Informations about SSL certificates and networks security
A recent article overhyped the release of EverCrypt, a cryptography library created using formal methods to prove security against specific attacks. The Quantum magazine article sets off a series of “snake-oil” alarm bells. The author’s Github README is more measured and accurate, and illustrates what a cool project this really is. But it’s not “hacker-proof … Read More “Unhackable Cryptography?” »
This is a pretty awful story of how Andreas Gal, former Mozilla CTO and US citizen, was detained and threatened at the US border. CBP agents demanded that he unlock his phone and computer. Know your rights when you enter the US. The EFF publishes a handy guide. And if you want to encrypt your … Read More “Former Mozilla CTO Harassed at the US Border” »
Researchers have been able to fool Tesla’s autopilot in a variety of ways, including convincing it to drive into oncoming traffic. It requires the placement of stickers on the road. Abstract: Keen Security Lab has maintained the security research work on Tesla vehicle and shared our research results on Black Hat USA 2017 and 2018 … Read More “Adversarial Machine Learning against Tesla’s Autopilot” »
Really interesting report from Tactical Tech. Data-driven technologies are an inevitable feature of modern political campaigning. Some argue that they are a welcome addition to politics as normal and a necessary and modern approach to democratic processes; others say that they are corrosive and diminish trust in already flawed political systems. The use of these … Read More “How Political Campaigns Use Personal Data” »
This is a fascinating hack: In today’s digital age, a large Instagram audience is considered a valuable currency. I had also heard through the grapevine that I could monetize a large following — or in my desired case — use it to have my meals paid for. So I did just that. I created an … Read More “Hacking Instagram to Get Free Meals in Exchange for Positive Reviews” »
Yet another side-channel attack on smartphones: “Hearing your touch: A new acoustic side channel on smartphones,” by Ilia Shumailov, Laurent Simon, Jeff Yan, and Ross Anderson. Abstract: We present the first acoustic side-channel attack that recovers what users type on the virtual keyboard of their touch-screen smartphone or tablet. When a user taps the screen … Read More “Recovering Smartphone Typing from Microphone Sounds” »
It is traveling to Paris. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Read my blog posting guidelines here. Powered by WPeMatico
This is an interesting story of a serious vulnerability in a Huawei driver that Microsoft found. The vulnerability is similar in style to the NSA’s DOUBLEPULSAR that was leaked by the Shadow Brokers — believed to be the Russian government — and it’s obvious that this attack copied that technique. What is less clear is … Read More “NSA-Inspired Vulnerability Found in Huawei Laptops” »
Kaspersky Labs is reporting on a new supply chain attack they call “Shadowhammer.” In January 2019, we discovered a sophisticated supply chain attack involving the ASUS Live Update Utility. The attack took place between June and November 2018 and according to our telemetry, it affected a large number of users. […] The goal of the … Read More “Malware Installed in Asus Computers through Hacked Update Process” »
A university study confirmed the obvious: if you pay a random bunch of freelance programmers a small amount of money to write security software, they’re not going to do a very good job at it. In an experiment that involved 43 programmers hired via the Freelancer.com platform, University of Bonn academics have discovered that developers … Read More “Programmers Who Don’t Understand Security Are Poor at Security” »