HooToo TripMate Routers are Cute But Insecure
It has been a while since I published something about a really broken router. To be honest, it has been a while since I even looked at a router, but let me fix that with this blog post.
Robots Want Bitcoins too!
Ransomware attacks have boomed during the last few years, becoming a preferred method for cybercriminals to get monetary profit by encrypting victim information and requiring a ransom to get the information back. The primary ransomware target has always been information. When a victim has no backup of that information, he panics, forced to pay for its return.
WannaCry vs. Petya: Keys to Ransomware Effectiveness
With WannaCry and now Petya we’re beginning to see how and why the new strain of ransomware worms are evolving and growing far more effective than previous versions. I think there are 3 main factors: Propagation, Payload, and Payment.* Propagation: You ideally want to be able to spread using as many different types of techniques as you can. Payload: Once you’ve infected the system you want to have a payload that encrypts properly, doesn’t have any easy bypass to decryption, and clearly indicates to the victim what they…
Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Vulnerabilities
By Tao Sauvage Last year I acquired a Linksys Smart Wi-Fi router, more specifically the EA3500 Series. I chose Linksys (previously owned by Cisco and currently owned by Belkin) due to its popularity and I thought that it would be interesting to have a look at a router heavily marketed outside of Asia, hoping to have different results than with my previous research on the BHU Wi-Fi uRouter, which is only distributed in China. Smart Wi-Fi is the latest family of Linksys routers and includes more than 20 different models…
Multiple Vulnerabilities in BHU WiFi “uRouter”
A Wonderful (and !Secure) Router from China The BHU WiFi uRouter, manufactured and sold in China, looks great – and it contains multiple critical vulnerabilities. An unauthenticated attacker could bypass authentication, access sensitive information stored in its system logs, and in the worst case, execute OS commands on the router with root privileges. In addition, the uRouter ships with hidden users, SSH enabled by default and a hardcoded root password…and injects a third-party JavaScript file into all users’ HTTP traffic. In this blog post, we cover the main security issues…
Got 15 minutes to kill? Why not root your Christmas gift?
TP-LINK NC200 and NC220 Cloud IP Cameras, which promise to let consumers “see there, when you can’t be there,” are vulnerable to an OS command injection in the PPPoE username and password settings. An attacker can leverage this weakness to get a remote shell with root privileges. The cameras are being marketed for surveillance, baby monitoring, pet monitoring, and monitoring of seniors. This blog post provides a 101 introduction to embedded hacking and covers how to extract and analyze firmware to look for common low-hanging fruit in security. This post…
Remotely Disabling a Wireless Burglar Alarm
Countless movies feature hackers remotely turning off security systems in order to infiltrate buildings without being noticed. But how realistic are these depictions? Time to find out. Today we’re releasing information on a critical security vulnerability in a wireless home security system from SimpliSafe. This system consists of two core components, a keypad and a base station. These may be combined with a wide array of sensors ranging from smoke detectors to magnet switches to motion detectors to create a complete home security system. The system is marketed…
Brain Waves Technologies: Security in Mind? I Don’t Think So
INTRODUCTION Just a decade ago, electroencephalography (EEG) was limited to the inner rooms of hospitals, purely for medical purposes. Nowadays, relatively cheap consumer devices capable of measuring brain wave activity are in the hands of curious kids, researchers, artists, creators, and hackers. A few of the applications of this technology include: · EEG-controlled Exoskeleton Hope for ALS Sufferers · Brain-controlled Drone · Brain Waves Used as a Biometric Authentication Mechanism · Translating Soldier Thoughts to Computer Commands (Military) ·
You cannot trust social media to keep your private data safe: Story of a Twitter vulnerability
I‘m always worried about the private information I have online. Maybe this is because I have been hacking for a long time, and I know everything can be hacked. This makes me a bit paranoid. I have never trusted web sites to keep my private information safe, and nowadays it is impossible to not have private information published on the web, such as a social media web site. Sooner or later you could get hacked, this is a fact. Currently, many web and mobile applications give users the option…
Offensive Defense
I presented before the holiday break at Seattle B-Sides on a topic I called “Offensive Defense.” This blog will summarize the talk. I feel it’s relevant to share due to the recent discussions on desktop antivirus software (AV) What is Offensive Defense? The basic premise of the talk is that a good defense is a “smart” layered defense. My “Offensive Defense” presentation title might be interpreted as fighting back against your adversaries much like the Sexy Defense talk my co-worker Ian Amit has been presenting. My view of…