2107, 2016

A Perspective on Code and Components – assert(), don’t assume()

René Pfeiffer/ July 21, 2016/ Development, Discussion, High Entropy

Have you ever looked closely at the tools you use on a daily basis? Taking things apart and putting them back together is an integral part of understanding the universe. Scientists do it all of the time (well, at least some do, there are things that can’t be put together easily once taken apart). So lets focus on components and how they interact. ASN.1 and libraries that deal with it are popular components. Few people get a kick out of ASN.1, so they use code that does it. It’s just an example for parts that handle data being sent to and received from other systems. We live in a networked world, so communication is a crucial part of modern software. So to use business lingo: Most software works by delegating tasks to third-party code.

2107, 2016

Intelligence on the Silver Screen: A Good American Kickstarter Campaign

René Pfeiffer/ July 21, 2016/ Discussion, High Entropy, Security Intelligence

Surveillance has a bad reputation. No one likes to be watched. Yet infosec researchers, sysadmins, and developers talk a lot about log files. We need to watch stuff for various reasons. You got your mail logs, diagnostic messages, performance metrics, network addresses, and more painstakingly sorted by timestamps and maybe geolocation. Log data is part of information technology. It gets interesting once you store, process and mine this data. Some people like to collect it all and do all kinds of Big Data stuff with it. Others filter out the relevant bits of information and work with that. Opinion is divided, results may vary. Enter A Good American, the documentary which was screened in Vienna during the DeepSec 2015 conference. It has been shown all over the world. The film itself is fully funded,

1407, 2016

The Internet of Threats revisited

René Pfeiffer/ July 14, 2016/ Communication, High Entropy, Internet

Everyone is talking about the Internet of Things. Connecting household applications (yes, applications, appliances is so 1990s) to a network hasn’t been more fun than now. Also measuring things is great. Today most sensors are deployed to generate endless streams of data because we can, not because there is a need for it. And I haven’t even talked about the information security aspect yet. Let’s take a step back into 1995/1996. Those were the days of the first browser wars. Jamie Zawinski has a quote of the Law of Software Envelopment on his web site. Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can. The proof of concept was undertaken by creating the Netscape Mail and News client. Processing email once

1805, 2016

The Didactic Side of Information Security

René Pfeiffer/ May 18, 2016/ Discussion, High Entropy

Explaining complicated topics with a lot of dependencies is hard. Even the operation of devices such as computers, telephones, or cloud(ed) applications can’t be described in a few sentences. Well, you can, if you use the tried and true lie-to-children method coined by Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart. If you really want to dive into a subject, you need a good start and a tour guide who knows where the terrain gets rough and helps you through it. Information technology and its security is hard to learn. The basics are surprisingly simple. Once you get to the implementation and the actual parts that need to be touched, it gets a lot more complicated. Modern IT combines various technologies, most taken from computer science, others taken from other fields of research. The starting point defines

0504, 2016

Return of the Penguin Challenge – ELF (?) Binary (?)

René Pfeiffer/ April 5, 2016/ High Entropy

Our friends from BSidesLondon have set up a challenge for you. It’s a little ELF binary with some odd properties. That’s all we will tell you. Have a look for yourself. In case you are forensically inclined, we might have a little Call for Papers email for you. There is a lot of strange code around in the Internet and other networks. Decoding what code does without getting your san(d)box blown apart is a fine art. We are interested in getting in touch with researchers in the field of malicious software and digital forensics. Software developers need to know what you have seen. So if you got some ideas, research, or interesting content, drop us your email address.

0104, 2016

FBI, NSA, DoD and CDC join forces to combat Cyber Pathogens

René Pfeiffer/ April 1, 2016/ Discussion, High Entropy

The world economy is threatened by a new strain of microorganisms. These so-called cyber pathogens spread via networks and the touch of digital devices. They can also lie dormant for days and months, only to spring to life when the victim’s immune system is at its weakest point. It is widely believed that cyber pathogens can infect the population of a whole country and wipe it completely off the grid of the Earth. Current antidotes can only treat the symptoms. The best way to get rid off the pathogens is to resort to physical means and destroy every surface it can cling to. Amputation of infected tissue also works. Unless security researchers will find a suitable vaccination soon, every single one of us is at risk. The cyber pathogen threat is the reason for

1103, 2016

“A Good American” opens next Week in Austrian Theatres

René Pfeiffer/ March 11, 2016/ Administrivia, Discussion, High Entropy, Security, Security Intelligence

For everyone attending DeepSec 2015 we organised a private screening of the film “A Good American”. Everyone else now gets the chance to see this film in theatres beginning on 18 March 2016. Next week there will be the premiere in Vienna, Linz, and Innsbruck here in Austria. Bill Binney will be present himself, and he will answer questions from the audience. We highly recommend “A Good American” to everyone dealing with information security, regardless of the level. Full take and Big Data is not always the answer to your security challenges. Every gadget around is turning smart, and so should you. We hope to see you at the premiere here in Vienna next week!

2002, 2016

DeepSec Video: HackingTeam – How They Infected Your Android Device By 0days

René Pfeiffer/ February 20, 2016/ Conference, Discussion, High Entropy, Security

Backdoors are very popular these days. Not only cybercrime likes extra access, governments like it too. There’s even a lucrative market for insecurity. You can buy everything your IT team defends against legally. Hacking Team is/was one of the companies supplying 0days along with intrusive software to take over client systems. Attila Marosi explained at DeepSec 2015 how products of Hacking Team were used to attack and compromise Android clients. There is no need to make a long introduction when speaking about the famous Remote Control System (RCS), the product of the Italian company Hacking Team. The huge amount – 400 GB – of leaked data gives rise to lengthy discussion and is extremely concerning for every part of the professionally, politically or even those superficially interested only. Enjoy Attila’s presentation. Be careful about

0502, 2016

DeepSec Video: Cryptography Tools, Identity Vectors for “Djihadists”

René Pfeiffer/ February 5, 2016/ Conference, Discussion, High Entropy, Internet

Wherever and whenever terrorism, „cyber“, and cryptography (i.e. mathematics) meet, then there is a lot of confusion. The Crypto Wars 2.0 are raging as you read this article. Cryptography is usually the perfect scapegoat for a failure in intelligence. What about the facts? At DeepSec 2015 Julie Gommes talked about results of the studies done by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The Internet is the method of choice for communication: the number of sites calling for a “jihad” rose from 28 in 1997 to over 5,000 in 2005. The basic use of these sites for the purpose of basic classical communication began in the 2000s. It was replaced by that of social networks, allowing almost instant mass communication. Julie’s talk give you an overview about the tools used according to the study.

0312, 2015

National-Security-in-the-Middle Attack – the Crypto Wars continue

René Pfeiffer/ December 3, 2015/ High Entropy, Internet, Odd

National security has officially reached the SSL/TLS infrastructure – at least in Kazakhstan. The Google cache features an article published by the Kazakhtelecom JSC where the introduction of a so-called national security certificate for Internet users was proudly announced. We show you some parts of the original text for educational purposes, because we have never seen the announcement of a backdoor to communication channels in this glorious manner. From 1 January 2016 pursuant to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On communication» Committee on Communication, Informatization and Information, Ministry for investments and development of the Republic of Kazakhstan introduces the national security certificate for Internet users. According to the Law telecom operators are obliged to perform traffic pass with using protocols, that support coding using security certificate, except traffic, coded by means of cryptographic information protection

1811, 2015

Terrorism – No Time for Backdoors

René Pfeiffer/ November 18, 2015/ Communication, Discussion, High Entropy, Security

Every successful project needs proper planning and a good project management. You know this from your business life, probably. Projects can’t be done without tools for communication. We all use these day by day. Email, telephone, collaboration platforms, social media, instant messengers, and more software is readily available. Access to communication tools has spread. Exchanging messages has also evolved a lot since the 1990s. Given the diversity of the Internet, messages are now encrypted (hopefully). It is a very basic defence against any third parties, or Eve, both being unable to eavesdrop on the conversation. Especially when you do business and talk money, encryption is your closest friend. Why else would you meet indoors and control the access of persons to your office space? Why not discuss business internals while riding public transport? Some

0611, 2015

Endangered Species: Full Disclosure in Information Security

Sanna/ November 6, 2015/ Discussion, High Entropy, Legal, Security

History, fictive or real, is full of situations where doubts meet claims. Nearly every invention, every product will be eyed critically, analysed, and tested. There are even whole magazines fully dedicated to this sport, be it for example, consumer protection, reviews of computer games or the car of the year. When it comes to testing the sector of information security is particularly sensitive. Depending on the hard- or software concerned, testing is not only about comfort or in search of a particularly good storyline, but about incidents, which can cause real damage in the real world. How should one deal with the knowledge of a design flaw affecting the security of a system? Locks In 1851 the American lock-smith Alfred Charles Hobbs visited the Great Exhibition in London. He was the first to pick

0511, 2015

Debugging Information Security: Self Defence for Entrepreneurs

Sanna/ November 5, 2015/ Conference, High Entropy, Internet, Security, Security Intelligence

In our economy data leaks are a constant companion. That’s the impression one gets when reading the news. Customer portals, online shops, digital communications, plans of products, personnel data, and more can be found in department stores throughout the shadow economy. Blind faith in global networks has indeed suffered in recent years, but companies and individuals still have a partially carefree attitude when it comes to the imminent risk their data is exposed to. “Who cares about our data?”, is often said. This year’s DeepSec IT Security Conference has some very specific answers to this question. Duncan Campbell and James Bamford open IT Security Conference in Vienna Duncan Campbell is a freelance British journalist, author, and television producer. Since 1975 he has specialized in intelligence and security services, defence, policing and civil liberty rights.

2810, 2015

Special Screening of the Documentary “A Good American” during DeepSec 2015

René Pfeiffer/ October 28, 2015/ Conference, Discussion, High Entropy, Security Intelligence

Attendees of DeepSec 2015 will receive a special treat. We have been talking to Friedrich Moser, and he has agreed to show his documentary „A Good American“ on 20 November 2015 exclusively. The private screening will take place in Vienna. It starts at 2100 at the Burg Kino, known for showing „The Third Man“. „A Good American“ explains how to do threat intelligence in a more efficient way, according to the creator of ThinThread: „A codebreaker genius, a revolutionary surveillance program and corruption across the board of NSA. Against this backdrop unfolds the feature documentary A GOOD AMERICAN. The film tells the story of Bill Binney and his program ThinThread and how this perfect alternative to mass surveillance got ditched by NSA for money.“ After the film Friedrich Moser, Duncan Campbell, James Bamford, and

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