Bluetooth
iPhone can be Hacked if within Bluetooth Range
It has been reported that a vulnerability in iPhones means that a hacker can wirelessly hijack your iPhone if they are within Bluetooth range. Australian security researcher and consultant Mark Dowd revealed that iOS 9 includes a patch for this security vulnerability, which he warned Apple about just over a month ago. Tim Erlin, director of security and product management at Tripwire commented on hacking iphone within the bluetooth range.
Tim Erlin, Director of Security and Product Management at Tripwire :
“Vulnerabilities like this one should remind users of the importance of keeping your systems current with security updates. Unfortunately, those who would most benefit from hearing this advice are also the hardest to reach. There’s no doubt that this vulnerability will persist and be exploited on devices that aren’t updated.”
Tripwire is a leading provider of advanced threat, security and compliance solutions that enable enterprises, service providers and government agencies to confidently detect, prevent and respond to cybersecurity threats. Tripwire solutions are based on high-fidelity asset visibility and deep endpoint intelligence combined with business-context and enable security automation through enterprise integration. Tripwire’s portfolio of enterprise-class security solutions includes configuration and policy management, file integrity monitoring,vulnerability management and log intelligence.
“Funtenna” software hack turns a laser printer into a covert radio
LAS VEGAS—During the Cold War, Soviet spies were able to monitor the US Embassy in Moscow by using a radioretroreflector bug—a device powered, like modern RFID tags, by a directed radio signal. But that was too old school for Ang Cui, chief scientist at Red Balloon Security and a recent PhD graduate of Columbia University. He wanted to see if he could do all of that with software.
Building on a long history of research into TEMPEST emanations—the accidental radio signals given off by computing systems’ electrical components—Cui set out to create intentional radio signals that could be used as a carrier to broadcast data to an attacker even in situations where networks were “air-gapped” from the outside world. The result of the work of his research team is Funtenna, a software exploit he demonstrated at Black Hat today that can turn a device with embedded computing power into a radio-based backchannel to broadcast data to an attacker without using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other known (and monitored) wireless communications channels.
Cui has previously demonstrated a number of ways to exploit embedded systems, including printers and voice-over-IP phones. In 2012, he demonstrated an exploit of Cisco phones that turned on the microphone and transformed phones into a remote listening device. Michael Ossmann of Great Scott Gadgets, a hardware hacker who has done some development of exploits based on concepts from the NSA’s surveillance “playset,” suggested to Cui that he could turn the handset cord of the phone into a “funtenna”—an improvised broadcast antenna generating radio frequency signals programmatically.
With just seven lines of code injected into the embedded computer of an otherwise unmodified laser printer, Cui was able to turn the printer into a radio transmitter by simply leveraging the electrical properties of existing input and output ports on the printer. By rapidly flipping the power state of general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) outputs, and UART (serial) outputs on a Pantum P2502W laser printer—“the cheapest laser printer we could find,” Cui said—the Funtenna hack was able to create a modulated radio signal as a result of the magnetic fields created by the voltage and resulting electromagnetic waves.
The hack couldn’t generate signals strong enough using the relatively short wires of the GPIO connections on the printer. Despite flipping every GPIO output available, he only got an effective range of transmission of a few meters. Instead, the UART output with a 10-foot cable generated a signal that could be picked up from outside a building—even through reinforced concrete based on Cui’s research.
The demonstration, Cui said, shows that embedded devices need their own built-in defenses to truly be secure. And printers are merely a starting point for Cui’s work. The same sort of attack could conceivably be launched from any “internet of things” device or other system with onboard computing power—including network routers and firewalls.
“A network [intrusion detection system] is no substitute for host-based defense,” he said. “You could monitor every known spectrum, but it would be very expensive and may not work. The best way is to have host-based defense baked into every embedded device.”
Source:http://arstechnica.com/
Cyber Security 