Microsoft Internet Explorer SSL security hole lingers

Microsoft still does not acknowledge a weakness in its Internet Explorer browser that was pointed out seven weeks ago and enables attackers to hijack what are supposed to be secure Web sessions. If Microsoft doesn't fix the problem, Apple can't fix it on its own, Apple says. The company says it is still evaluating whether the weakness exists, but Apple, which bases its Safari for Windows browser on Microsoft code, says Safari for Windows has the weakness and the Microsoft code is the reason.

Apple has fixed the problem for Safari for Macs. Once our investigation is complete, we will take appropriate action to help protect customers," a Microsoft spokesperson said via e-mail. "We will not have any more to share at this time." The weakness can be exploited by man-in-the-middle attackers who trick the browser into making SSL sessions with malicious servers rather than the legitimate servers users intend to connect to. Black Hat's most notorious incidents: a quiz "Microsoft is currently investigating a possible vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. Current versions of Safari for Mac, Firefox and Opera address the problem, which is linked to how browsers read the x.509 certificates that are used to authenticate machines involved in setting up SSL/TLS sessions. The attacks involve getting certificate authorities to sign certificates for domain names assigned to legitimate domain-name holders and making vulnerable browsers interpret the certificates as being authorized for different domain-name holders. In July two separate talks presented by researchers Dan Kaminski and Moxie Marlinspike at the Black Hat Conference warned about how the vulnerability could be exploited by using what they call null-prefix attacks.

For instance, someone might register www.hacker.com. In that case, the authority would sign a certificate for bestbank.hacker.com, ignoring the sub-domain bestbank and signing based on the root domain hacker.com, Marlinspike says. In many x.509 implementations the certificate authority will sign certificates for any request from the hacker.com root domain, regardless of any sub-domain prefixes that might be appended. At the same time, browsers with the flaw he describes read x.509 certificates until they reach a null character, such as 0. If such a browser reads bestbank.com\0hacker.com, it would stop reading at the 0 and interpret the certificate as authenticating the root domain bestbank.com, the researcher says. An attacker could exploit the weakness by setting up a man-in-the-middle attack and intercepting requests from vulnerable browsers to set up SSL connections.

Browsers without the flaw correctly identify the root domain and sign or don't sign based on it. If the attacking server picks off a request to bestbank.com, it could respond with an authenticated x.509 certificate from bestbank.com\0hacker.com. The user who has requested a session with bestbank would naturally assume the connection established was to bestbank. The vulnerable browser would interpret the certificate as being authorized for bestbank.com and set up a secure session with the attacking server. Once the link is made, the malicious server can ask for passwords and user identifications that the attackers can exploit to break into users' bestbank accounts and manipulate funds, for example, Marlinspike says. These certificates use an asterisk as the sub-domain followed by a null character followed by a registered root domain.

In some cases attackers can create what Marlinspike calls wildcard certificates that will authenticate any domain name. A vulnerable browser that initiated an SSL session with bestbank.com would interpret a certificate marked *\0hacker.com as coming from bestbank.com because it would automatically accept the * as legitimate for any root domain. Such a wildcard will match any domain, he says. This is due to "an idiosyncrasy in the way Network Security Services (NSS) matches wildcards," Marlinspike says in a paper detailing the attack. The differences between what users see on their screens when they hit the site they are aiming for and when they hit an attacker's mock site can be subtle.

A Microsoft spokesperson says Internet Explorer 8 highlights domains to make them more visually obvious, printed in black while the rest of the URL is gray. "Internet Explorer 8's improved address bar helps users more easily ensure that they provide personal information only to sites they trust," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mail. The URLs in the browser would reveal that the wrong site has been reached, but many users don't check for that, Marlinspike says. Marlinspike says the null character vulnerability is not limited to browsers. "[P]lenty of non-Web browsers are also vulnerable. Outlook, for example, uses SSL to protect your login/password when communicating over SMTP and POP3/IMAP. There are probably countless other Windows-based SSL VPNs, chat clients, etc. that are all vulnerable as well" he said in an e-mail.

Ncomputing kit talks to virtual desktops over USB

Ncomputing is launching a device that can be used to add a virtual client to a host PC via a USB connection. Multiple U170 boxes can add extra users to a host machine, which can be cheaper than buying separate machines, said Carsten Puls, vice president of strategic marketing at Ncomputing. The U170 can run full multimedia applications when it is connected to a host machine's USB port. The device has a video port, audio port and two USB ports for the keyboard and mouse. "The only thing you have to connect back to the PC is a single USB connection," Puls said.

Users must still buy a monitor and peripherals to complete a workstation. The device is priced at US$99 and will be available by the end of the year, Puls said. Beyond reducing the need for a PC, the device also helps reduce energy costs, Puls said. Virtual desktop software from Ncomputing called Vspace on host machines sets up individual desktops as new U170 boxes are connected. It draws about 2 watts of power, Puls said, far less than a full clients PC. In this case, the USB cable takes the place of the Ethernet cable for a client to communicate with a host machine. One host PC can support up to four boxes.

The typical USB cable extends up to five feet, but USB extenders can lengthen that. Vspace is compatible with multiple versions of Windows, including Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 OS. The company is targeting small-and-medium businesses with the device. The company has set up configurations where the device connects to PCs from up to 50 feet. The company has other products that let users access host PCs over Ethernet. USB has advantages as the ports are included on most PCs, but over longer distances it may be better to use Ethernet, Puls said.

Hackers exploit year's fourth PDF zero-day

For the fourth time this year, Adobe has admitted that hackers were using malicious PDF documents to break into Windows PCs. The bug in the popular Reader PDF viewer and the Acrobat PDF maker is being exploited in "limited targeted attacks," Adobe said yesterday. Adobe promised to patch the vulnerability on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the same day that Microsoft plans to issue its biggest-ever collection of security updates . The bug exists in Reader and Acrobat versions 9.1.3 and earlier on Windows, Mac OS and Linux, said Adobe in a security advisory published Thursday, but as far as the company knows, it is being exploited only to hijack Windows PCs. "There are reports that this issue is being exploited in the wild in limited targeted attacks," said Adobe. "The exploit targets Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.1.3 on Windows." Adobe will plug the hole next week as part of its quarterly security update for Reader and Acrobat. That phrasing generally means hackers are sending the rigged PDF documents to a short list of users, oftentimes company executives or others whose PCs contain a treasure trove of confidential information. Last June, Adobe announced it would follow the lead of companies like Microsoft and Oracle, and release regular security updates for Reader and Acrobat.

It said more than a month ago that it would instead push the patch date into October. Originally, Adobe was to post patches last month, but a scramble during July to fix several flaws, including some introduced by Microsoft in a code "library" used by its own developers, as well as those in other companies, wreaked havoc on Adobe's schedule. Until a patch is released next week, Windows Vista and Windows 7 users can protect themselves by enabling Data Execution Prevention (DEP), a security feature designed to stop some kinds of exploits - buffer overflow attacks in particular - by blocking code from executing in memory that's supposed to contain only data. Windows XP users should disable JavaScript in Reader and Acrobat, added Adobe. Instructions on how to enable DEP are available on Microsoft's support site.

That wouldn't block all possible attacks, but will stymie the exploit now in the wild. In March, the company quashed a PDF bug that attackers had been using for more than two months . It again patched Reader and Acrobat in May to block another zero-day . In July Adobe fixed a Flash PDF-related flaw that was being used by hackers. Adobe has struggled this year to stay ahead of hackers. Next Tuesday's Reader and Acrobat updates will also patch a unknown number of other vulnerabilities, Adobe said.

Malware Threat Emanates from Growing Unemployed Ranks

Looking at the statistics, February was a positively brutal month for workers being idled. There were 2,769 mass layoff actions putting throwing 295,477 out of work. Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the ugly numbers. That's 542 mass layoff actions more than January and 57,575 laid off.

The BLS only obliquely breaks out what could represent IT workers as "professional and technical services." Not surprisingly, manufacturing bore the brunt of February's layoffs accounting for 47% of the unemployment claims, but IT folks could represent a small piece in all the 19 industry sectors that BLS follows. I wondered how many of those were IT people and what percentage might turn to cyber crime. Suffice it to say there's plenty of IT folks with little or nothing to do. The story explores how idled workers in China are turning to cyber crime. That out of work IT professionals turn to cyber crime should come as no surprise so the headline China becoming the world's malware factory on top of an IDG News service is to be expected.

Everyone needs to be vigilant (but not turn into vigilantes). Indeed, a story at Chief Security Officer cites a Symantec study that says 98 percent of organizations suffer "tangible loss" as the result of cyber crime (more than a little self-interest on Symantec's part should be noted). With the third variant of the Conficker worm set to strike on April 1, take the message of vigilance to heart (let's hope it's as tepid as Y2K). By the way, the BBC reported this morning that the U.K. Government is monitoring social networking sites like Facebook to "tackle criminal gangs and terrorists." That's vigilance of a controversial nature. It's obvious: the latter. Is this just another day in the cyber jungle or is the cyber crime problem exacerbated by the expanding ranks of the idled? So if you want to freshen up your knowledge of malware, check out the many primers on the subject. I like Wikipedia's or check out the Chief Security Officer web site.

ProMOS plans to sign R&D pact with Taiwan Memory

ProMOS Technologies may soon sign a deal to work on DRAM manufacturing technology with Taiwan Memory Company (TMC), the government-sponsored entity designed to take over debt-ridden DRAM makers in Taiwan. "We have reached a mutual understanding to start working with them," ProMOS vice president Ben Tseng said by phone on Monday. ProMOS has been manufacturing DRAM in Taiwan since 1996 and was the first company on the island to run a factory making chips on 12-inch wafers. The cooperation will begin with research and development work, but Tseng says ProMOS is hopeful it will turn into a manufacturing partnership as well. "It only makes sense," he said. "Once the R&D is done, then you do the manufacturing on the same site." TMC could not immediately be reached for comment.

TMC is a brand-new company designed by the government to bail out its heavily indebted DRAM makers. DRAM prices have rallied over the past several months, recently hitting profitable levels for most DRAM companies. Taiwan's five big DRAM makers ran into financial trouble amid the global recession and after suffering two years of losses caused by a massive chip glut. Before ProMOS and TMC can enter an agreement, TMC needs to finalize its funding plans. The company slashed production as the DRAM downturn bit, and is currently producing chips on fewer than half of its production lines. The Taiwan government has discussed investing NT$30 billion (US$925.9 million) in the new company, while TMC chairman John Hsuan has said private investors will also be invited to put money into TMC. ProMOS needs money to move forward.

It has used up most of its cash paying off debt. The coming launch of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 7, has stirred demand for new PCs and they need DRAM chips inside. New funds from TMC would help ProMOS reopen closed factories just as DRAM prices are hitting profitable levels. Tseng said his company must also soon decide whether to invite workers back full time after keeping some on unpaid leave for months due to the global recession. Once the company ends the unpaid leave, however, it will have to start paying full salaries again. Under Taiwanese labor law, companies putting workers on unpaid leave must do so for fixed periods of months at a time, but ProMOS may need them back quickly to ramp up factory lines if it signs a deal with TMC soon.

Microsoft shows off Bing tool for measuring ad effectiveness

Microsoft on Monday demonstrated a new tool for its Bing search engine that will allow advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their ads with online users. Mehdi pointed out that statistics show that 39 percent of Web users do 65 percent of the online searches, so it would be beneficial for advertisers to see which of those "heavy users" are targeting certain ads, versus which ads are favored by "light users." The tool Microsoft created shows where the interest in a marketing or advertising campaign is specifically coming from, he said. Speaking at the IAB MIXX Conference and Expo 2009 in New York on Monday, Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft's Online Audience Business group, showed off what he called a "user-level targeting" tool that allows Microsoft to see which search-based ads that appear in the Bing search engine are getting the most traffic and from where. "What we're doing with Bing for vigorous measurement is we're matching the exact ad online with the exact user," he said. This measuring ability for Bing was demonstrated as part of Mehdi's presentation, in which he discussed how Microsoft is applying lessons it's learned from studying advertising campaigns and creating technology to reflect that learning.

You have to pick and focus." Microsoft revamped and rebranded its Live Search engine "Bing" in June, and making it more effective for search advertising is something the company continues to work on, Mehdi said. One of those lessons was what he characterized as "relentless measurement and optimization" to find out what ads are most effective so they can be better targeted to their proper audience. "One of the big things is trying to build a loyal fan base for the product," he said. "You can't just go out and put your message everywhere. It was unclear from Mehdi's presentation whether this technology is available for advertisers using Bing today or whether it's just something Microsoft is using internally. This kind of ability to measure what kinds of online advertising is working with users is becoming essential as more and more business is being done on the Web. A representative from Microsoft's public relations firm, Waggener Edstrom, declined to answer follow-up questions about the technology or his presentation. In fact, Microsoft competitor Adobe Systems - an executive from which spoke before Mehdi on Monday - last week said it was purchasing Web analytics company Omniture to build measuring technology directly into Adobe's tools for creating online media.

Report: Apple to unveil new iMacs by mid-October

Apple will refresh its iMac desktop computer within a matter of weeks and will unveil the first revamp of the all-in-one's exterior since mid-2007, a prominent Apple enthusiast site reported Thursday. But details are few and far between. According to AppleInsider , Apple will introduce new iMacs sporting a new enclosure "anytime between next week and mid-October." Taiwanese manufacturers have been producing the redesigned iMacs for the past two weeks, sources told the Web site, and other clues, including $100 to $200 discounts on existing models to volume customers, point to an imminent release, said AppleInsider. Although the site said its sources claimed the redesigned iMacs will sport a thinner design, perhaps one that mimics the look of Apple's LED-backlit Cinema Display line introduced last December, information about other enhancements, tweaks and additions was scanty.

The last time Apple updated the iMac was in early March 2009, when the company doubled the amount of RAM, increased storage space and dropped in faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors while keeping prices stable for all but one model, the least-expensive 24-in. One possibility: an internal Blu-ray optical drive. iMac. But they split on whether the timing is on the mark. "Apple's desktops, as a percentage of their total [system] sales, continue to decline," said Stephen Baker, an analyst with retail research firm NPD Group. At the time, one analyst called the refresh "underwhelming" and "exactly what you'd expect from Apple, more stuff for the same price." The recent gossip of upcoming new iMacs got the attention of a pair of industry analysts, who agreed that an iMac overhaul is long overdue.

Baker said the talk of an iMac refresh made sense because of the long stretch since the line last saw a redesign, and because Apple would like to give its desktops a chance to compete with laptops, long its strength. Apple currently sells the one 20-in. He also suggested that Apple would be smart to cut prices of its iMacs, rather than take its traditional approach of keeping prices flat while beefing up the components' specifications. "The pricing for iMacs is almost the same as for Apple's notebooks," he observed. iMac model at $1,199, and the three 24-in. configurations at $1,499, $1,799 and $2,199. In comparison, the company's MacBook Pro line of laptops are priced between $1,199 and $2,499. Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, however, was skeptical of a September or October refresh. "I think it looks likely that Apple will do this, but not until early 2010," Gottheil said, noting that virtually every major component in the desktop systems had been upgraded in March. In the second calendar quarter, Apple sold 2.6 million Macs, 4% more than the same quarter the year before . Only 849,000, or 34% of that total, however, were desktops, which the iMac dominates.

He also cited Apple's strong sales during the recession as another reason why the company wouldn't feel pressured to retool the line. That was down 10% from the 943,000 desktops sold in the same period of 2008. Gottheil also hedged his bet. "The iMac is the longest in the same box," he said, referring to its case design while and acknowledging anything's possible from the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer maker. "Apple is completely unpredictable." Another hint that Apple may do the unpredictable comes from history's timeline: Last year, Apple unveiled the new "unibody" design for the MacBook Pro in mid-October. According to the guide, the iMac has been updated every 220 days, on average, since it's 2003 introduction. Also worth noting is the MacRumors Buyer's Guide , which tracks the product cycles of Apple's hardware, and makes recommendations based on the average time between refreshes. As of Thursday, 203 days had passed since the March 2009 revamp. "Buy only if you need it - approaching the end of a cycle," the buyer's guide warns.