There is a new vulnerability with iOS5 powered device with a SIM card. I have tried it and it works.
You need to know the number of your victim and by combining a missed called, removing the SIM card, putting it back in and swiping the missed call alert it is possible to bypass the lock screen and access the phone.
Look at the video from the weirdly named group called iPhoneIslam, you need to get the timing right!
YouTube Direkt
There is an increasing level of noise in the enterprise about Bringing Your Own Device (BYOD). That you like it or not, it is most probably happening right now within your company unless your are “lucky enough” to be able to enforce strict controls as to what devices are allowed and able to access your data.
For a true BYOD concept, meaning with no restrictions on what that device might be, there are only 2 possible way to enable it:
1) To allow network access to your data/application directly from any devices
or
2) To make your data/application available from the Internet, and the easiest incarnation of that is through web applications.
With the first approach, focusing on the network access, the positives are that you can have more control over the environment from which the data/application is accessed from. Such as enforcing a minimum set of security controls and quarantine non compliant devices. The negatives, though, are the need for a relatively complex VPN framework that works on a variety of Hardware/OS to support access to your applications. It will also have a user impact, as if you enforce security policy changes to the user it is likely to change their user experience (i.e.: longer and more complex password, the dreaded password expiry, etc).
With the second solution, direct internet access, the advantage is an easy and fast deployment as well as having no impact on the user experience, their laptop behaviour will not be changed. But the drawback is obviously the security risks related to the front/back end of your internet facing application.
More importantly though, there is an inherent security risk with Web Applications: You cannot control the environment it is being accessed from. No longer do you check for the AV version, the GPO, the Firewall status, etc.
Could those security checks still be done as part of some sort of client java application that would do some security look up as part of the required credentials to access the app?
Yes.
Would it be intrusive?
Yes. Users will have to download some kind of client (Java?), would probably have to get through some warning messages, etc.
Is it done today by any internet facing application in your organisation?
No.
Is this a massive security risk?
Yes, because you are now allowing key applications to be accessed from anywhere in the world and from any devices that has an Internet Client such as a public Internet Kiosk with dozens of malware and key logger…
Whatever way you are looking at it, doing BYOD right from a security perspective is not easy.
The BBC has recently ran an article about a hacker who has published details on how to hack a certain type of webcam. This story is interesting for several reasons.
First, it further highlights how fragile our privacy has become since we live in a digital world with details of our life being kept on the internet: personal blogs, twitter feeds, Facebook or Government/Health records, etc. All this data is available online if you have the right access to the system it is held on. But it is not just still photos or lines of texts, it can also be live pictures through personal webcams or state surveillance cameras. Again, that data is available if you have the right credentials. In this case, hundreds of Trendnet webcam users thought/thinks their live video feed was protected through the use of a userid and password, but a bug in its firmware allows anyone to access it by adding a simple “/anony/mjpg.cgi” at the end of the webcam IP address. If you think about the number of devices around you that have a built-in camera, from computer screens to mobile phones, it is a scary thought if they were to be compromised in such manner. A quick google around will report many different ways to remotely access those cameras, and although they require user intervention, meaning the outcome is what is intended or for the “victim” to be a willing participant, couldn’t a worm be created to exploit those video streams and invade many people’s privacy?
Secondly, it shows how long it can take before such story makes the headline. It took a month from the vulnerability to be exposed and for most security websites to write about it. If means many Trendnet users had their privacy exposed for a long period of time!
Finally, Shodan. It is a website referenced in the original hacking article as a way to quickly identified vulnerable webcams out there (and many other things). I must admit I overlooked that website when I first heard of it on the Register over a year ago. It seems like a great resource but I am not sure if it serves Good or Evil.
It is maybe time to put that sticky tape on your built-in webcam when not using it :)