So, in the first week in December, I got a call from a number listed as being from “Seattle, WA”. I was greeted by a gentleman with an East-Indian accent: Caller: “Hello. This is Samir from Microsoft Tech Support. I’m here to help you with your login problem.” Me: “I have no login problems.” Caller […]
Apple Fixes Critically Stupid Error in High Sierra
Jared Hall General No Comments
ZDnet broke a story about a critical error in macOS 10.13.0, 10.13.1 (current), and 10.13.2 Beta. The issue is that the system allows login of the “root” user, with no password. Simply wake up the Mac, go to the logon screen, and select “Other User”. Enter a username of “root” with a blank password. Enjoy the […]
Update Your Dahua NVR & IP Cameras
Jared Hall General No Comments
Positive Technologies has outdone themselves. They have discovered a critical vulnerability in Dahua IP Cameras and NVR systems and has documented it here. CERT has a good write-up available as well. I’ve always liked Dahua because for their relatively low cost and durability. Their cameras and NVRs are built like brick houses. There are software […]
Intel Inside? Better get it out!
Jared Hall General No Comments
Alas, poor Intel. What a mess you’ve made. On November 17, 2017 I wrote an article describing the work Positive Technologies had done in researching the Intel Management Engine and discovering the NSA’s HAP (High Assurance Program) boot mode. They found a bunch of flaws in the Intel architecture which has the industry buzzing. The […]
Hacking VoIP Phones
Jared Hall General No Comments
Business Insider has an interesting article on how they were able to attack and exploit Cisco VoIP phones. After all, as they point out, what is a VoIP phone? It’s a computer with a microphone! Their article can be viewed here: http://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-can-turn-office-phone-into-remote-listening-device-cybersecurity-hack-cisco-spying-tap-2017-11 Yes, your VoIP phones fall squarely into the category of Internet of Things. and […]
40 Websites Hacked in 7 Minutes
Jared Hall Internet Security No Comments
I came across this article written by a Greek EE student named Georgios Konstantopoulos. It was published in Hackernoon here: https://hackernoon.com/how-i-hacked-40-websites-in-7-minutes-5b4c28bc8824. It is aptly titled: “How I Hacked 40 Websites in 7 minutes”. The key takeaways here are: If content can be uploaded, take precaution to prevent any execution of data within the upload folders. This is […]
BOLO: 17-Year Old MS-Office Bug in Equation Editor
Jared Hall BOLOs, Internet Security, Microsoft Windows No Comments
This post is worthy of a BOLO. Fixed earlier this month in the Patch Tuesday updates is a bug that has existed in all versions of Microsoft Office. This bug, CVE-2017-11882, exists in the Equation Editor, which allows users to enter mathematical formulas in Office documents. These formulas exists as OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) objects […]
Fun With Windows 10 Fall Creator’s Update (FCU)
Jared Hall Microsoft Windows No Comments
So, I set about in October with great hopes of updating my Windows 10 boxes to the new Fall Creator’s Update. I was most interested in the enhanced security in Windows Defender. I had mixed success with the update (NOTE: #1). Here’s some of the features therein: Windows Mixed Reality When actual reality just isn’t […]
New VMware Vulnerabilities
Jared Hall General No Comments
VMware has fixed critical vulnerabilities, releasing these versions: Horizon View Client 4.6.1, Workstation Pro 12.5.8, Workstation Player 12.5.8, Fusion Pro / Fusion 8.5.9. These address issues ranging from Client O/S being able to run commands on the Host O/S, crashing Client VMs (Virtual Machines), and unprivileged users crashing their VMs. Note that Workstation 14.X and Fusion 10.X versions […]
Microsoft Security Bulletin: Quakbot and Emotet Trojans
Jared Hall General No Comments
Earlier this month, Microsoft released a security bulletin with comprehensive information about the Quakbot and Emotet Banking Trojans. They release their own variant of this malware’s Kill Chain: To guard against this problem, Microsoft has two solutions; (1) Use Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) with Office 365/Exchange Online email services, and (2) Activate the Windows Defender […]