Information security researchers usually see software fail. Sometimes they try to make software fail on purpose. The result is a bug description, also called vulnerability report in case the bug has a security impact. The the best case scenario this information reaches the software developers who in turn fix the problem. Then the cycle continues. […]
Threat Modeling is a main method to identify potential security weaknesses, and is an important part of any secure design. Threat Modeling provides a model to analyze how to best protect your assets, prevent attacks, harden your systems, and efficiently prioritize security investment. Regardless of programming language, Threat Modeling provides a far greater return than […]
WebSocket protocol is many times more efficient than HTTP. In recent years we can observe that developers tend to implement functionality in the form of WebSocket APIs instead of traditional REST APIs, that use HTTP. Modern technologies and frameworks simplify the building of efficient WebSocket APIs. We can name GraphQL subscriptions or Websocket APIs supported […]
A couple of years ago we had a chat with one of our sponsors, Attingo. They are specialised in data recovery from all kinds of media and in all kinds of conditions. Since vendors keep secrets from the rest of the world, the data rescuers do a lot of reverse engineering in order to decode […]
How do bugs in software get fixed? Well, first of all you have to find them. All code has bugs. Most probably, that is. Usually developers and users of applications find bugs. The history of information security has taught us that now attackers also look for bugs in software. Therefore flaws in code leading to […]
Hopefully many of you know the Applied Crypto Hardening (ACH) project, also known as BetterCrypto.org. The project was announced at DeepSec 2013. The idea was (and is) to compile hands-on advice for system administrators, dev ops, developers, and others when it comes to selecting the right crypto configuration for an application. The BetterCrypto.org document covers […]
As soon as a security gap in an computer application is made public the anxious wait begins. Whether it is software for your own network, online applications or apps for your mobile devices, as a user you will quickly become aware of your own vulnerability. The nervousness increases. When will the vendor publish the security update? In […]
Most programming languages and frameworks have support for serialization of data. It’s quite handy for storing things to disk (or other media) and transporting them around a network for example. The process can be reversed, aptly called deserialization, in order to obtain the original pieces of data. Great. Even though this process sounds simple, there […]
The World Wide Web is everywhere. It has become the standard protocol for transferring data, accessing applications, configuring devices, controlling software, or even multimedia streaming. Most software development can’t be done without web applications. Despite the easy concept the technologies used in „HTTP/HTTPS“ have grown in very complex beasts. Few get it right, lots of […]
SEC Consult, our long-term supporter, has updated a report on the use of encryption keys in firmware. These hardcoded cryptographic secrets pose a serious threat to information security. The report features 50 different vendors and has some interesting statistics. The results were coordinated with CERT/CC in order to inform the vendors about the problem. The […]
The Content Security Policy (CSP) is an additional layer of security for web applications. It is intended to detect and mitigate certain types of attacks. CSP is deployed by using the HTTP Content-Security-Policy header for publishing a policy. The policy instructs the web client how various resources will be used, where they come from, and […]
Secure Coding is the way to go when you develop applications for the real world. Rename errors and bugs into failures. Turn #fail to #win. Instant karma. In addition there are lots of best practices, checklists, and documents around that will tell you what to anticipate. However the design of an application precedes the code […]
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 […]
Particle collisions are a rich source for insights into the inner workings of Nature. Physicists know this. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) demonstrates this to the extreme. You can to the same in information security if you lock developers and security experts into a room. Acceleration […]
In information security pessimism rules. Unfortunately. Extreme Programming might breed extreme problems, too. The short-lived app software cycle is a prime example. If your main goal is to hit the app store as soon and as often as possible, then critical bugs will show up faster than you can spell XCodeGhost. The development infrastructure has […]