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