|
|
|
Heartbleed bug may expose your private data
|
|
|
ddp
Moderator
|
8. April 2014 @ 13:54 |
Link to this message
|
A "serious vulnerability" has been found in the software that often encrypts your user name, password and banking information when you log into "secure" websites, as indicated by the little lock icon in your browser.
The "Heartbleed bug" has the potential to expose huge amounts of private data, including user names, passwords, credit card numbers and emails, since it was found in a popular version of OpenSSL software code. The code is used by over two-thirds of active websites on the internet to provide secure and private communications, reported a website set up by security researchers to provide information about the bug.
The software code is also used by many email and chat servers and virtual private networks.
The bug allows "anyone on the internet" to read the memory of systems protected by the bug-afflicted code, compromising the secret keys used to encrypt the data, the researchers reported.
"This allows attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users."
Tests by the security researchers who discovered the bug showed that eavesdropping via the bug is undetectable.
"Without using any privileged information or credentials we were able steal from ourselves the secret keys used for our X.509 certificates, user names and passwords, instant messages, emails and business critical documents and communication," they wrote.
The bug was discovered independently by security engineers at the Finnish internet security testing firm Codenomicon and Neel Mehta of Google Security. It is found in a version of the code that has been used by internet services for more than two years.
The researchers say they don't know if any cybercriminals have discovered and exploited the bug.
Patched version available
A patched version of the software code was released Monday when the bug was disclosed, but it still needs to be incorporated into the actual operating systems and software that use it. Then it must be installed by the owners of the affected internet services. All that may take some time.
Meanwhile, as a user, what can you do to ensure the web services you're using are safe? Italian security researcher Filippo Valsorda has created a tool that lets you check whether a website has the Heartbleed vulnerability.
Valsorda noted that the site sometimes generates a false negative, probably because it is overloaded, but testing a vulnerable site over and over will eventually give a positive result. "The red result takes precedence over all the others and is certain," he wrote.
That tool suggests that Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, and Amazon remain safe, but Yahoo.com is vulnerable.
"Please take immediate action," the site says, directing users to the Heartbleed FAQ.
CBCNews.ca has contacted Yahoo.com for more information.
The official name of the Heartbleed bug is CVE-2014-0160, and it affects OpenSSL versions 1.0.1 to 1.0.1f, but not earlier or later versions. It was nicknamed "Heartbleed" because it was found in a part of the code called the "heartbeat extension."
http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/hear...ur-private-data
|
Senior Member
|
9. April 2014 @ 03:33 |
Link to this message
|
|
was looking for a link to the detection tool?
|
|
ddp
Moderator
|
9. April 2014 @ 13:40 |
Link to this message
|
SAN FRANCISCO - An alarming lapse in Internet security has exposed millions of passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive bits of information to potential theft by computer hackers who may have been secretly exploiting the problem before its discovery.
The breakdown revealed this week affects the encryption technology that is supposed to protect online accounts for emails, instant messaging and a wide range of electronic commerce.
Security researchers who uncovered the threat, known as "Heartbleed," are particularly worried about the breach because it went undetected for more than two years.
Although there is now a way to close the security hole, there are still plenty of reasons to be concerned, said David Chartier, CEO of Codenomicon. A small team from the Finnish security firm diagnosed Heartbleed while working independently from another Google Inc. researcher who also discovered the threat.
"I don't think anyone that had been using this technology is in a position to definitively say they weren't compromised," Chartier said.
Chartier and other computer security experts are advising people to consider changing all their online passwords.
"I would change every password everywhere because it's possible something was sniffed out," said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer for Qualys, a maker of security-analysis software. "You don't know because an attack wouldn't have left a distinct footprint."
But changing the passwords won't do any good, these experts said, until the affected services install the software released Monday to fix the problem. That puts the onus on the Internet services affected by Heartbleed to alert their users to the potential risks and let them know when the Heartbleed fix has been installed so they can change their passwords.
"This is going to be difficult for the average guy in the streets to understand, because it's hard to know who has done what and what is safe," Chartier said.
Yahoo Inc., which boasts more than 800 million users worldwide, is among the Internet services that could be potentially hurt by Heartbleed. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company said most of its most popular services ? including sports, finance and Tumblr ? had been fixed, but work was still being done on other products that it didn't identify in a statement Tuesday.
"We're focused on providing the most secure experience possible for our users worldwide and are continuously working to protect our users' data," Yahoo said.
Heartbleed creates an opening in SSL/TLS, an encryption technology marked by the small, closed padlock and "https:" on Web browsers to signify that traffic is secure. The flaw makes it possible to snoop on Internet traffic even if the padlock had been closed. Interlopers could also grab the keys for deciphering encrypted data without the website owners knowing the theft had occurred, according to security researchers.
The problem affects only the variant of SSL/TLS known as OpenSSL, but that happens to be one of the most common on the Internet.
About two-thirds of Web servers rely on OpenSSL, Chartier said. That means the information passing through hundreds of thousands of websites could be vulnerable, despite the protection offered by encryptions. Beside emails and chats, OpenSSL is also used to secure virtual private networks, which are used by employees to connect with corporate networks seeking to shield confidential information from prying eyes.
Heartbleed exposed a weakness in encryption at the same time that major Internet services such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Facebook are expanding their usage of technology to reassure the users about the sanctity of their personal data. The additional security measures are being adopted in response to mounting concerns about the U.S. government's surveillance of online activities and other communications. The snooping has been revealed during the past 10 months through a series of leaked documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Despite the worries raised by Heartbleed, Codenomicon said many large consumer sites aren't likely to be affected because of their "conservative choice" of equipment and software. "Ironically, smaller and more progressive services or those who have upgraded to (the) latest and best encryption will be affected most," the security firm said in a blog post.
Although it may take months for smaller websites to install the Heartbleed fix, Chartier predicted all the major Internet services will act quickly to protect their reputations.
In a Tuesday post announcing it had installed the Heartbleed fix, Tumblr offered its users some blunt advice.
"This still means that the little lock icon (HTTPS) we all trusted to keep our passwords, personal emails, and credit cards safe, was actually making all that private information accessible to anyone who knew about the exploit," Tumblr said. "This might be a good day to call in sick and take some time to change your passwords everywhere ? especially your high-security services like email, file storage, and banking, which may have been compromised by this bug."
http://news.ca.msn.com/world/online-sec...-of-passwords-2
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
Newbie
|
12. April 2014 @ 03:06 |
Link to this message
|
|
Thanks to sharing your thoughts. Very useful.
|
|
