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Key U.S. election systems could have been exposed online for months
More than 30 backend election systems over the last year -- including some in key swing states like Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin -- have been left online and were susceptible to hackers. A Motherboard investigation published today revealed that systems made by ES&S, one of the largest makers of voting machines in the country, were connected to the internet for long periods of time, in some instances as long as a year. This information contradicts prior claims by election officials that voting machine systems were no longer connected after Election Day.
Google officially closes 'Dragonfly,' its controversial Chinese search project
Google's controversial Project Dragonfly has officially been shelved. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, Google's vice president of public policy, Karan Bhatia, said that work on its censored Chinese search engine had been "terminated." A spokesperson later confirmed that Google has no plans to launch Search in China, and that there is no work being undertaken on such a project.
Bank's dodgy cost-cutting led to $80 million hack
Earlier this month, hackers attempting to steal $850 million from Bangladesh Bank managed to only get away with $80 million. After an investigation into the breach, authorities determined that the culprits gained access thanks to $10 second-hand switches used to network the bank's computers and the lack of a proper firewall. Transfers of the stolen funds were halted as the result of a spelling error, otherwise the heist could've been much worse.
China is blocking access to Medium
The People's Republic of China is notorious for keeping its citizens from accessing free media, be that online or offline. Thousands of sites are blocked by the country's "great firewall," and there's a new entry to that list: Medium. According to GreatFire.org, a site that keeps tabs on China's censorship efforts, Medium.com has been blocked entirely within the country since April 12th.
Dear Veronica: iOS and Android battle for your love
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-207195{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-207195, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-207195{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-207195").style.display="none";}catch(e){} This week, we have some Real Talk about loving multiple operating systems, with Tom Merritt of Daily Tech News Show breaking it down for us. I also have share some feelings about hyperbole re: Comodo Firewall, and explain why we can never get stuff done when we're blasting Celine Dion. Maybe that's just me. As always, keep sending those questions in using the hashtag #DearVeronica! Subscribe in iTunes, RSS or YouTube!
Juniper will release another patch for its backdoored firewalls
A couple of weeks after announcing it found "unauthorized code" in firewalls that could've let someone spy on secure VPN traffic, Juniper Networks has another update on the issue. Despite the release of a patch that it says makes the firewalls secure, Juniper will go a step further with another update that swaps out the flawed Dual_EC random number generator in the affected ScreenOS software for newer technology, which will arrive in the first half of 2016. It has also completed an investigation of the source code for that product, and its newer Junos OS-powered devices, and have not found any evidence of similar code.
CNN: FBI is investigating the Juniper Networks security hole
Yesterday's news of "unauthorized code" that could enable untraceable backdoor access to VPN traffic on certain Juniper Networks firewalls is now being investigated by the FBI. That news comes from CNN, which said that a US government official described the vulnerability as "stealing a master key to get into any government building." There's no word yet on which government agencies or private companies may have been using the specific ScreenOS-powered devices affected, but that's what the Department of Homeland Security is now trying to find out.
Juniper Networks finds backdoor code in its firewalls
One of the reasons corporate users and the privacy-minded rely on VPNs is to control access to their networks and (hopefully) not expose secrets over insecure connections. Today Juniper Networks revealed that some of its products may not have been living up to that standard, after discovering "unauthorized code" in the software that runs on its NetScreen firewalls during a code review. Pointed out by security researcher "The Grugq," the backdoor has been present since late 2012 and can only be fixed by upgrading to a new version of software just released today.
Gmail slowly coming back to life in China
China's Gmail users have been the better of four days cut off from their messages, but that's slowly starting to change. According to Google's own transparency report, traffic to the email service is starting to pick up once more, signaling an end (for now, anyway) to yet another issue plaguing the search giant's operations in mainland China. The sailing isn't completely smooth just yet, though: The Financial Times reports that not everyone can access their emails, and some of those who can are experiencing delays when trying to send some.
UK porn filter blocks League of Legends update for 'sex' in file name
The anti-pornography firewall run by the UK's four top internet providers has blocked the latest League of Legends update because it happens to contain the letters "s," "e" and "x" in a row in two of its file names, The Guardian reports. The filter dings the following two files, forcing the update to fail with a "file not found" error (emphasis added): XerathMageChainsExtended.luaobj VarusExpirationTimer.luaobj Reddit user LoLBoompje first reported the file error, and The Guardian says that the only recourse for those affected is to contact their internet providers and switch off the filter. The firewall is a new program and this problem should be contained to anyone who has signed up for a new ISP this month only.
DARPA-backed Power Pwn is power strip by day, superhero hack machine by night
Call the Power Pwn the champion of white hat hacking. Underneath that Clark Kent power strip exterior, there's a Superman of full-scale breach testing that can push the limits of just about any company network, whether it takes 3G, Ethernet or WiFi to get there. Pwnie Express' stealthy sequel to the Pwn Plug ships with a Debian 6 instance of Linux whose handy hacking tools are as easy to launch as they are tough to detect. There's just one step needed to create a snoop-friendly Evil AP WiFi hotspot, and the box dodges around low-level NAC/802.1x/RADIUS network authentication without any help; in the same breath, it can easily leap into stealth mode and keeps an ongoing encrypted link to give do-gooders a real challenge. The hacker doesn't even need to be in the same ZIP code to crack a firewall or VPN -- the 3G link lets the Power Pwn take bash command-line instructions through SMS messages and doles out some of its feedback the same way. While the $1,295 device can theoretically be used for nefarious purposes, DARPA's blessing (and funding) should help keep the Power Pwn safely in the hands of security pros and thwart more than a few dastardly villains looking for weak networks.
Exploit uses firewalls to hijack smartphones, turns friends into foes
Normally, firewalls at cellular carriers are your best friends, screening out malware before it ever touches your phone. University of Michigan computer science researchers have found that those first lines of defense could be your enemy through a new exploit. As long as a small piece of malware sits on a device, that handset can infer TCP data packet sequence numbers coming from the firewall and hijack a phone's internet traffic with phishing sites, fake messages or other rogue code. The trick works on at least 48 carriers that use firewalls from Check Point, Cisco, Juniper and other networking heavy hitters -- AT&T being one of those providers. Carriers can turn the sequences off, although there are consequences to that as well. The only surefire solution is to either run antivirus apps if you're on a mobile OS like Android or else to run a platform that doesn't allow running unsigned apps at all, like iOS or Windows Phone. Whether or not the exploit is a serious threat is still far from certain, but we'll get a better sense of the risk on May 22nd, when Z. Morley Mao and Zhiyun Qian step up to the podium at an IEEE security symposium and deliver their findings.
Telex anti-censorship system promises to leap over firewalls without getting burned
Human rights activists and free speech advocates have every reason to worry about the future of an open and uncensored internet, but researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Waterloo have come up with a new tool that may help put their fears to rest. Their system, called Telex, proposes to circumvent government censors by using some clever cryptographic techniques. Unlike similar schemes, which typically require users to deploy secret IP addresses and encryption keys, Telex would only ask that they download a piece of software. With the program onboard, users in firewalled countries would then be able to visit blacklisted sites by establishing a decoy connection to any unblocked address. The software would automatically recognize this connection as a Telex request and tag it with a secret code visible only to participating ISPs, which could then divert these requests to banned sites. By essentially creating a proxy server without an IP address, the concept could make verboten connections more difficult to trace, but it would still rely upon the cooperation of many ISPs stationed outside the country in question -- which could pose a significant obstacle to its realization. At this point, Telex is still in a proof-of-concept phase, but you can find out more in the full press release, after the break.
Researchers shield implants from hackers with wireless charm of protection
Everything can be hacked -- that's an important detail to keep in mind as we start cramming wireless radios into our bodies attached to medical implants. Researchers have been working on ways to protect devices like pacemakers from ne'er-do-wells looking to cause, not just e-harm, but physical injury or even death. A new system developed jointly by MIT and UMass is much more sophisticated that earlier solutions, can be used with existing implants, and is worn outside the body allowing it to be removed in the event of an emergency. The shield, as it's called, acts as a sort of medical firewall, protecting implants from unauthorized access -- doctors send encrypted instructions to it which are decoded and relayed to device, while it blocks any signals not using the secret key. All that's left to do is figure out what sort of person would mess with someone's defibrillator.
Ask TUAW Video Edition: AirPort 101
Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I'm doing a beginners 101 class on how to set up your AirPort base station. My example shows an AirPort Extreme, but the basics can be used for both AirPort Express and a Time Capsule. We show you how to lock down your wireless and how to allow access from outside. As always, video is after the post -- and feel free to leave comments and email us to ask questions.
China, predictably, denies Google's accusations of Gmail tampering
On Monday, Google expressed its belief that its email users in China were experiencing "a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail." Now, as is par for this thorny course, the Chinese state has come out with a terse rebuttal, saying simply that "this is an unacceptable accusation." The retort was, says the BBC, part of a regular news conference on Tuesday and it doesn't appear that any more time was spent on the subject. Which is odd since most people would tend to act to prevent something they see as unacceptable -- but then we suppose China already has a pretty long list of folks it'd like to shut up, Google's just gonna have to get in line and wait its turn. There's a good citizen.
Google and China clash again, this time over Gmail access
Last week we noted, with a growing sense of disquiet, how China was busying itself with locking out VPN access within its borders and, seemingly, preventing people from using their Gmail accounts. Google has now given a public voice to those concerns, noting that "there is no issue on our side. We have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail." Other Google tools, like the Person Finder for Japanese tsunami survivors, have also exhibited intermittent issues. China's goal in these attacks is reportedly to stifle online revolutionary chatter inspired by Egypt's successful democratic revolt, though the nation's said to be taking a more clandestine approach than previously by making its alleged sabotage appear like a software problem instead. Guess it's time to prepare ourselves for another battle of wits between these two.
China tightens grip on VPN access amid pro-democracy protests, Gmail users also affected
If you've been struggling to get your dose of Facebook or Twitter in China recently, then you're probably one of the many Internet users who've had their VPN access -- either free or paid for -- blocked over the last two weeks or so. That's right, the notorious Great Firewall of China is still alive and well, and leaving proxy servers aside, VPN is pretty much the only way for keen netizens to access websites that are deemed too sensitive for their eyes; or to "leap over the wall," as they say. Alas, the recent pro-democracy protests didn't exactly do these guys any favor -- for one, their organizers used Twitter along with an overseas human rights website to gather protesters, and with the National People's Congress meetings that were about to take place (and wrapped up last night), it was no surprise that the government went tough on this little bypassing trick. To make matters worse, PC World is reporting that Gmail users are also affected by slow or limited access, despite the service previously being free from China's blacklist. We reached out to a handful of major VPN service providers, and they all confirmed a significant increase in the amount of blockage -- possibly by having their servers' PPTP IP addresses blocked -- over the last two weeks. One company even spotted the Chinese government subscribing to its paid service, only to work its way into the network to locate the company's PPTP server list, and then put them behind the firewall. Fortunately for some, the better-off companies had backup servers to rapidly resolve the problem, whereas the cheaper and free services were unable to dodge the bullet. This just goes to show that sometimes you get what you pay for. That said, with practically unlimited human hacking power at its disposal, it doesn't take much for the firewall to shut down everything heading its way. For the sake of our friends and expats there, let's just hope that the government will take things down a notch as soon as the storm calms.
The Road to Mordor: Hacked!
"My kinship had just finished an instance run about a week-and-a-half ago and was in the process of reloading back into the world when I got the message that I was being disconnected because I had just logged into the Brandywine server. Huh? Suspecting the worst, I immediately hit up the Turbine Account page and changed my password then re-logged back into the game, which would boot the hacker offline just like I had been booted minutes earlier. "I was lucky and did that before the hacker had time to switch servers to where my active characters are. Other kinmates have not been so lucky." So goes the frightening tale of Pumping Irony's Scott, who shares this in the hopes that others may avoid a similar scare. Unfortunately, it seems as though stories such as these are becoming more and more common in Lord of the Rings Online, where the worst threat to your quest may not be the eye of Sauron but the malicious intent of hackers gutting your account while you're offline. Today we're going to step off the path for a temporary side trail into the gloomy undergrowth of account security and an MMO under siege.
Netgear partners with Ericsson for a 3G-receiving, WiFi-emanating router
Had enough of dealing with oligopolistic wired broadband suppliers? Well, with Netgear's brand spanking new MBRN3300E you can just ride off into the 3G sunset and say goodbye to those pesky wires. Like the majority of wireless routers today, it comes with 802.11n WiFi and a built-in firewall, but what sets it apart is the integrated 3G modem provided by Ericsson. With it, you can suckle down broadband straight from the ether and transport it throughout your home, whether you live in New York City or some remote part of Minnesota. Netgear is announcing it with immediate availability, and there will be optional car charger and battery pack accessories to maximize the mobility of the unit. Okay, it'll never be as small and portable as a MiFi router, but it's always good to have options, right? Full PR after the break.
