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"When virtualization becomes your worst enemy"
by Gene Wirchenko 04 Sep '12

04 Sep '12

Wrapping everything up in the same box makes hard tasks easy and big problems bigger, *InfoWorld*, 4 Sep 2012 http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-center/when-virtualization-becomes-your-wor… [The IT version of putting all of one's eggs in one basket?] ------------------------------

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Ustream continues to attempt explaining Hugo Awards stream blackout
by Lauren Weinstein 04 Sep '12

04 Sep '12

"This occurred because our 3rd party automated infringement system, Vobile, detected content in the stream that it deemed to be copyrighted. Vobile is a system that rights holders upload their content for review on many video sites around the web. The video clips shown prior to Neil's speech automatically triggered the 3rd party system at the behest of the copyright holder." http://j.mp/RhrLMq (Ustream via NNSquad) Most of the folks commenting on their posting are not very happy. [In another NNS posting on this subject, Lauren Weinstein added, ``A similar risk exists with Google's "Hangouts On Air" via Content ID. Solutions are not trivial.'' PGN] [Lee Rudolph noted Hugo and the Rampaging Robots. PGN] http://io9.com/5940036/how-copyright-enforcement-robots-killed-the-hugo-awa… ------------------------------

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1 million iOS device IDs leaked after alleged FBI laptop hack
by Lauren Weinstein 04 Sep '12

04 Sep '12

"One million unique device identifiers (UDIDs) from iOS devices have been posted online by hacking group AntiSec, who claimed the UDIDs came from an FBI-owned laptop. The group published a file containing the UDIDs-as well as push notification tokens, device names, and more-on Monday evening, promising that there are plenty more entries where that came from. AntiSec claims the original file contained roughly 12 million UDID entries-some with very personal data attached, such as full names, cell numbers, and home addresses." http://j.mp/Rhq4yu (ars technica via NNSquad) [Key word right now is *alleged*. LW] ------------------------------

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United Airlines Investigates Network Failure Delaying 580 Flights
by Gabe Goldberg 04 Sep '12

04 Sep '12

Bloomberg, 28 Aug 2012 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-28/united-check-ins-slowed-as-airline… ------------------------------

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by NickiWillena 04 Sep '12

04 Sep '12

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Hack on Saudi Aramco hit 30,000 workstations, oil firm admits (John Leyden)
by Monty Solomon 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

First hacktivist-style assault to use malware? John Leyden, *The Register*, 29 August 2012 Analysis Saudi Aramco said that it had put its network back online on Saturday, 10 days after a malware attack floored 30,000 workstations at the oil giant. In a statement [1], Saudi Arabia's national oil firm said that it had "restored all its main internal network services" hit by a malware outbreak that struck on 15 August. The firm said its core business of oil production and exploration was not affected by the attack, which resulted in a decision to suspend Saudi Aramco's website for a period of a few days, presumably as a precaution. Corporate remote access services were also suspended as a result of the attack. Oil and production systems were run off "isolated network systems unaffected by the attack, which the firm has pledged to investigate. In the meantime, Saudi Aramco promised [2] to improve the security of its network to guard against fresh assaults. ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/29/saudi_aramco_malware_attack_analysi… ------------------------------

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Can YOU crack the Gauss uber-virus encryption?
by Monty Solomon 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

Appeal for help to break open hidden scrambled payload John Leyden, *The Register*, 14 August 2012 Antivirus experts have called on cryptographers and other clever bods for help after admitting they are no closer to figuring out the main purpose of the newly discovered Gauss supervirus. While it's known that the complex malware features many information-stealing capabilities, with a specific focus on capturing website passwords, online banking account credentials and system configuration data from infected machines, the content of the virus's encrypted payload is still a mystery. Kaspersky Lab had tracked Gauss for weeks before announcing its discovery last week. Antivirus experts at the security biz and elsewhere have been burning the midnight oil in the days since, and although progress has been made - for example in analysing its architecture [1], unique modules and communication methods - the payload encryption is unbroken. Researchers reckon the hidden binary blob, when decrypted and executed, looks for a program specifically named using an extended character set, such as Arabic or Hebrew. What that program might be remains unclear as long as the encryption remains unbroken. The general concuss among security experts is that Gauss - like Flame, Duqu and Stuxnet before it - is a nation-state sponsored cyber-espionage toolkit, quite possibly built from the same components as Flame. ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/14/gauss_mystery_payload/ [One of my colleagues suggests that unraveling the hidden payload would require breaking some serious crypto, and that someone successfully doing so might not be in a position to want to claim success. But RISKS awaits any further news on this topic. PGN] ------------------------------

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'first ever' Linux, Mac OS X-only password sniffing Trojan spotted (John Leyden)
by Monty Solomon 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

John Leyden, Windows? Who the hell uses that? *The Register*, 29 August 2012 Security researchers have discovered a potential dangerous Linux and Mac OS X cross-platform trojan. Once installed on a compromised machine, Wirenet-1 opens a backdoor to a remote command server, and logs key presses to capture passwords and sensitive information typed by victims. The program also grabs passwords submitted to Opera, Firefox, Chrome and Chromium web browsers, and credentials stored by applications including e-mail client Thunderbird, web suite SeaMonkey, and chat app Pidgin. The malware then attempts to upload the gathered data to a server hosted in the Netherlands. ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/29/linux_mac_trojan/ ------------------------------

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Firefox, Opera allow crooks to hide an entire phish site in a link (John Leyden)
by Monty Solomon 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

John Leyden, Watch out for the tinyurl that isn't, *The Register*, 3 Sep 2012 A shortcoming in browsers including Firefox and Opera allows crooks to easily hide an entire malicious web page in a clickable link - ideal for fooling victims into handing over passwords and other sensitive info. Usually, so-called "phishing attacks" rely on tricking marks into visiting websites designed by criminals to masquerade as banks and online stores, thus snaffling punters' credentials and bank account details when they try to use the bogus pages. However this requires finding somewhere to host the counterfeit sites, which are often quickly taken down by hosting companies and the authorities or blocked by filters. Instead, the malicious web pages can be stored in data URIs - uniform resource identifiers, not to be confused with URLs - which stuff the web code into a handy string that when clicked on, instructs the browser to unpack the payload and present it as a page. It negates the need to find somewhere to secrete your malicious page, and once shortened using a service such as TinyURL, the URI can be reduced to a small URL perfect for passing around social networks, online chats and e-mail. Crooks would still need to set up a server to receive data from victims, however. ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/03/phishing_without_hosts_peril/ ------------------------------

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Re: [drone-list] drone-list Digest, Vol 28, Issue 2
by Eugen Leitl 03 Sep '12

03 Sep '12

----- Forwarded message from Chris Csikszentmihalyi <robotic(a)gmail.com> -----

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