MINIX (Mini-Unix) is a micro-kernel O/S based upon the AT&T’s 1979 release of Unix Version 7. It was developed by Andrew Tanenbaum in 1987 for use on PC platforms. Version 7 is significantly older than AT&T’s Unix System 5 Release 3/Release 4 variants that are the basis for most Unix, Linux, and BSD systems today. However, […]
Top Attacking Countries: October 2017
The top three countries countries are Russia, United States, and China. Russia remains at #1. China moved back up to #3. September 2017’s report can be found here.
Exploiting Virtual Machines with RAM Row-Hammer Attacks
A “Row-hammer” attack exploits a physical problem that exists in RAM where an attacker can actually cause bit-flips in DRAM memory. This has already been exploited and attacks successfully gained kernel privileges. Researchers have taken this a step further and, by exploiting a Host kernel feature known as “memory de-duplication”, can flip bits in a controller […]
BOLO: IcedID Banking Trojan/Emotet Trojan
A unique banking trojan called IcedID is hitting businesses throughout the US and Canada. In most implementations, IcedID is being bundled with another Trojan called Emotet and delivered via spam Email of infected Word documents. What makes IcedID unusual is that it propagates through a business network. It sets up a Command and Control channel […]
The Cyber Kill-Chain: Revisited
The Nay Sayers Trolling through articles released this week, I came across a review of Lockheed Martin’s “Cyber Kill Chain” that was written by CSO Online: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2134037/cyber-attacks-espionage/strategic-planning-erm-the-practicality-of-the-cyber-kill-chain-approach-to-security.html on 11/7/2017. I found the article to be somewhat disingenuous. The CSO Online article was more of a rehash of a Dark Reading article: https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/deconstructing-the-cyber-kill-chain/a/d-id/1317542? written on 11/18/2014. “We’re not afraid to […]
Office 365: Lackluster Anti-Spam/Malware Performance
I came across this article in Dark Reading: https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/office-365-missed-34000-phishing-emails-last-month/d/d-id/1330282? As indicated in the post, this is based on the standard Exchange Online Protection (EOP) services offered by Microsoft, not Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). I currently run two manage much smaller Email systems for two ESPs. I’ve always worried about anti-spam measures, trying to be effective, without too […]
Oh Brother (printers): Denial-Of-Service
Brother printers that are connected to a network are vulnerable to a Denial-Of-Service (DOS) attack through the printer’s embedded web server (called “Debut”). Of course, the attacker must have the ability to access the printer’s Web Server. No Brother printer should be exposed to the Internet. You should also put Brother printers on their own […]
Divorce eSecurity: Practical Electronic Security
Author: Jared Hall Revision: 1.1 URL: https://www.jaredsec.com/2017/11/08/divorce-esecurity/ Original Date: 11/11/2010 Revision Date: 11/07/2017 Introduction Separation or divorce is never a good thing. In the case of contested divorces, where the split of assets is complex, the same passion which once brought you and your partner together is often negatively directed to tear each other apart. This […]
John Kelly’s Cell Phone Hack
Politico ran a story on the personal cell phone belonging to White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly. It turns out that it was hacked sometime in December of 2016. He’d been using and fiddling with it up until September 2017, when he finally gave it to staffers to figure out why he couldn’t get […]
Humor: Problem Solving Flowsheet
This is an “off-color” comic that any engineer or technician is familiar with. This was popular back in the 80’s and is still funny today. I remember seeing a variant of this circulating around DSTE (Digital Subscriber Terminal Equipment) and Crypto maintenance techs back in my old Air Force days. Alas, many a unit could […]