Believe it or NOT - Some ATMs are still running Windows XP

You would expect banks to be careful because they deal with money.

Apparently it is not true.

And also some of them had USB ports and CD ROM enabled

From the article:

Jacco Van Tuijl, who conducts penetration testing (sanctioned hacking into systems to determine their vulnerability to attacks) for banks in the Netherlands, pointed out that many ATMs still use the now-obsolete, 13-year-old Windows XP operating system

"The ATM is basically a computer. We have conducted penetration tests and were able to access USB ports inside of ATMs by cutting through the metal.

Police said the suspects hacked the machines by inserting a disc into the ATMs' CD-ROMs that would then infect the machines with a virus or malware.

For more details follow the link below:

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/10/24/ATM-hack-must-update-systems/

Security is only as good as the weakest link - micro-chipped credit cards are no exception

Hackers didn't hack the cards. They hacked the bank and are processing fake transactions with the more secure cards.

From the Article

Each microchipped credit card has something called a cryptogram. It tells the bank whether a card or transaction has been modified in any way.But the hackers got control of a payment terminal, they could change the data and make a fraudulent purchase.

So what happened with the cryptograms and the card security? The Consumerist says the banks were relying on them to be secure... and no one actually checked the transaction reports! 

Follow this link for additional details:

http://www.wfmynews2.com/story/news/local/2-wants-to-know/2014/10/29/hackers-microchipped-credit-cards/18129591/

Identity Theft is much easier than you think - Don't believe me check this article

• When Google offered email - we surrendered part of our privacy
• When someone offers free WiFi  and we connect without bothering to check - we deserve whatever happens next

There are three  ways of getting information:

1. Hard way - Break into someone else system
2. Easy way - Make them connect to your fake WiFi and let them provide you with all the information.
3. Depends on need/user - Social Networking

From the Article

Wouter removes his laptop from his backpack, puts the black device on the table, and hides it under a menu. A waitress passes by and we ask for two coffees and the password for the WiFi network. Meanwhile, Wouter switches on his laptop and device, launches some programs, and soon the screen starts to fill with green text lines. It gradually becomes clear that Wouter’s device is connecting to the laptops, smartphones, and tablets of cafe visitors

Follow this link for additional details:

https://medium.com/matter/heres-why-public-wifi-is-a-public-health-hazard-dd5b8dcb55e6

Another day , Another Breach - it is STAPLES('s) turn

From the Article

It appears likely that fraudsters have succeeded in stealing customer card data from some subset of Staples locations, including seven Staples stores in Pennsylvania, at least three in New York City, and another in New Jersey.


Follow this link for additional details:

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/10/banks-credit-card-breach-at-staples-stores/

Putting Windows XP to full use - By creating 500,000 PC Botnet

Well, Someone is putting it to good use

From the Article

What the attackers are after is online banking logins, which form half the business, and PCs that can be sold on to other criminals as compromised machines inside interesting organisations. These can also then be used a proxies for third-party attacks

Perhaps the real story is the incredible ease with which Qbot has found victims, 75 percent of which are based in the US. Significantly, 52 percent of these are running Windows XP, 39 percent Windows 7 with 7 percent Windows Vista.

Anyone who uses XP and still can't patch the old software on their system is probably beyond reach

Follow this link for additional details:

http://www.csoonline.com/article/2692528/cyber-attacks-espionage/windows-xp-flaws-help-russian-qbot-gang-build-500000-pc-botnet.html

USB Hack - Unfixable? - Once infected, computers and their USB peripherals can never be trusted again

Sometime back I pointed to an article "Can you or your computer detect a compromised USB device? - NO !!!"

So, if you were not careful before, change now !!

This is a follow-up.




(From the article)

Two security researchers, Adam Caudill and Brandon Wilson, have reverse-engineered a popular USB firmware from Taiwanese firm Phison, which powers hundreds of millions of devices. With the right exploit, USBs can become an injection conduit for malicious code—so, a flash drive could emulate a keyboard and issue commands on behalf of the logged-in user, to exfiltrate files or install malware. Such malware, in turn, can infect the controller chips of other USB devices connected to the computer

The device can also spoof a network card and change the computer’s DNS setting to redirect traffic.


The two are replicating research from SR Labs’ Karsten Nohl, who gave a talk at the Black Hat security conference discussing the exploit, which he dubbed BadUSB. However, given the persistent nature of the issue, he decided not to release it.

“No effective defenses from USB attacks are known,” he said in his information page on the issue.


To make matters worse, cleanup after an incident is nigh impossible.

“Simply reinstalling the operating system – the standard response to otherwise ineradicable malware – does not address BadUSB infections at their root,” Nohl said. “The USB thumb drive, from which the operating system is reinstalled, may already be infected, as may the hardwired webcam or other USB components inside the computer. A BadUSB device may even have replaced the computer’s BIOS – again by emulating a keyboard and unlocking a hidden file on the USB thumb drive.”

In case we missed the point, he added, “Once infected, computers and their USB peripherals can never be trusted again.”


But the decision not to disclose is one that Caudhill and Wilson feel is a grand mistake. So now, they’ve thrown the exploit code up on Github to bring attention to the issue.

“The belief we have is that all of this should be public. It shouldn’t be held back. So we’re releasing everything we’ve got,” Caudill told the Derbycon audience in Louisville, Ky. Last week. “This was largely inspired by the fact that [SR Labs] didn’t release their material. If you’re going to prove that there’s a flaw, you need to release the material so people can defend against it.”

Government agencies and high-end espionage groups are probably already using it, Caudhill told WIRED.

The link below has more information:-
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/unfixable-usb-hack-threatens-life/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter



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