Striking the balance : Privacy & Security

1.   Over the decade, Security and Privacy issues have been striking the key notes often at high decibels and the trend is only increasing in the webosphere.I was just thinking if there will be a day when there will be 100% Privacy as well as 100% IT Security...if privacy becomes 100% ensured then how will anyone's data be monitored or will it be all algorithm based that will have a standing as well as active encryption method.

2.  At a health care event in San Jose, California some time in June 2013, President Obama had said "It's important to recognize that you can't have 100 per cent security and also then have 100 per cent privacy and zero inconvenience."(Source here)

3.  Is it actually possible in lives of the present generation ? I have my doubts!!!!!Our generation is likely to be a turning era of a new kind of civilization ie the digital age.We are part of just the beginning of the IT revolution but it will take another good time to realize a stable IT architecture.

4.  Its a mad race if we see it from top...mad race about leading from the front without realizing that to do so first the need is to plan and move.Short term gains and achievements in such a scenario of unstable internet(i mean unable to handle security and privacy) is not worth a pie.From aka India we have CMS ie the Central Monitoring System that claims to monitor each and every byte(I wonder how would it be done without any known info of set data centers in India......)....then we have PRISM...and actually each country would claim to have a sole application project on similar lines!!!

5.   Confidentiality,Integrity and Availability,the three key corner stones of a security framework....how will these fit in maintaining the privacy issues.The road map is long and lots needs to be done...

Windows 8 and Live USBs & CDs at logger Heads!!

1.  One feature of Windows 8 launched recently has been disabling the option to boot from a Live CD/DVD or a USB right at the beginning.....recently got hold of a Windows 8 laptop of a friend and being in the habit of recommending opensource software's I tried showing him a live DVD of Ubuntu 13.04 but was surprised that every time it booted I could never see the option of selecting option of where to boot from?...that was it...i had no option but to Google and got the answer....the option to boot any windows PC with a live DVD is passe with Windows 8....now the user has to be specific of selection of boot device only once he is inside the OS interface.Bad...Bad...Bad......that's SECURE BOOT by terminology of Microsoft

2.   Dedicated Linux users and communities are the once who immediately start getting irritating owing to this feature that has no choice as on date.The purpose of Secure Boot is to put an end to computer viruses that sneak between the hardware and the operating system. These bootkits work by getting themselves before the OS is loadde, then they make changes to the operating system while it lies defenseless on disk, and then they load the now defenseless operating system and have their way with it. Secure Boot counters the bootkit by ensuring the hardware verifies the identity and authenticity of the software that sits between the hardware and the operating system - the bootloader, and also the software embedded in hardware devices like network and graphics adapters.Although going by the past threats Secure Boot sounds like a smart solution to the bootkit problem but this would be a problem for the majority of users in long run who rely solely on pirated copies of Windows OS.!!!!

3.  This is because today most of the vendors dealing in piracy or the users using pirated DVDs of OS have a option of formatting the PC and then reloading a new OS if the present OS has some issues....and this was possible since he/she would simply choos the BOOT FROM DVD option in the beginning...but now what?If some thing goes awry with your Windows 8 OS,there is no way to access your windows or at the best you need to run to your MS maintenance site.....so there is one good aspect that it is certainly going to curb piracy....but what about the security professionals ???

4. No denying the fact that a LIVE DVD is one of the prized possession of every IT security professional that has a plethora of advantages...so does windows 8 mean an end to all those advantages!!!!its a land lock situation for windows users.I am sure this is not going to last long...may be by windows 8.1 they do something about it!!!!

Big Data & Security Challenges : Geo-Intelligence India 2013

The Audio in the video cast is pretty aghast so I am planning to place Subtitles for understanding the content....Will be placed shortly....thanks

Spying your friend at WhatsApp : Cause of concern

1.   In my last post here,I discussed about the growing lure of using WhatsApp and the basic security concerns that comes with it from point of a naive user.Now will take you one step higher to the level of a script kiddie....

2.  How does WhatApp identify you in billions?The answer is the unique MAC address that each digital device on this earth holds. If any one changes his/her device,then automatically the MAC address also changes and the user is requested to re-verify their WhatsApp account. Means he/she cannot access same WhatsApp account from two devices. But is MACSPOOFING not existing ?So,if the Mac is spoofed,then who stops from seeing your friends traffic that includes his/her chats,downloads etc!!!although for a naive user this may be look of some technical nature but for the young gen which has lots of techno enthusiasts there should be no stopping....that would include rooting your phone and installing Busybox. How to get your friends MAC address,here it goes :

For Android phone users simply go to settings—> About phone—> Status—> Wi-Fi MAC address.

For iPhone users go to Settings—> General—> About—> Wi-Fi address.

For Windows Phone users go to Settings—> About—> More info—> MAC address.

and for BlackBerry users go to options—> Device—> Device and Status info—> WLAN MAC.

3.   And the best part is that your Andorid can be anyone starting from 1.6 on wards till date.

Security Issues : Whats App !!!!

1.   WhatsApp had set a new record with 27 billion messages in a day on 13th Jun 2013...now that's hell of a lot!!!!!a huge success by any means in terms of revenue generation and collection of info...as I really wonder if all these naive users most of them who are actually not aware of the kind of critical information they have allowed to be passed on...such applications are currently enjoying huge success banking on the naive users....who don't actually realize the repercussions owing to this valuable personal info loss.....just read these few eye raising conditions before any one installs this app :

- Prevent Phone from sleeping

- Change Wifi state

- write sync settings

- Modify/delete SD card contents

- read phone state

- Read contact data

- Write contact data

- Record audio

- Read my location

- Read my other accounts credentials

2.  If one goes through the deeper insights of all these aspects that the user has to invariably accept for enjoying the application thinking its free(when he has given invaluable personal info to a stranger) from point of view of security...it starts getting scary...!!!!going through the above terms it is invariably understood that all your contacts info is already gone....now how much is that info depends on how much have you stored...if you have stored the residential address,his email,his other phone numbers etc...that's all gone the moment you install!!!!..and add to this location and hardware details....from a hacker point of view the attack surface is already prepared vide one shot of installation only.....

3.  If Whatsapp says that they respect user privacy and would not submit all the info to any advertising agency or any third party...then y are they collecting all this ?Whats their security architecture?How reliable is that?Do they guarantee a NO-HACK situation?......

E-Governance and Security Challenges

Copy of the presentation that I gave at the Mini Seminar held under the aegis of IETE at AVCC,NOIDA on the subject : E-Governance and Security Challenges.

  E-Governance and Security

Big Spatial Data and Security Challenges

The presentation copy that i gave at the Geo intelligence meet on 13-14 June 2013 as I mentioned here at http://anupriti.blogspot.in/2013/05/geointelligence-2013-13-14-june-2013taj.html

  Big Data and Security Aspects

FEDORA 19 BETA INSTALLATION

The screen cord shows the guide to Fedora 19 " Schrödinger's Cat " Beta Installation on a Virtual Box.

Your passwords can be cracked easily if less then 16 Characters now!!!!

1.    When the IT security big bang of Do's and Don'ts started some years back it was widely advertised to the Cyber masses to keep their respective passwords any thing more then 8 characters with a mix and match of capitals and smalls with special characters...then this was increased to 10 and last heard it was 15...and was told that 15 character password which is not dictionary based will take years and is actually uncrackable...

2.  As recent as 4 days back,a team of 3(your read it rite it's three) hackers has been able to crack more than 14,800 supposedly random passwords from a list of 16,449 by simply brute forcing!!!!

Image courtesy : http://www.buzzquake.com/tag/brute-force-attacks/

3.   In December it was unveiled by Jeremi Gosney, the founder and CEO of Stricture Consulting Group, that a 25-computer cluster can cracks passwords by making 350 billion guesses per second. It can try every possible word in less than six hours to get plain text passwords from lists of hashed passwords...the word of significance is that you do not need high end machines and east-west architecture to build this kind of IT infra...it is simply a cluster of machines processing power...

4.   The general user in the cyber space like you and me have actually no control over which hashing process websites use and therefore remain at the mercy of an algorithm all would invariably be clueless about...so if you are concerned about security and your email id and password which is the key for so many transactions in your routine life.long passwords are the best defense....and not simply long it has to be a mix match of numerics,capitals,smalls and special characters!!!.

5.  All the best to all of us...keep surfing but avoid drowning!!!! :-)Thanks http://thehackernews.com

GeoIntelligence 2013 : 13-14 June 2013,Taj Palace,New Delhi

Geo Intelligence 2013

1.   GeoIntelligence is a premier India based annual conference and exhibition dedicated to the highest level of information exchange and networking within the Defense and Security sector. The conference will be hosting its seventh edition this year with its primary focus on the perspectives and requirements of the key decision makers who directly influence national security policies and procedures. The conference aims to tap the most influential speakers and delegates not only from India, but also from various international defense and security establishments, as well as key international players from the industry. With the presence of such key players in the conference, the forum is uniquely positioned to offer adequate opportunities for knowledge sharing related to defense and security personnel, as well as, for business development and networking.

Theme

Geospatial – Force Multipier for Modern Warfare

2.   With nations today faced with a multitude of challenges for national Defence and Security,both from state and non state actors, the need for higher content and cohesive geospatial intelligence data is more critical. In parallel with the rapid development of geospatial intelligence technology, the role played in modern warfare by the operational geospatial information changes as well. With rapid advancement in LiDAR, multispectral and radar imagery technologies as well as surface and airborne sensor platforms, the geospatial technology is developing dynamically and will have wider applications in combat operations, crime mitigation, internal security, border control, arms treaty monitoring, etc. With the theme “Geospatial – Force Multiplier for Modern Warfare”, the speakers will deliberate on the modern outlook for the development of military geo-informatics and for modern warfare. 

3.  More special for me since I am there as one of the speakers.Will be speaking on security challenges in Big Spatial Data.

4.  For more details please visit : http://geointelligenceindia.org/

How to be Anonymous on Internet ?

1.   Every one of us who is aware and conscious of the repercussions of cookies,trackers,malware's, ad-wares, extensions in browsers,privacy issues on the internet would always dream of if he/she could be anonymous on the internet whilst surfing....and in my few posts in past here , here and here, I have discussed few ways and tools that could make you anonymous on the web.But in recent times after having surfed for a while I have compiled a list of LIVE DVDs and few OS that can help you maintain anonymity.These along with the website and the name are mentioned below :

Mandragora Linux: Gnome desktop built on Ubuntu, to be used for digital forensics during incident response and vulnerability assessments. It comes with hacking tools like nmap (port scanner), Wireshark (packet sniffer), Kismet (Wi-Fi monitoring) and enhancing privacy tools like the tor proxy, torchat and i2P.Website at : 

 Jondo Live-CD / DVD : Jondo Live-CD/DVD offers a secure, pre-configured environment for anonymous surfing and more. It is based on Debian GNU/Linux. The live system contains proxy clients for JonDonym, Tor Onion Router, I2P and Mixmaster remailer. JonDoBrowser is pre-configured for anonymous web surfing, Thunderbird for e-mails, Pidgin for anonymous instant messaging and chats, Parole media player, MAT for cleaning documents and more application are part of the live-cd.Website at : https://anonymous-proxy-servers.net/en/jondo-live-cd.html

Privatix Live System: This is a live distro based on Debian. It is an easy to operate, safe and portable system that can be booted from a cd-rom, an usb flash drive or an external hard drive and ensures your privacy and confidentiality while using the internet and communicating or editing and encrypting sensitive data. Private data and settings, documents, e-mails, or pgp-keys are not saved on the computer that you use but instead those are saved on the encrypted usb flash drive or on the encrypted external hard drive. In case of loss or theft of the data medium your personal data is going to stay protected by a password. Privatix Live System allows for anonymous web surfing using Tor, Firefox and Torbutton.Website at http://www.mandalka.name/privatix/index.html.en

The Amnesic Incognito Live System (TAILS): Based on Debian this is a live distro aimed at preserving your privacy and anonymity. All outgoing connections are forced through the Tor network. Also no trace is left on local storage devices. TAILS comes with bundled software with software like OpenOffice, Claws Mail with OpenPGP and Pidgin.Website at https://tails.boum.org/

Polippix: Polippix is based on  Kubuntu and was made by the IT-Political Association of Denmark as a protest against the anti-terror laws being passed in Denmark. It uses Tor for anonymous Internet surfing, MAC address changer, GnuPG for encryption and driftnet for traffic sniffing.Website at : http://www.polippix.org/

Ubuntu Privacy Remix (UPR): Ubuntu Privacy Remix runs from a modified Live-CD based on Ubuntu.The goal of Ubuntu Privacy Remix is to provide an isolated working environment where sensitive data can be dealt with safely. This is achieved by storing all user data in encrypted form in the removable storage media. Warning: UPR is to be used for encrypting sensitive data and not for anonymous web surfing. It doesn’t allow network connections.Website at : https://www.privacy-cd.org/

Liberte Linux: This is live linux distribution based on Gentoo  that is secure, lightweight and easy to use. It uses Tor for anonymous network communication and has features such as persistent storage on a virtual partition, Netfilter IP firewall and more.Website at : http://dee.su/liberte

Whonix: Whonix is an anonymous general purpose operating system based on Virtual Box, Debian GNU/Linux and Tor. By Whonix design, IP and DNS leaks are impossible.Website at : http://sourceforge.net/p/whonix/wiki/Home/

Ipredia: IprediaOS is a fast, powerful and stable operating system based on Linux that provides an anonymous environment. All network traffic is automatically and transparently encrypted and anonymized. Many applications are available in IprediaOS, including mail, peer-peer, bittorrent, IRC chat and others. Contrary to other anonymity enhancing Linux distributions, Ipredia does not use Tor but prefers the I2P anonymizing network.Website at : http://www.ipredia.org/

Qubes OS: Qubes is an open source operating system designed to provide strong security for desktop computing. Qubes is based on Xen, X Window System, and Linux, and can run most Linux applications and utilize most of the Linux drivers. Qubes implements Security by Isolation approach by providing a user with ability to easily create many security domains.Website at : http://qubes-os.org/trac

2.    Thanks : http://www.kimpl.com

What's BUILD-ESSENTIAL equivalent in FEDORA ?

1.    Needing to install the equivalent of build-essential we require in Ubuntu for Fedora is given by this command line in root mode :

yum groupinstall "Development Tools" "Development Libraries"

Difference between Open Source & Free Software ?

1.   More often then not I find most of us swapping these words between each other in general usage...Opensource and free software's are considered  to be one and the same but there is distinct and certain difference between the two....Software available free of charge is not necessarily free from restriction.In the open source community, "free software's  generally means software considered "open source " and without restrictions,in addition to usually being available at no cost.This is in contrast to various "free ware" applications generally found on windows system available solely in a binary executable format,mostly .exe but at no cost. 

2.  Apart from this another term FOSS is available in this lingo...FOSS is an inclusive term that covers both free software and open source software, which despite describing similar development models, have differing cultures and philosophies.Free software focuses on the fundamental freedoms it gives to users, whereas open source software focuses on the perceived strengths of its peer-to-peer development model.

Source : Digital Forensics with open source tools by Cory Altheide and Harlan Carvey and Image Source : http://fullmetallinux.wordpress.com

DATA CENTER's : THE INDIAN SCENE

1.   The phenomenal growth of data in India is rapidly evolving but where is all that data being stored?.....not a big deal to find out that all your FB profiles,your friends list, Google hangout circle of friends and all the enumerable social networking sites on the web stores your data across the globe but not in India....yes that's the truth...every bit of data that your profile holds is actually residing off shores ...what India might be holding is just logs of transaction via various monitoring eyes like CMS as discussed in last post!!!

2.   But actually what debar's any big company with a global presence to set up a data center in apna India...recently there have a explosion of many posts across the web o sphere citing the query of why is it so?...the reasons cited culminate on one reason and that's known as SECURITY....the non existence of "DATA PRIVACY LAWs" in India.....more over the fact that there is presently no existence of GIS routing of laid OFCs and cables maps though there are always plans and proposals for the future. The problem of underground OFC in and around NCR is such that companies are afraid to commit 100% availability of up time because your OFC can get damaged any time owing to so many under construction sites in NCR with dozers digging out OFC like Hollywood monsters.And these diggings are ever to continue coz still there are no laid down GIS mappings that can accurately predict the route and depth of laid out OFCs....and the most important I feel is the promise of state ELECTRIC POWER supply which is surely unreliable during any season....it is indeed surprising that power is still an issue in NCR towns!!!

3.   The future will always remains bright because we always have plans to remove all these problem areas but how and when remains a futuristic answer.GIS routing of cables is an imminent need and so are the data protection laws.By default as on date most of the data centres are coming up in Singapore.

"Singapore offers an ideal combination of reliable infrastructure, a skilled workforce and a commitment to transparent and business-friendly regulations" is how Google explains its choice of the city. Oracle cites "excellent telecommunications infrastructure and efficient, well-qualified manpower".

Much like India set up software technology parks to nurture its IT services and BPO industry, Singapore is setting up a 13-hectare Data Center Park and inviting companies from across the world. It already has some 20 data centre hubs and offers tax and other incentives.

Source here

Central Monitoring System : Another step in the Wrong Direction ?

1.    The month of "May" has become started with a "Will" from Indian Government.Now after so many still unresolved issues on Facebook posts and similar things in respect of issues of privacy,it has come up now with Central Monitoring System(CMS).The concept was placed in parliament  some time in December 2012 by the then information technology minister Milind Deora on which the government plans to spend Rs 400 crore and this would "lawfully intercept internet and telephone services"

2.  Now this means that everything we say or text over the phone, write, post or browse over the Internet will be centrally monitored by Indian authorities.Every byte of what is being exchanged by you over the net would be monitored.....but is it actually required?I have doubts per-se owing to the amount of further investment it would require.At a time when Big Data analytics is still maturing,investing so much on monitoring and storing some portion of it pan India would be a herculean task.The key points that I found interesting are dotted below :

- With the lack of privacy laws to protect Indian citizens against potential abuse,this would set another example of wrong feather in the cap.

- CMS has been prepared by the Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TREM) and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) and is being manned by the Intelligence Bureau. 

- Without any manual intervention from telecom service providers, CMS will equip government agencies with Direct Electronic Provisioning, filter and provide Call Data Records (CDR) analysis and data mining to identify the personal information and provide alerts of the target numbers.

- The estimated cost of CMS is Rs. 4 billion. It will be connected with the Telephone Call Interception System (TCIS) which will help monitor voice calls, SMS and MMS, fax communications on landlines, CDMA, video calls, GSM and 3G networks. Is their any thing on Mother India Earth left to monitor?

3. Now I fail to understand that how Government expects to monitor cyber criminals by this CMS? Does government actually intend to find out the actual potent and dangerous Cyber Criminals or are they only interested in finding love affairs of local boys and girls!!!coz if the intention is former,would the cyber gang do it without tricks?...without encryption?...without spoofing?...when things like stegnography,TOR,Anonymous etc are still to be deciphered....the cyber crime would go on as it is.The focus should have been on analyzing of what is floating around rather then monitoring open text and messages.

4.  For example if a person with malicious intent,uses Whonix or anonymous kind of OS from a local cyber cafe and then places his message vide a steganographed image that is encrypted,is their any way that this can be deciphered?....technology does not exist today to decipher all this quickly ..still time is there when we reach such a stage....few months back in Dec 2012 when torrent was apparently blocked on directives from Govt Of India,anonymous group had given a open letter shared at http://www.geektech.in/archives/9924.

5. Well it is very clear that the decision makers in such moves are unclear on technological reality but also provisions for a scenario like WAR within....each step in such a direction has to be taken carefully because these are really critical.Additionally,outsourcing such moves to unreliable or may be foreign firms may become a serious threat.....

6.  Well at the end of the day,it is just my view per-sewhich no body is bothered...but the repercussions are serious to be avoided and ignored

Cloud Forensics:The State as on Date

1.   Cloud Forensics per se has got two powerful terms of today's buzzing IT World..... that's Cloud and Forensics...when traditional computing methods of forensics are still to mature...Cloud itself has a long way to go before the final matured model comes up...this combination actually refers to the world of CLOUD FORENSICS. NIST defines it as follows :

"Cloud forensics is the application of digital forensics science in cloud computing environments. Technically, it consists of a hybrid forensic approach (e.g., remote, virtual, network, live, large-scale, thin-client, thick-client) towards the generation of digital evidence. Organizationally, it involves interactions among cloud actors (i.e.,cloud provider, cloud consumer, cloud broker, cloud carrier, cloud auditor) for the purpose of facilitating both internal and external investigations. Legally it often implies multi-jurisdictional and multi-tenant situations."

2.   Today at NULLs meet,I got an opportunity to give this presentation on Cloud Forensics....the copy is shown below :

  Cloud Forensics

3. About NULL...please read about the community at their website at http://null.co.in/. The team is doing a great job for buzzing IT professionals,students,geeks,script kiddies(like me!!! :-). NULL boasts of an active security community where monthly meets and regular security awareness camps in various Institutions and Organizations are held. Basically a bunch of security phreaks who like to share their technical expertise and hacking skills with each other and spread awareness among the common people about the good, the bad and the ugly side of computers and technology. They believe that sharing the right technical knowledge leads to expertise and innovation.I joined them about 4 months back and have learned a lot in few meets that I attended!!!!!

Virtual Machines : Escape vs Introspection

1.   For last few years playing inside a VM ,I always used to wonder if it actually that safe surfing anything inside a VM...and that hardly anything gets in touch with the Host machine while we work with applications inside.Then I heard of two relative terms that are : Virtual Machine Escape vs Virtual Machine Introspection

2.  New to me but pretty old from point of view of existence....these are briefly explained below :

Virtual Machine Escape

Normally virtual machines are encapsulated, isolated environments. The operating systems running inside the virtual machine shouldn't know that they are virtualized, and there should be no way to break out of the virtual machine and interact with the parent hyper visor  The process of breaking out and interacting with the hyper visor is called a “VM escape.” Since the hyper visor controls the execution of all of the virtual machines an attacker that can gain access to the hyper visor can then gain control over every other virtual machine running on the host. Because the hyper visor is between the physical hardware and the guest operating system an attacker will then be able to circumvent security controls in place on the virtual machine.(Source : http://lonesysadmin.net)

Virtual Machine Introspection

Although virtualization isn’t new, the recent development of x86 virtualization products has revived interest in the virtualization market. This has led to the evolution of Virtual Machine Introspection (VMI) techniques and tools to monitor VM behavior. VMI tools inspect a VM from the outside to assess what’s happening on the inside.This makes it possible for security tools—such as virus scanners and intrusion detection system to observe and respond to VM events from a “safe” location outside the monitored machine. Depth of information is the fundamental benefit behind a concept called Virtual Machine Introspection (VMI). Its use within virtualized environments is absolutely crucial to effective risk mitigation at scale.(Source : |http://www.securityweek.com/vm-introspection-know-your-virtual-environment-inside-and-out)

So the basic difference is I think the route,in case of the former the need is to contact the hypervisor from inside and the latter shows the way out to get to know whats happening inside from outside perspective.....

Self Destructing E Mails : Receiver reads them only Once

1.   It has always remained a question for typical email users like u and me of how to send a self destructing E-Mail...an email that is read once and destroyed that moment like how about your office messages with vendors or love mails with your present Girl Friend/Boy Friend or u can imagine situations for such requirements....

2. Earlier it had been the disposable email solution and now there are many solutions that offer this particular requirement of Self Destructing E Mails.Below are few such sites and solutions :

- http://www.self-destructing-email.com/

Offers free trials last for two weeks or 25 emails (whichever comes first) and u need to register with it.It lets you decide what happens to your email after sending.

- https://privnote.com/


Privnote is a free web based service that allows you to send top secret notes over the internet. It's fast, easy, and requires no password or user registration at all.

Just write your note, and you'll get a link. Then you copy and paste that link into an email (or instant message) that you send to the person who you want to read the note. When that person clicks the link for the first time, they will see the note in their browser and the note will automatically self-destruct; which means no one (even that very same person) can read the note again. The link won't work anymore.(Courtesy : https://privnote.com/ )

- http://www.destructingmessage.com/

DestructingMessage.com is a free service which enables you to send a self-destructing message to someone. This means, once they read the message they will no longer be able to read it again after the timer has reached zero. This ensures your message is read by no one but the reader and all evidence of the message is erased. Messages are also anonymous unless you add any identifiable information to your message.(Courtesy : http://www.destructingmessage.com/)

- https://oneshar.es/

-  Uses HTTPS (SSL; Port 443) to encrypt the data from your web browser to our servers.

-  All data is stored encrypted.
-  When someone views the unique URL that you send them; your encrypted message is deleted from our system.
-  The datacenter maintains the latest security updates and patches on our server.
-  Google Analytics is used on our site for web analytics.

4G drives to Indore in Cars and Motors via BSNL

1.   Indore is keeping its surfing grounds ready to welcome the 4G speed @ courtesy BSNL.Likely to be launched in some time May 2013......this will also be the first time some thing known as WiFi based "Internet on wheels" will be launched...but that is scheduled slightly later.

2.   Key features about the same :

 - 8 Mbps speed

-  Wi-Fi-based internet facility to motorists on move

-  Rough payment plans :
   
-   "BSNL's internet-activated car kit would be available in three ranges of one time payment plans that include : 
      - Rs 6500, 
      - Rs 27,500 
      - Rs 29,500

-  This will come along with a standard dial-up plan of Rs 250 per month.

3.  Here you go Indore'ites....all the best....but at the same time what props up is how will the gadgets handle this 4G speed....will the already held 3G mobiles and Tabs be able to take on the new G or are we awaiting new advertisements to lure us buying 4G devices!!!!

Browser Updates

1.   Without emphasizing on the need of why we should always keep our browsers updated,I am briefly bringing out here how to check and update your browsers.These browsers are invariably the most commonly used one's ...so I just updated few of them although the browsers exists in plenty!!!!

Firstly

To check the version of your Web Browser, Open the  Browser 

and do the following actions :

For Opera Browser

Click on “Main Menu > Help > About Opera”.

For Firefox

Click “Main Menu >Help> About Firefox.

For Internet Explorer

Press Alt+H and Click on “About Internet Explorer”.

For Apple Safari

Press Alt+H and Click on “About Safari”.

Secondly

To check whats the latest version doing the surfing....i advise two options...either you can simply ask google or check form the respective websites of the web browser...or another easy(but third party) way out is to check the latest versions available for download at http://www.filehippo.com/software/internet/browsers/

HIT WICKET & OUT- Microsoft Genuine Patch crashes WINDOWS 7

1.     This is some news from the corridors of Microsoft.A genuine MS patch released for Windows 7.The patch in the dispute is "Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-036"

2.  Redmond from Microsoft's Security Response blog blamed the glitch on conflicts with third-party software:

We are aware that some of our customers may be experiencing difficulties after applying security update 2823324, which we provided in security bulletin MS13-036 on Tuesday, April 9. We’ve determined that the update, when paired with certain third-party software, can cause system errors. As a precaution, we stopped pushing 2823324 as an update when we began investigating the error reports, and have since removed it from the download centre.

Contrary to some reports, the system errors do not result in any data loss nor affect all Windows customers. However, all customers should follow the guidance that we have provided in KB2839011 to uninstall security update 2823324 if it is already installed.

3.   That means Windows 7 users should uninstall the security patch Microsoft issued on Tuesday because some PCs failed to restart after applying the update.....:-).Microsoft has advised users of Win 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2* to roll-back the patch.

4.   More about the patch here.Thanks http://www.theregister.co.uk/security/

GPS SPOOF!!!!

1.   Unlike the regular IT hacks wherein we keep seeing MAC spoofing,IP spoofing etc....what can one imagine if a GPS is spoofed.....:-)...can it make a plane land at a wrong coordinate?...YES!!!if it goes by the claims of a Iranian.

2. A US stealth drone was captured by spoofing its GPS coordinates, a hack that tricked the bird into landing in Iranian territory instead of where it was programmed to touch down...Phew..i bet u will read that again(Source :http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/15/us_spy_drone_gps_spoofing/ )

3.   The 1700-word article cited an unnamed Iranian engineer who said he's studying the inner workings of the American bat-wing RQ-170 Sentinel that recently went missing over Iranian airspace. He said the spoofing technique made the craft “land on its own where we wanted it to, without having to crack the remote-control signals and communications” from the US control center.(Source :http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/15/us_spy_drone_gps_spoofing/ )

4. Thats hell of a HACK...if it actually is!!!!!!salutes to the guy who could do it in real....now i wonder what all could land at forbidden places if it is really possible.....:-)

5. Thanks http://www.theregister.co.uk

FUDUNTU : Ubuntu + Fedora

1.     How about the best from Ubuntu and Fedora into one single OS?... that's rightly heard....the name is FUDUNTU....few things about this mentioned below :

- Website at http://www.fuduntu.org/

- Fuduntu aims to fit somewhere between Fedora and Ubuntu

- Fuduntu is a lighthearted and fun Linux distribution

 - Option to download directly as well as through torrent

- Fuduntu is optimized for on the go computing(good for Laptop and Netbook users )

- Improved battery life of 30% or more over other Linux distributions.

- The latest Fuduntu 2013.2 has LibreOffice, GIMP, Thunderbird, and other software that takes up a lot of space, approximately 10GB of disk space when installed. However, if you don’t need all that, try out the Lite version, where ISO weighs 800 MB and eats up 6 GB when installed.

2.   The download has started and if I feel it worth will show up with something about it...btw the looks are promising!!!!!

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.