Notes on Build Hardening
I thought I'd comment on a paper about "build safety" in consumer products, describing how software is built to harden it against hackers trying to exploit bugs.What is build safety?Modern languages (Java, C#, Go, Rust, JavaScript, Python, etc.) are...
Notes about hacking with drop tools
In this report, Kasperky found Eastern European banks hacked with Raspberry Pis and "Bash Bunnies" (DarkVishnya). I thought I'd write up some more detailed notes on this.Drop toolsA common hacking/pen-testing technique is to drop a box physically on the...
Some notes about HTTP/3
HTTP/3 is going to be standardized. As an old protocol guy, I thought I'd write up some comments.Google (pbuh) has both the most popular web browser (Chrome) and the two most popular websites (#1 Google.com #2 Youtube.com). Therefore, they...
Brian Kemp is bad on cybersecurity
I'd prefer a Republican governor, but as a cybersecurity expert, I have to point out how bad Brian Kemp (candidate for Georgia governor) is on cybersecurity. When notified about vulnerabilities in election systems, his response has been to shoot...
Why no cyber 9/11 for 15 years?
This The Atlantic article asks why hasn't there been a cyber-terrorist attack for the last 15 years, or as it phrases it:National-security experts have been warning of terrorist cyberattacks for 15 years. Why hasn’t one happened yet?As a pen-tester whose...
Masscan and massive address lists
I saw this go by on my Twitter feed. I thought I'd blog on how masscan solves the same problem.If you do @nmap scanning with big exclusion lists, things are about to get a lot faster. ;)— Daniel Miller ✝...
Systemd is bad parsing and should feel bad
Systemd has a remotely exploitable bug in it's DHCPv6 client. That means anybody on the local network can send you a packet and take control of your computer. The flaw is a typical buffer-overflow. Several news stories have pointed...
Masscan as a lesson in TCP/IP
When learning TCP/IP it may be helpful to look at the masscan port scanning program, because it contains its own network stack. This concept, "contains its own network stack", is so unusual that it'll help resolve some confusion you might...
Some notes for journalists about cybersecurity
The recent Bloomberg article about Chinese hacking motherboards is a great example to talk about the problems with journalism.Journalism is about telling the truth, not a close approximation of the truth, but the true truth.Take, for example, a recent...
TCP/IP, Sockets, and SIGPIPE
There is a spectre haunting the Internet -- the spectre of SIGPIPE errors. It's a bug in the original design of Unix networking from 1981 that is perpetuated by college textbooks, which teach students to ignore it. As a...
Election interference from Uber and Lyft
Almost nothing can escape the taint of election interference. A good example is the announcements by Uber and Lyft that they'll provide free rides to the polls on election day. This well-meaning gesture nonetheless calls into question how this...
Notes on the UK IoT cybersec "Code of Practice"
The British government has released a voluntary "Code of Practice" for securing IoT devices. I thought I'd write some notes on it.First, the good partsBefore I criticize the individual points, I want to praise if for having a clue....
How to irregular cyber warfare
Somebody (@thegrugq) pointed me to this article on "Lessons on Irregular Cyber Warfare", citing the masters like Sun Tzu, von Clausewitz, Mao, Che, and the usual characters. It tries to answer:...as an insurgent, which is in a weaker power...
Notes on the Bloomberg Supermicro supply chain hack story
Bloomberg has a story how Chinese intelligence inserted secret chips into servers bound for America. There are a couple issues with the story I wanted to address.The story is based on anonymous sources, and not even good anonymous sources....
Mini pwning with GL-iNet AR150
Seven years ago, before the $35 Raspberry Pi, hackers used commercial WiFi routers for their projects. They'd replace the stock firmware with Linux. The $22 TP-Link WR703N was extremely popular for these projects, being half the price and half...
Websites can steal browser data via extensions APIs
Researcher finds nearly 200 Chrome, Firefox, and Opera extensions vulnerable to attacks from malicious sites.
6 Reasons We Need to Boost Cybersecurity Focus in 2019
Paying attention to cybersecurity is more important than ever in 2019. But, some companies are still unwilling to devote the necessary resources to securing their infrastructures against cyberattacks, and naive individuals think they’re immune to the tactics of cybercriminals,...
Fortnite Vulnerabilities Allow Hackers To Take Over Gamers’ Accounts, Data And In-Game Currency
Cybersecurity researchers today shared details of vulnerabilities that could have affected any player of the hugely popular online battle game, Fortnite. If exploited, the vulnerability would have given an attacker full access to a user’s account and their personal information as well...
DNC Accuses Russia, ACLU Sues ICE, and More Security News This Week
Trump dominated security headlines this week, but there's plenty of other news to catch up on.
Bulgaria Extradites Russian Hacker to US: Embassy
Bulgaria has extradited a Russian indicted by a US court for mounting a complex hacking scheme to the United States, the Russian embassy in Washington said Saturday.
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