Elamb Cybersecurity

Category: security

  • Keep Your Home Wireless Network Secure

    Wireless can be a huge risk to your personal life.  Wireless has been one of the most unsecured methods of computers. 

    Working from home while using a wireless local area network (WLAN) may lead to theft of sensitive information and criminal or virus infiltration unless proper measures are taken.  As WLANs send information over radio waves, someone with a receiver in your area could be picking up the transmission, thus gaining access to your computer. 

    Criminal hackers and spammers could load viruses on to your laptop which could be transferred to the company's network when you go back to work.

    Up to 40% of WLAN (see Wireless Attacks links below) users do not have standard security features installed, while 20 per cent are left completely open as default configurations are not secured, but made for the users to have their network up and running ASAP.

    It is recommended that wireless router/access point setup be always done though a wired client.

    Change default administrative password on wireless router/access point to a secured password.

    Enable at least 128-bit WEP encryption on both card and access point. Change your WEP keys periodically. If equipment does not support at least 128-bit WEP encryption, consider replacing it.

    Although there are security issues with WEP, it represents minimum level of security, and it should be enabled.

    But how secure is WEP:

    WEP Cracked in 10 Easy Steps (Video)

    WEP Cracked in 10 Minutes (Video)

    How to Crack WEP parts 1 & 2 (Tutorial)

    WEP is not very secure but it is better than nothing.  Without it neighbors can accidently access your network that is being broadcast for all with reception.

    Change the default SSID on your router/access point to a hard to guess name. Setup your computer device to connect to this SSID by default.

    Setup router/access point not to broadcast the SSID. The same SSID needs to be setup on the client side manually. This feature may not be available on all equipment.

    Block anonymous Internet requests or pings.

    On each computer having wireless network card, network connection properties should be configured to allow connection to Access Point Networks Only. Computer to Computer (peer to peer) Connection should not be allowed.

    Enable MAC filtering. Deny association to wireless network for unspecified MAC addresses. Mac or Physical addresses are available through your computer device network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. When adding new wireless cards / computer to the network, their MAC addresses should be registered with the router /access point.

    Network router should have firewall features enabled and demilitarized zone (DMZ) feature disabled.

    You can test your hardware and personal firewalls using Shields Up test available at http://www.grc.com.

    All computers should have a properly configured personal firewall in addition to a hardware firewall.

    Update router/access point firmware when new versions become available.

    Locate router/access point away from strangers so they cannot reset the router/access point to default settings.

    Locate router/access point in the middle of the building rather than near windows to limit signal coverage outside the building.

    While none of the measure suggested above provides full protection as countermeasures exist, a collection of suggested measures will act as a deterrent against attacker when other insecure networks represent easier targets.

    Another more recent method of securing your system is WI-FI Protected Access (WPA).  Newer routers will have a wizard to assist users in setting up the WPA security.  Although WPA is more secure than WEP, it can also be hacked:

    Crack WPA (WPA)

    WPA2, recently released, offers a new hope for a very secure and trusted Wireless solution.  Unfortunately it may not work with older routers.

     

     

    Wireless Attacks

    http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1605143,00.asp

    http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000624.php

    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2345,00.asp

  • Spam and Phishing, Europe and the USA against the scourge

    From the analysis of Trend Micro, a company that specializes in computer security, you can clearly see that the year 2004 was a record year for the distribution of computerized viruses: 30 attacks, 28 of which medium risk and two high risk. Three worms held the first position: Bagle, Mydoom and Netsky, which, together with their variants, were the cause of 25 of the registered attacks.

    Email was the preferred channel of diffusion of the several black hat hackers, but others chose to channel illegally to create more, serious damage. The indiscriminate sending of email messages and/or newsletters, Spam, without the consent of the receiver, is illegal. In some countries (the most developed ones), the authorities established that: to send email published without the consent of the receiver is illegal. If this activity is done systematically for profit, you also violate a criminal norm and could be reported to the judicial authorities.

    There are several sanctions, and in the worst case, imprisonment. The considerable damage that these activities have done to companies and people has been enormous moreover another tragedy called Phishing, the name given to the system that captures information, like passwords or other personal information, used by many criminal hackers and digital con artists pretend to be reliable people with a real need for information send false emails containing eBay, Pay Pal graphics and official logos and also offer Banking and Credit Card services, asking you to fill in a form enclose in the same email or on a web page with your personal data, and often with your passwords or Credit Card numbers. The form has nothing to do with the official organism imitated in the mail so the password or Credit Card number ends up in the data bank of the black hat who had sent the false email. The experts define this illegal practice as a form of “Social Engineering”.

    The latest news reported on this issue is that in order to fight the main threats coming through the web: Spam and Phishing, Europe and the United States have promoted two very distinct initiatives that will start at the same time. The intention is to defeat that virtual monster that has caused damage worth millions of Euro year after year, and according to the experts, will involve a considerable number of people. “Safer Internet Plus” is the project carried forward in Europe. The main target of the project is to beat Spam. The American project on the other hand is called “Digital PhishNet” and is based on the collaboration of several institutions, such as the FBI and private companies. The target is to identify and to bring to justice those people responsible for online fraud, thanks above all to the technique of Phishing.

    Glossary
    Computerized virus, means small programs able to change clone itself, self send in order to damage or make a network or a single machine vulnerable.

    Spamming means the indiscriminate sending of email and/or newsletter messages, without the consent of the receiver.

    According to the definition in “Wikipedia” the word Phishing is the capture of personal information, like passwords, personal information, the hacker hiding himself as a trustworthy person with a real need for that information. It is a form of “Social Engineering”.

    Social Engineering is the most simple and reliable means of obtaining information that you could not learn otherwise for example username or even your personal data (address, telephone number, etc).

    A Black Hat is a criminal hacker.

  • PGP creator cooks up Net phone protection

    PGP creator Zimmermann has developed a prototype of an Internet telephony application that encrypts calls to prevent eavesdropping. He plans to unveil the prototype on Thursday at the Black Hat Briefings security industry conference in Las Vegas.

    read more | digg story

  • Insecurity at Black Hat: antivirus vulnerabilities

    This is the reason I manually remove many of the viruses that I've gotten.  For one thing they sometimes don't recognize the virus and until the anti virus software creators update the signature file and for another thing experts are warning that the popularity of antivirus software could turn the defensive measure into a security risk.

    read more | digg story

  • Auditor Flash Video Showing WPA Cracking (some WHAX hacks too)

    I don't think if would be this easy to crack WPA2.  Unless a hacker really wants your goods he/she/shim is more than likely going to exploit your neighbor next door who doesn't even have WEP enabled.

    A nice flash video showing how to crack wpa wireless security encryption. Using the auditor security collection.

    This one is even better: http://www.hackingdefined.com/movies/whax-aircrack-wpa.html

    WPA hack using WHAX.

    More WHAX ATTACKS:

    http://eks0.free.fr/whax-demos/

    Click read more to access subject of this post.  See why auditor is so very cool.

    read more | digg story

  • Russia's Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment

    Um, ok.  I hate spammers as much (if not more) than the next guy, but not enough to murder any one. 

    Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head.
    Nobody in the entire population is being ruled out as a suspect. 😉

    Found this story via digg.  And it occured to me that I had a category called “Kill Spammers.”  I was just being sarcastic.  Killing someone for sending you too many emails is just a BIT extreeme.  I think people get a little too into their little worlds and forget that there are other things our side of email.. things like LIFE.

    Perhaps I should rename this category “Don't Kill Spammers.”

    read more | digg story

  • WLAN (Wireless LAN) Whitepaper

    WLAN Topics Discussed:
    The Benefits and Drawbacks of Wireless LANs, WLAN Architecture and Security Challenges, Authentication, Data Privacy, Rogue Access Points, Early WLAN Implementations, The problem with WEP, The 802.1x Solution, Tools Available for use on WLANs.

    read more | digg story

  • Finding Anit Virus, Anti Spyware Resources

    The whole arena of spyware intrusion is extremely fluid with the
    spyware writers trying to outsmart everyone, and the software
    protection writers diligently working to keep up with the hundreds of
    new worms and viruses appearing nearly every day.

    Fortunately, there are generous individuals and organizations who
    have the facilities to review the work of the Anti-spyware developers
    and make the results available for all of us everyday users of the
    Internet.

    The challenge for us is to know where to go for these results and
    recommendations, and to know which of the anti-spyware and anti-virus
    programs to use on our computers.

    There are many web masters, newsletter, and Blog publishers who
    constantly monitor the results published by the anti-spyware reviewers.
    Most of them pass these information alerts on to their readers and
    subscribers, often offering suggestions and advice based on their own
    personal experiences and expertise.

    A real benefit for us is that most of the top rated anti-spyware
    and anti-virus programs are free, or available in Trial or Demo
    versions.

    All we need do is find out where to get them. But first, we need to find the reviewers who post the alerts.

    If subscribing to newsletters and Blogs isn't your usual surfing
    activity, you can do a search for security alert newsletters or
    security alert blogs. For example, do a Yahoo search for “security
    alert newsletter” (use the quotation marks to get the most appropriate
    search results). Do the same for a Yahoo or Google search on “virus alert blog”. (Blogs are web logs).

    Investigate the first and second pages of the search results and
    select three or four of the listings as a starting point. Many
    newsletters are published on a monthly schedule and may not contain the
    most current information. Some are published weekly. They may be better
    choices.

    Blogs are usually much more current since Blog authors often post
    their information every couple of days – some even on a daily basis.

    Blogs are riding a major wave of popularity. For the serious
    searchers of current information, this is a great benefit. There aren't
    as many Blog sites as web sites yet, so it's often much easier to find
    the information you're looking for.

    Many Blog authors make their publications available for RSS (Real
    Simple Syndication) readers. If you have added a RSS reader to your
    browser, you can get up-to-the-minute alerts presented to you
    automatically. You don't need to go looking for them.

    Many updated browsers, like Netscape 8 and Firefox include this
    feature as part of their package. Expect the newest Internet Explorer
    to have a RSS Reader, too.

    Don't be overwhelmed by all of the information you get. After doing
    these searches and reviews once or twice, it will be a simple task to
    select what you need to keep yourself current.

    For starters, it is generally accepted practice to select and use
    at least two anti-spyware programs. Choose from among the two or three
    that receive the highest recommendations and ratings from the
    newsletter and Blog authors. Be especially watchful for and select one
    of those programs that provides 'Real Time' monitoring. (Which means
    that they monitor and catch any incoming bugs that may try to infect
    your machine while you are online).

    Downloading instructions are nearly always present with the
    reviews. If not, you'll find sites like c|net.com to be a good source
    for download links.

    Just don't forget to check for and update your security software. The spyware writers won't give you a break if you do.

  • Londonbombings Virus Alert

    A virus maker has exploited the London bombings tradgedy – using it to lure people into downloading the virus. An e-mail is sent to the victim posing as a CNN newsletter; and claiming to link to ameteur video footage of the disaster – but it’s just a link to the virus.

    read more | digg story

  • Alternative Knoppix Bootable CD Distros

    Some lesser known knoppix bootable linux cds. Give them a try!
    Auditor
    WarLinux
    Knoppix MAME
    Elive

    Are all listed and described.

    Also try WHAX/Whoppix

    read more | digg story