DeepSec 2022 Talk: GitHub Actions Security Landscape – Ronen Slavin

Sanna/ August 25, 2022/ Conference

GitHub Actions, the recent (from 2018) CI/CD addition to the popular source control system, is becoming an increasingly popular DevOps tool mainly due to its rich marketplace and simple integration. As part of our research of the GitHub Actions security landscape, we discovered that in writing a perfectly secure GitHub Actions workflow, several pitfalls could cause severe security consequences. For example, many developers would use event input data to improve their workflow process. However, this data could be controlled by an attacker, and potentially compromise the build process. Unless the developers are proficient in the depths of GitHub best-practices documents, these workflows would have mistakes. Such mistakes are costly – and could cause a potential supply chain risk to the product. During the talk, we’ll walk you through our journey on how we found

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DeepSec 2022 Talk: Towards the Automation of Highly Targeted Phishing Attacks with Adversarial Artificial Intelligence – Francesco Morano and Enrico Frumento

Sanna/ August 24, 2022/ Conference

The work we will present aims to develop a Proof of Concept (PoC) of an attack scenario that uses Artificial Intelligence (i.e., AI) to create a semi-automatic phishing attack. The AI-based PoC used different network types to automatically compose highly targeted phishing emails with information derived from the initial OSINT analysis of the potential victims. The study approaches the problem from a cybercriminal point of view to understand the feasibility of such an attack tactic and prepare for possible defences. Phishing is a popular way to perform social engineering attacks. According to the Verizon 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report, 82% of data breaches involve human elements and belong to several categories, including phishing, the most common. Using AI tools, this study implements a complete attack chain: (i) initial collection of victims’ data through OSINT,

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DeepSec 2022 Talk: Hey You! Get Off my Satellite! – Paul Coggin

Sanna/ August 23, 2022/ Conference

There are many components and systems that may be targeted in a space system by adversaries including ground station systems and satellites. In this presentation we will discuss ideas for providing cyber resiliency in zero-gravity. Both theoretical and real-world examples of cybersecurity issues concerning satellite systems will be covered. This presentation will step through attack trees for targeting satellite systems. Recommendations best practices for securing satellite systems will be discussed. In addition, new ideas industry is currently developing for improving the cyber resiliency of space systems will be presented. We asked Paul a few more questions about his talk. Please tell us the top 5 facts about your talk. Examples of real-world satellite hacking events will be covered. Recommended best practices for securing ground systems, and spacecraft will be discussed. Space ground systems are

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Press Release: Spy Tools must not become Standard Software

Sanna/ August 3, 2022/ Press

DeepSec security conference warns of the growing market for spy tools. Information technology has gained a new acronym: Private-Sector Offensive Actor (PSOA). PSOA means something like a private-sector offensive opponent. The specific case of a PSOA has also reached Austria because of research by Microsoft®. An Austrian company is accused of being involved in digital attacks on Microsoft® customers in Europe and Central America. The case illustrates that spyware continues to be developed and used as a dangerous threat to information security. The DeepSec security conference taking place in November repeatedly warns against such technology and will deal specifically with the details of industrial espionage. Threatening security as a business model Bypassing security measures is a lucrative business model. Companies are active in this field all over the world. Some buy knowledge of security

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Translated Article: German Cyber Security Strategy without Security

Sanna/ July 27, 2022/ Stories

Deutsche Cybersicherheitsstrategie ohne Sicherheit by Erich Moechel for fm4.ORF.at The new German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) is continuing the cyber course of her predecessor Horst Seehofer (CDU), which according to independent experts has been completely misguided. The professional world “is not amused”. Parallel to the finalization of the new EU directive on cyber security (NIS2), Germany’s new cyber security strategy was presented in Berlin. The European directive, which was negotiated unusually quickly, was welcomed almost unanimously by experts. The new German cyber security strategy, on the other hand, has been consistently criticized by experts since its publication. As a closer look shows, it is neither new nor a security strategy. First and foremost, new powers are being distributed to police authorities and secret services. Trojans instead of cyber security As the table of contents already

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DeepSec 2022 Training: Exploiting Race Conditions – Dawid Czagan

Sanna/ July 25, 2022/ Training

A race condition attack is one of the most dangerous and underestimated attacks on modern web applications. It’s related to concurrency and multithreading. As a result of this attack an attacker, who has $1000 in his bank account, can transfer more than $1000 from his bank account. This is just one example, but it clearly shows how dangerous this attack is. In a free video Dawid Czagan (DeepSec instructor) will show you step by step how this attack works and will tell you how to prevent this attack from happening. Watch this free video and feel the taste of Dawid Czagan’s training ”Black Belt Pentesting / Bug Hunting Millionaire: Mastering Web Attacks with Full-Stack Exploitation” (DeepSec 2022; 15-16 November; https://deepsec.net/speaker.html#WSLOT564)   Dawid Czagan (@dawidczagan) is an internationally recognized security researcher and trainer. He is listed among the

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DeepSec 2022 Training: Bypassing Content Security Policy via ajax.googleapis.com – Dawid Czagan

Sanna/ July 21, 2022/ Training

Content Security Policy (CSP) is the number one defensive technology in modern web applications. Many developers add ajax.googleapis.com to CSP definitions, because they use libraries from this very popular CDN in their web applications. The problem is that it completely bypasses the CSP and obviously you don’t want that to happen. In a free video, Dawid Czagan (DeepSec instructor) will show you step by step how your CSP can be bypassed by hackers. Watch this free video and feel the taste of Dawid Czagan’s training ”Black Belt Pentesting / Bug Hunting Millionaire: Mastering Web Attacks with Full-Stack Exploitation” (DeepSec 2022; 15-16 November; https://deepsec.net/speaker.html#WSLOT564)   Dawid Czagan (@dawidczagan) is an internationally recognized security researcher and trainer. He is listed among the top hackers at HackerOne. Dawid Czagan has found security vulnerabilities in Google, Yahoo, Mozilla, Microsoft, Twitter and other companies.

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DeepSec 2022 Training: Token Hijacking via PDF File – Dawid Czagan

Sanna/ July 20, 2022/ Training

PDF files are everywhere and they can be used to hack your web application. Imagine that the attacker prepares a malicious PDF file which steals sensitive data from a user. The PDF file is uploaded to the web application, the user reads this PDF file, and finally sensitive data is exfiltrated from the user’s browser. It’s scary, isn’t it? In a free video, Dawid Czagan (your DeepSec instructor) will show you step by step how this attack works and how you can check if your web application is vulnerable to this attack. Watch this free video and feel the taste of Dawid Czagan’s training ”Black Belt Pentesting / Bug Hunting Millionaire: Mastering Web Attacks with Full-Stack Exploitation” (DeepSec 2022; 15-16 November; https://deepsec.net/speaker.html#WSLOT564)   Dawid Czagan (@dawidczagan) is an internationally recognized security researcher and trainer. He is

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Translated Article: New EU Regulation makes securely encrypted Chats illegal

Sanna/ July 13, 2022/ Stories

Neue EU-Regulierung macht sicher verschlüsselte Chats illegal by Erich Moechel for fm4.orf.at [This article has been sitting in our translation queue for a while. We have translated the content, because Erich monitors the development of the war against encryption for many decades and has always deep insights into the processes behind the scenes.] The word “encryption” is hardly mentioned directly in the Commission’s draft, which aims to make end-to-end encryption illegal in general. Series, Part 1. The EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson’s Regulation on Combating Child Abuse on the Internet, which was presented on Wednesday, caused incredulous amazement in the professional world. “This will be the most sophisticated system of mass surveillance ever set up outside of Russia or China,” prominent cryptographer Matthew Green wrote in a first reaction on Twitter. Securely encrypted chats are de

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DeepSec 2022 Training: Mobile Security Testing Guide Hands-On (Hybrid edition) – Sven Schleier

Sanna/ July 12, 2022/ Training

This course teaches you how to analyse Android and iOS apps for security vulnerabilities, by going through the different phases of testing, including dynamic testing, static analysis and reverse engineering. Sven will share his experience and many small tips and tricks to attack mobile apps that he collected throughout his career and bug hunting adventures. We asked Sven a few more questions about his training. Please tell us the top 5 facts about your training. Learn a holistic and consistent method for testing the security of mobile apps A full Penetration Test against iOS apps can also be done on a non-jailbroken device! Learn how to bypass Anti-Frida security controls in a mobile app with… FRIDA! Focus on hands-on exercises during the training with vulnerable apps build by the trainer You just need to

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Press Release: Ransomware Attacks Are No Force Majeure

Sanna/ July 7, 2022/ Press

DeepSec security conference reminds you of basic IT protection and secure system architecture. Malware attacks that encrypt data of victims seem to have increased recently. In fact, these ransomware attacks are only part of an evolution among the attackers. Attack software moves with the times. An important reason for the accumulation is the standstill in defense. This year’s DeepSec security conference offers exchange with experts and high-quality further training for protecting your own IT. Basic Misunderstandings Comparing the reports of incidents involving ransomware attacks, one might conclude that these are inevitable natural events. Of course, that’s not the case. If one sticks to the biological analogy of the virus, a favorable combination of prerequisites for the infestation of ransomware results. In the beginning, there is always a deception in the form of a fake

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Translated Article: EU Control Committee Blocks Regulation on Chat Surveillance

Sanna/ April 4, 2022/ Stories

EU-Kontrollausschuss blockt Verordnung zur Chat-Überwachung by Erich Moechel for fm4.orf.at [We have translated this article, because we have criticised client side scanning and introducing backdoors to circumvent encryption in past articles. Erich Möchel has an update on the current EU initiative to make encryption useless.]. A leaked report from the Commission’s control committee shows that officials from the Commission’s interior department have not presented a legally compliant draft in two years. The publication of the ordinance on the automated monitoring of chats, which was announced at the end of March, has already been postponed again. This ordinance, ostensibly aimed at combating child abuse, is now 18 months behind schedule. A recent leak now shows the reason for this series of postponements. The officials responsible for the Commission’s draft could not come up with a text

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Translated Article: Internet Traffic in Russia will be Rerouted

Sanna/ March 17, 2022/ Stories

Der Internetverkehr Russlands wird umgeroutet by Erich Moechel for fm4.orf.at With Lumen and Cogent, the leading transit carrier and the number three are just exiting the Russian market. Apparently, this doesn’t happen voluntarily and, above all, not as quickly as announced. After the media sector and the stock exchange, the western sanctions are now hitting the Russian IT industry with full force. With Cogent and Lumen, two of the top five international Internet carriers are in the process of cutting off their major customers in Russia one after the other. Market leader Rostelecom, all mobile phone companies and the Internet group Yandex are losing their strongest connections to the world. On Friday, the London Internet Exchange announced that Rostelecom traffic would no longer be routed. All of this is a first in the history of

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Translated Article: CIA Data Mining in SWIFT Financial Data from Europe

Sanna/ March 2, 2022/ Stories

[Editor’s note: This article was translated before the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine. It features SWIFT, and the discussed data mining methods still apply regardless of the sanctions.] Data-Mining der CIA in SWIFT-Finanzdaten aus Europa by Erich Moechel for fm4.orf.at Massive financial datasets are constantly being delivered from the EU to the US as part of the TFTP treaty against terrorist financing. The CIA receives this data. The fog is slowly clearing around the huge datasets in which the CIA claims to be data mining. The “foreign financial data platforms” from which the CIA “collects large amounts of structured financial data” to stop ISIS terrorist funding are the databases of payment processor SWIFT. Around 11,000 banks from 200 countries process their payment transactions via the SWIFT system, which currently processes around 40 million

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DeepSec 2021 Talk: Analyzing Radicalization on the Internet – Method and Results of the COMRAD-Project – Dr. Andreas Enzminger & Dr. Jürgen Grimm

Sanna/ November 17, 2021/ Conference, Internet

Incitement, radicalization, and terror are the buzzwords that currently concern us the most. Right-wing and left-wing extremist groups or religious fundamentalists act as fire accelerators for extremist tendencies, even leading to the use of political violence. In this way, they can also endanger the value-based foundations of democracy in the medium and long term. Although much discussed, the role of the media, especially social media, in radicalization within society remains conceptually and empirically unclear. While there are several case analyses based on violent events, systematic studies have yet to be conducted. To fill this gap, the COMRAD project is dedicated to researching radicalization tendencies in cyberspace, focusing on psychosocial, ideological, and communicative conditioning factors. The focus is on the “open space” of politically left-wing, right-wing, or Islamic Facebook groups, in which recruitment strategies and

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