IT Security has never been so
necessary
Emma
Nash, ITWeek
IT security is very much in the spotlight at the moment. And,
unlike some IT trends, there is no danger that it is merely
enjoying its 15 minutes of fame.Security is an essential part of
the IT infrastructure, part of the technology DNA; and the sooner
businesses realise this the better.
The importance of security is reflected in the fortunes of the
vendors, who are enjoying a boom period.
According to analyst Datamonitor, security software suppliers saw
their revenues grow an average of 14 per cent compared with 2002,
way ahead of the IT industry average of six per cent.
Security is no longer a simple matter of throwing some antivirus
software at your PCs. It's a serious business concern that
requires increasing attention at boardroom level. More....
Beware
of Browser-based Attacks
By Sean
Michael Kerner, Internet
News
Browser-based attacks are increasing and
"may pose the next significant security threat to IT
operations," a new survey from the Computing Technology
Industry Association (CompTIA) warns.
"It's an ongoing spy-versus-spy
problem," Randall Palm, director of IT services for CompTIA,
told internetnews.com. "The better we get at stopping one
attack, the better they get at exploiting other
vulnerabilities."
Of 900 organizations surveyed, 36.8 percent said
they were victimized by one or more browser-based attack, up from
25 percent last year. More....
Hackers lurk through holes in hot
spots
By Jon Swartz,
USA TODAY
Wireless networks aren't just popular with computer users on the go. Hackers are finding them an easy target to snoop on consumers' laptop PCs and, eventually, their employers' networks.
Digital intruders are piercing defenseless air space at corporations, public Wi-Fi hot spots and homes to gain illegal entry to computers. About 90% of mobile devices lack protection, says market researcher
Gartner.
"All the money you've spent to protect your corporate network is moot if someone hacks your laptop at a wireless access point," says Joshua Wright, deputy director of training at computer-security firm SANS Institute.
The growing popularity of public Wi-Fi hot spots — up to 30 million people will use them this year, vs. 9.3 million last year, says Gartner — is vexing for companies that want to take advantage of mobile technology without being burned by hackers and viruses. More than half of work-related laptops will have wireless capability by the end of the year, Gartner says.
More....
Cisco Admits Security Problem, Issues Stronger Protocol
It has released a protocol that it says isn't vulnerable to dictionary attacks.
By Mobile Pipeline News
Cisco Systems has acknowledged security problems with its proprietary Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP) and released a new security protocol that it said eliminates the threat. The problems with LEAP were highlighted by the release last week of a tool that attacks the protocol. The tool, called
"asleap," was released by Joshua Wright, a security architect for Johnson & Wales University.
Cisco then released its EAP Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunneling
(EAP-FAST) protocol, which it said isn't vulnerable to dictionary attacks. It announced the release--and acknowledged the problems with LEAP--in a security notice posted on Cisco's site.
More....
Cisco issues another security warning
Last modified: April 16, 2004, 11:04 AM PDT
By Marguerite Reardon
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
In what seems to be an almost weekly occurrence, Cisco Systems has issued yet another security warning.
Cisco warned customers on Thursday of what security experts are calling a "minor security issue" in its IPSec-based VPN 3000 Concentrator. The problem, which is present in both Linux and Microsoft versions of the IPSec client, occurs when customers configure the VPN (virtual private network) concentrator to accept group passwords rather than digital certificates for authentication.
Typically, a group password is encrypted when used for authentication. But security experts discovered that, on VPN 3000 Concentrator clients, the password can be extracted from memory, making it available to anyone using a device with the Cisco software client.
More....
PCs infested with 30 pieces of
spyware
VNUNet.com
By Robert Jaques
PCs could be carrying nearly 30 pieces of 'spyware' software secretly forwarding information about a user's online activities to others without their knowledge.
And industry experts suggest that these types of programs may infect up to 90 per cent of all internet-connected computers.
One million scans conducted by internet service provider EarthLink and privacy software company Webroot Software found more than 29.5 million instances of spyware on subscribers' PCs.
"This figure equates to an average of nearly 28 spyware items per computer and demonstrates the broad proliferation of
spyware," said Matt Cobb, EarthLink's vice president of core applications, in a statement.
More....
SMTPi authenticates e-mail senders
By Ambika Gadre
Network World, 04/19/04
A deluge of spam, crippling viruses and e-mail forgeries such as
"phishing" schemes is threatening the value of electronic messaging as a critical communications tool. The root cause of these problems is the inherent anonymity of the e-mail standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
Because the protocol was designed 20 years ago, when spam was still only a canned meat and viruses only infected humans, it is all too easy for an illicit sender to deliver unsolicited or hostile mail under the guise of being legitimate.
SMTPi is an initiative for a next-generation e-mail infrastructure. It has a three-part framework that includes the essential components - identity, reputation and policy - of a new, secure messaging system built on top of SMTP. The
"i" stands for identity. Migrating to an identity and reputation-based mail system will enforce sender accountability and eliminate many challenges with e-mail.
More....
Open
Source Vulnerability Database
2004-04-18
- OpenSSL
Vaudenay Timing Attack - OpenSSL versions 0.9.6h and prior and
0.9.7 contains a flaw that may lead to an unauthorized information
disclosure. The issue is triggered when a repeated block of
plaintext in multiple OpenSSL/TLS sessions occur. A crafted block
of ciphertext can be repeatedly injected into each session, which
will kill that session but may ultimately lead to the disclosure
of the repeated plaintext block, resulting in a loss of
confidentiality.
2004-04-18 - Squid
FTP URL Special Character Overflow - A remote overflow exists
in the Squid Web Proxy Cache. The Squid program fails to validate
special characters in the username and password fields of ftp://
requests resulting in a buffer overflow. With a specially crafted
request, an attacker can cause DoS or even execution of code
resulting in a loss of availability in most cases.
2004-04-18 - FVWM
fvwm-menu-directory.in Filename eoln Command Execution - The
FVWM window manager contains a flaw that may allow a malicious
user to prepare a script containing malicious commands for
execution by another user. The issue is triggered when FVWM opens
the directory in which the script is placed. It is possible that
the flaw may allow execution of resulting in a loss of
confidentiality and integrity.
2004-04-18 - LinkSys
EtherFast index.htm DSL Username/Password Disclosure - Linksys
Etherfast BEFSR41 routers contain a flaw that may lead to an
unauthorized password exposure. It is possible to gain access to
plain text ISP account username/password combinations when
accessing the index.htm page from the hardware management
interface. This may lead to a loss of confidentiality, integrity
and/or availability.
2004-04-18 - LinkSys
EtherFast Passwd.htm Administrator Password Disclosure -
Linksys Etherfast BEFSR41 routers contain a flaw that may lead to
an unauthorized password exposure. It is possible to gain access
to plain text router passwords when accessing the passwd.htm page
from the hardware management interface. This may lead to a loss of
confidentiality, integrity and/or availability.
2004-04-18 - Elm
Message-ID Header Remote Overflow - A remote overflow exists
in ELM email clients prior to version 2.5.5. ELM fails to handle
long 'message-id' headers resulting in a buffer overflow. With a
specially crafted request, an attacker can cause other header
fields and neigboring memory to overflow, resulting in a loss of
integrity and/or availability.
2004-04-18 - OpenSSL
and OpenSSH /dev/random Check Failure - The FreeBSD port to
the Alpha architecture neglected to include the /dev/random and
/dev/urandom devices in releases prior to 2000-05-10 (for
4.0-STABLE) and 2000-04-28 (for 5.0-CURRENT). OpenSSL and OpenSSH
depend on these devices to provide a strong source of
cryptographic entropy, but incorrectly did not check for their
presence. Therefore, any cryptographic keys generated would not
have the expected strength and may be vulnerable to attack,
leading to potential key compromise.
2004-04-18 - Mailman
Administration Authentication Bypass - Mailman contains a flaw
that may allow a malicious user to gain access to unauthorized
privileges. The issue is triggered when there is an empty site or
list password which is not properly handled during the call to the
crypt function during authentication. This flaw may lead to a loss
of Confidentiality.
2004-04-18 - Identix
BioLogon Secondary Display Access Bypass - Identix BioLogin
contains a flaw that may allow a malicious user with physical
access to the system to bypass authentication through a secondary
display. The issue is triggered when a Windows 98 or ME system
with multiple monitors is "locked" with a password
protected screen saver. It is possible that the flaw may allow
access to the local terminal resulting in a loss of
confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability.
2004-04-17 - natrail.php
Insufficent Input Validation - natrail contains a flaw that
may allow a malicious user to pass unescaped shell command to
natrail.php script. It is possible that the flaw may allow
arbitrary execution of commands on the remote machine resulting in
a loss of confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability.
Vulnerabilities
