect example of this is the NEBULA@NASA.Few details of this are mentioned below :

How Nebula Looks Like ?

Features :

    -  40-foot long container

    -  Designed in consultation with CISCO

    -  built inside a FOREST container from Verari Systems

    -  Self-service platform built from open source software

    -  Each shipping container data center can hold up to 15,000 CPU cores

    -  Can accommodate files as large as eight terabytes 

    -  Can accommodate an individual file system of 100 terabytes

    -  Makes easier for NASA scientists to share large/complex data sets

2.   Another form of modular data center fits data center equipment into a facility composed of Prefabricated components.Example is HP’s version of this type of modular data center, which it calls Flexible Data Center.How this looks like is shown below :

Keystroke Dynamics Software : We all type UNIQUELY

1.     As on date Passwords are the most common form of identification but at the same time they are also the weakest. Though they are gradually being offered with replacements from the field of bio metrics,picture passwords and OTPs etc...still it will take its time before passwords are a forgotten past..now comes another cool option to identify uniquely....the concept is likely to surprise you if you have not heard of it before!!!!this is known as Keystroke Dynamics.The key points about this are bought out below in brief :

- Know as  Deepnet Security’s TypeSense keystroke dynamics software.

- TypeSense is an authentication solution based on the science of typeprint recognition that uses keystroke dynamics to accurately identify a user by the way they type characters across a keyboard. 

- Keystroke Dynamics technology extracts the distinctive characteristics found in typed sequences of characters, and creates a statistically unique signature from the typing patterns of a person. 

- These distinctive features include the duration for which keys are held and the elapsed time between successive keystrokes. This type of software runs in the background and constantly monitors your key stokes, learns your style, and can detect if your computer’s been hijacked.

- It’s relatively user-friendly and low-cost. 

- It’s mobile and can be used to access your online accounts from anywhere and can be easily integrated in your existing authentication infrastructure.

2.    But as on date the limitation is that typing style can vary greatly depending on whether you are tired, distracted, angry, medicated, or any number of other circumstances. These variations can cause the software to make false positive or negative errors.

3.    At DEFCON : 17, Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco demonstrated how to sniff keystrokes using unconventional side channel attacks. Wires in PS/2 keyboards leak information from the data wire into the ground wire which acts like an antenna. The leaked information about the keyboard strokes can be detected on the power outlet, as well as other wires on the same electrical system. By slicing open one of these lines, cutting the ground wire and attaching a probe, the line can be monitored and the signal isolated by filtering out the noise using software such as Scilab. The waves from the oscilloscope and the data can be streamed to the hacker’s computer where additional software is used to extract the victim’s keystroke information.Well..well ..well......there is no end!!!!

4.     Thanks https://www.mafiasecurity.com/access-control/keystroke-dynamics/ and http://www.deepnetsecurity.com/tokens/bio/typesense/

HP LaserJet Pro printers : Telnet Vulnerable

1.    A critical vulnerability discovered in few LaserJet Pro printers that could give remote attackers access to sensitive data. The latest breach expose by Germany security expert, Christoph von Wittich.In brief points below :

-   HP LaserJet Professional printers contain a telnet debug shell which could allow a remote attacker to gain unauthorized access to data.

-   Christoph von Wittich,the guy detected the vulnerability during a routine network scan of his company's corporate network.

-   Vulnerability could also be used for a denial-of-service attack.

-   As long as the printer is not connected to the Internet, this vulnerability should not cause much trouble for the end user,".

-  Effected printers include

      HP LaserJet Pro P1102w
      HP LaserJet Pro P1102
      HP LaserJet Pro P1606dn
      HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf MFP
      HP LaserJet Pro M1213nf MFP
      HP LaserJet Pro M1214nfh MFP
      HP LaserJet ProM1216nfh Multifunction Printer,
      HP LaserJet Pro M1217nfw Multifunction Printer,
      HP LaserJet Pro M1218nfs MFP
      HP LaserJet Pro M1219nf MFP
      HP LaserJet Pro CP1025nw
      HP LaserJet Pro CP1025nw

2.    Now for HP something like this is not new....even in past about 2 years back in dec 2011,a vulnerabilty was discovered wherein "Print of one malicious document can expose your whole LAN".

3.    In-fact I discussed a past case at Feb 2012 last year here....3 months after that happened.HP seems to be busy with printing only....high time they start focusing serious work on security aspects too!!!!

4.    Thanks THN....The Hacker News

Attacks@Image WaterMarking

1.    We keep exploring new grounds but also without realizing the pits it offers,we start playing games on it.Such is the world of IT,we keep discovering so many new technologies to strengthen and exploit for our use and we keep ourselves vulnerable!!!!

2.   Without wasting more words,this post would briefly mention about Image water marking and the type of attacks it remains vulnerable to.So first whats Image Water Marking??...an easy way to describe digital watermark is simply comparing it to a traditional paper watermark or a power point water mark which most of us might have even used at some point of time.Like Traditional watermarks offer proof of authenticity by being imperceptible, digital watermarks offer a way that allows a computer to read the mark but not by the human 6/6 eye....there are actually four essential parameters which are commonly used to determine the quality of water marking these are :

- Robustness

- Imperceptibility

- Payload 

- Security

3.   Now each of these parameters has a unique characteristic that makes the purpose of image water marking strong and adaptable.So when we speak about attacks on image water marking...the attacks again are classified as :

- Image Compression Attack : Primarily used to reduce the size of image in transmission.The original image remains most of it that it was but requires lesser bandwidth to move.

- Image Contrast Attack : To a human eye a slight change in contrast of colors makes a huge difference in overall perception

- Cropping Attack : A part of image gets cropped from original

- Re sizing Attack : The image gets re sized from the original coords

- Rotation Attack : A simple clockwise or a anticlockwise attack would rotate the image from its original coords

Another categorization of the image water marking attacks contains four classes :(Source here : Abhishek Goswami)

Removal Attacks : Aim at the complete removal of the watermark information from the watermarked data without cracking the security of the watermarking algorithm

Geometric Attacks : Do not actually remove the embedded watermark itself, but intend to distort the watermark detector synchronization with the embedded information.

Cryptographic Attacks : Cryptographic attacks aim at cracking the security methods in watermarking schemes and thus finding a way to remove the embedded watermark information or to embed misleading

watermarks.

Protocol Attacks : Aim at attacking the entire concept of the watermarking application. This type of attack is based on the concept of invertible watermarks. The idea behind inversion is that the attacker subtracts his own watermark from the watermarked data and claims to be the owner of the watermarked data. This can create ambiguity with respect to the true ownership of the data. 

Power of PING

In our respective interactions with various networks accessible to us.....as administrators we keep pinging so many IPs for testing the connectivity at various times like ping 192.121.23.1 etc....and we get a response...but ping it self has so many switches that most of us hardly use......i came across a chart today that in a summarized form tells the switches of ping command with examples and a brief explanation.....sharing here with you...thanks http://www.activexperts.com

ping -c count	ping -c 10	Specify the number of echo requests to send.
Ping -d	ping -d	Set the SO_DEBUG option.
Ping -f	ping -f	Flood ping. Sends another echo request immediately after receiving a reply to the last one. Only the super-user can use this option.
Ping host	ping 121.4.3.2	Specify the host name (or IP address) of computer to ping
ping -i wait	ping -i 2	Wait time. The number of seconds to wait between each ping
ping -l preload	ping -l 4	Sends "preload" packets one after another.
Ping -n	ping -n	Numeric output, without host to symbolic name lookup.
Ping -p pattern	ping -p ff00	Ping Pattern. The example sends two bytes, one filled with ones, and one with zeros.
Ping -q	ping -q	Quiet output. Only summary lines at startup and completion
ping -r	ping -r	Direct Ping. Send to a host directly, without using routing tables. Returns an error if the host is not on a directly attached network.
Ping -R	Ping -R	Record Route. Turns on route recording for the Echo Request packets, and display the route buffer on returned packets (ignored by many routers).
ping -s PacketSize	ping -s 10	Sets the packet size in number of bytes, which will result in a total  packet size of PacketSize plus 8 extra bytes for the ICMP header
ping -v	ping -v	Verbose Output. Lists individual ICMP packets, as well     as Echo Responses

BACKTRACK 6.0 aka KALI LINUX

1.      This will  be a surprise news for those who have were updated till Backtrack 5R3....the same team has come up with some thing more powerful thats named...KALI LINUX....:-)....and not BACKTRACK 6.0......few key points about KALI....

-    Based upon Debian Linux, instead of Ubuntu 

-    New streamlined repositories synchronize with the Debian repositories 4 times a day.

-   Another great feature introduced is that, because of Debian compliant system, it is now able to Bootstrap a Kali Installation/ISO directly from Kali repositories. This allow any user to easily build their own customization of Kali, as well as perform enterprise network installs from a local or remote repository...now start distributing your own ISO....

-   More than 300 penetration testing tools, completely free, Open source, Vast wireless device support, GPG signed packages and repos, Multi-language, Completely customizable make this distribution one of the best available masterpiece of  hacking community.

-    Once again, default root password is same “toor“, you can download Kali Linux here.

2.    My download will start tomorrow morning....will keep me busy for few days and hours...:-)

3.     Thanks http://thehackernews.com

DRDO HACKED : NO....YESS...NO...YESS!!!!goes on...

1.    Now nothing new about this news....its just another hacking news among-st the millions of hacking news and scrolls daily....but it has become an eye popper because it has the word DRDO in it..... that's the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

2.   Though DRDO straight away denies it that it can never happen(whats the basis behind is a well guarded secret...)...but Pawan Duggal,a known Cyber Expert says that never in the history of "India Hacked" past has such voluminous data transferred and resided in servers outside the country borders.....video down here

and more details at http://zeenews.india.com/videos/china-hacks-drdo-systems_20156.html

and http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_drdo-s-website-hacked-antony-orders-probe_1810730

and http://www.indianexpress.com/news/china-hacks-into-sensitive-drdo-computers/1087499/

and http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/DRDO-computers-hacked/articleshow/18955837.cms

3.    The hacking is suspected to have been carried out by Chinese hackers and there are fears that some sensitive information could have been compromised.When asked about it, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "Intelligence agencies are investigating the matter at this stage and I do not want to say anything else."

Commenting on the issue, DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said, "As per our information, no computer or network of the DRDO has been compromised."(Offcourse they have records to prove that all sentries and guards were on duty at the moment hackers claim they hacked DRDO....pun intended SIR!!!!!)

4.     Today things in context of Cyber Security at national level stand at a very critical juncture...infact I feel that juncture is past now....we are already late...but still we read and hear that Cyber Security Policy of India will arrive soon.....(i know cut paste also takes time....pun intended!!!!!)..READ HERE

5. India I am sure will keep busy with hiding elephants......jantar mantar.......elections...2014....italy guards.....bhagwan etc etc...but if the priorities don't change the order soon...India will be backed up and downloaded in some other country sooon....it will be veri sad...we are one of the leaders in IT industry....specially software but we have not been able to exploit this potential for in house strengthening...we are all concerned for individual growth...vo subah kabhi to aaayegi....vo subah kabhi to aaayegi!!!!!

Graduating from Fedora 18 to Ubuntu 12.10

Had waited for months to see Fedora 18 release and then finally getting a hold of it last month.....was indeed a sad experience....the common bugs that I found in routine working with the Beefy Miracle included TOO SLOW and issues with installations of common third party applications ...everi one coming up with some dependency issue.....so finally downloaded 12.10 Ubuntu yesterday and now working on that...for me its bye bye Fedora 18....but now I am fighting skype cam installation issue with Ubuntu......no luck till now

Browser fight continues : CHROME continues topping too!!!

1.    Not long back we all have seen or might have experienced when violent and pornographic images were fed across facebook profiles of FB friends without the knowledge of the online FB user when he used to simply click on a tempting link!!!!All that happened owing to so many malwares but the exact launching vulnerability was indeed in the BROWSER!!!!!

2.    The openweb is full of options for seemingly good browsers viz Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. But who is the best?.....though when u google u find so may individual claims but third party tests are always welcome on such issues...specially when they have huge evidence to support....like few years back I posted on ACID3 test for the browsers...this one comes from Accuvant...and its actually huge in terms of a conclusive report that's 139 pages in toto......:-)

3.   The full report can be accessed by clicking here...so the Accuvant study revealed that Chrome ranks as the most secure web browser when compared to Internet Explorer and Firefox. Interestingly, German government named Chrome the most secure browser, perhaps lending weight to the study. 

4.   The criteria to test these browsers included factors like ASLR,GS,Sandboxing,JIT Security etc as shown below :

(CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

5.   Please google if you wish to know the criteria factors mentioned above in the image.Thanks http://www.accuvant.com/