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Linux Security Week: July 18th 2005
Source: LinuxSecurity.com Contributors - Posted by Pax Dickinson
This week, perhaps the most interesting articles include "Linux Gets High Marks For Security", "Proprietary Software Can't Control The World", and
"New E-Mail Authentication Spec Submitted to IETF".
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LINUX ADVISORY WATCH - This week, advisories
were released for fuse, drupal, egroupware, ettercap, dhcpcd, ruby, squid, gzip, gedit, centericq, tiff, squirrelmail, kdegraphics, dlm-kernel, gnbd-kernel, cman-kernel, GFS-kernel, procps, libwnck, metacity, gaim, audit, libxml2, dhcp, lam, vixie-cron, krb5, net-snmp, selinux-policy-targeted, bind, rpm, openssh, pam, phpWebSite, phpGroupWare, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Ruby, MIT Kerberos 5, Bugzilla, pam_ldap, nss_ldap, Mozilla Firefox, krb5, cups. The distributors include Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, and Red Hat.
LinuxSecurity.com
Feature Extras:
Network Server Monitoring With Nmap -
Portscanning, for the uninitiated, involves sending connection requests to a remote host to determine what ports are open for connections and possibly what services they are exporting. Portscanning is the first step a hacker will take when attempting to penetrate your system, so you should be preemptively scanning your own servers and networks to discover vulnerabilities before someone unfriendly gets there first.
Any open ports that are unnecessary for proper system operation should be closed. Every open port is a possible access point for an unauthorized user, and every service accepting connections from the world could have a vulnerability. Even if you are diligent about applying patches, any unnecessarily running service is still a window an attacker could possibly climb through.
Pull The Plug Revisited: An Interview Five Years Later -
Five years after our original interview with Brian Gemberling, founder of
PullthePlug.org, we catch up with Daniel Alvarez and the rest of the
site's administrative management. Its structured management and focus on
the community will ensure many years of continued success. You're asking,
what is pull the plug? Read more to find out...
Linux File
& Directory Permissions Mistakes - One common mistake Linux administrators
make is having file and directory permissions that are far too liberal and
allow access beyond that which is needed for proper system operations. A full
explanation of unix file permissions is beyond the scope of this article,
so I'll assume you are familiar with the usage of such tools as chmod, chown,
and chgrp. If you'd like a refresher, one is available right here on linuxsecurity.com.
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Take advantage of our Linux Security discussion
list! This mailing list is for general security-related questions and comments.
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Thank you for reading the LinuxSecurity.com
weekly security newsletter. The purpose of this document is to provide our readers
with a quick summary of each week's most relevant Linux security headline.
CRYPTO-GRAM, July 15, 2005
15th, July, 2005
A free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and commentaries on security: computer and otherwise.
What
is the secret to network security? In the wake of recent high-profile
security breaches like at LexisNexis and MasterCard, it's worth asking
what it takes to nail down network security --- and what are the
secrets not everyone knows?
Software
maker Opera's decision to support BitTorrent has added to some security
experts' worries that applications which require open connections
through firewalls are becoming increasingly popular.
Speakers at E-Mail Summit Push Authentication, Reputation Tools
14th, July, 2005
Representatives
from 37 e-mail technology companies used a one-day Summit in New York
on Tuesday to exhort private sector administrators and online marketers
to adopt e-mail sender authentication technology that helps block spam
and phishing attacks.
ZombieAlert Scours Corporate Networks For Spam-spewing PCs
14th, July, 2005
A
U.K.-based security firm is touting a new service that scours corporate
networks for zombies -- PCs that have been hijacked without the owner's
knowledge and turned into spam-spewing engines.
Phlooding attack could leave enterprises high and dry
15th, July, 2005
You've
got to hand it to the IT security industry for its ability to coin new
and impressive sounding terms for security threats. Hot on the hells of
WiPhishing and Evil Twins comes the latest buzz word for wireless Lan
security: phlooding.
Strengthening Quantum Cryptography by Putting On Blinders
15th, July, 2005
A
Korea-UK team (contact Myungshik Kim, Queen's University, Belfast,
m.s.kim@qub.ac.uk, or Chilmin Kim, Paichai University) has introduced a
method for preventing several clever attacks against quantum
cryptography, a form of message transmission that uses the laws of
quantum physics to make sure an eavesdropper does not covertly
intercept the transmission. Making the message sender and receiver a
little blind to each other's actions, the researchers have shown, can
bolster their success against potential eavesdroppers.
Web
sites both big and small face the risk of having their Web addresses
stolen because of flaws in the way domain names are registered,
transferred and tracked, a report released this week found.
OSSEC
HIDS is a self-contained system for Host-based intrusion detection. It
performs log extraction, integrity checking and health monitoring. All
this information is correlated and analyzed by a single engine,
creating a very powerfull detection tool.
John
Leyden from The Register writes: "Net infrastructure firm VeriSign has
bought security intelligence firm iDefense for $40m in cash. iDefense's
45 employees will join VeriSign in a move designed to bolster its
managed security services offering with proactive threat warning and
security remediation advice."
Sun To Open-Source Web Authentication, Single Sign-On
15th, July, 2005
Sun Microsystems plans to open-source its Web site authentication and single sign-on technology.
Eric Leach, director of product management at Sun, said the Santa
Clara, Calif.-based company will open-source the technology through the
Open Source Web Single Sign-On, or OpenSSO project. That effort
includes technology related to authentication, single domain, single
sign-on, Web agents and J2EE agents, he said.
Nmap
("Network Mapper") is a free utility for network exploration and
security auditing. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks,
although it works fine against single hosts. Nmap uses raw IP packets
in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network,
what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering,
what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of
packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other
characteristics. Nmap runs on most types of computers and both console
and graphical versions are available. Nmap is free software, available
with full source code under the terms of the GNU GPL. Read at TuxJournal.net http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119797
Linux Gets High Marks For Security
11th, July, 2005
The
IT world may be an insecure place, but don't blame Linux. In fact, very
few IT pros participating in InformationWeek Research's Linux and
open-source survey say Linux has introduced security problems into
their IT environments.
Only 6% of 225 user sites report security issues from Linux
deployments on their servers, while 6% of 165 Linux PC users attribute
a security problem to the open-source operating system. The results
indicate a slight decrease in complaints about Linux security from a
year ago, when 11% of IT pros encountered security issues with Linux
servers and 7% had problems with Linux PCs.
Microsoft
has claimed that open source database products and servers such as
Linux have had a "significantly greater number and severity of
vulnerabilities compared with Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000".
Hacking
magazine Phrack is closing after 20 years of publishing after its
editorial team decided to call it a day. The final date for submissions
for the special hardback last issue of the mag was Sunday 10 July.
Issue 63 will be released at the Defcon and WhatTheHack2005 hacker
conventions later this month.
A
group of leading technology companies that includes Microsoft Corp.,
IBM, Yahoo Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. has submitted a new e-mail
authentication standard to the Internet Engineering Task Force for
consideration, eWEEK has learned.
The
Mozilla Foundation updated the Firefox Web browser Tuesday in order to
patch a series of security vulnerabilities, including widely publicized
browser spoofing issue and a frame-injection issue.
Jurgen
Geck held what looked like a silver bullet between his thumb and index
finger. "This is a Fisher Space Pen," he said -- a pen developed for
NASA astronauts in space, a pen with ink that just keeps on flowing. A
pen able to write upside down and even underwater.
"It's sophisticated, it's costly, it's very nice and very shiny,"
Geck said. Geck is chief technology officer at SuSE Linux, an
open-source software outfit now owned by Novell, and he's about to make
his point: "The Russians just used a pencil."
Web
sites both big and small face the risk of having their Web addresses
stolen because of flaws in the way domain names are registered,
transferred and tracked, a report released this week found.
There
is little to choose between Microsoft and Linux in terms of operating
system security, according to experts, but misleading figures and
surveys are muddying the waters for IT managers evaluating the
platforms.
Which not entirely security-related, this article caught my attention:
"INTEL IS ABOUT TO CUT Linux out of the legitimate content
market, and hand the keys to the future of digital media to Microsoft
at your expense. ... The vehicle to do this is called East Fork, the
upcoming and regrettable Intel digital media 'platform'. The funny part
is that the scheme is already a failure, but it will hurt you as it
thrashes before it dies. Be afraid, be very afraid."
Bank Of America Rolls Out New Online Security System
15th, July, 2005
Bank
of America is rolling out its new online security system, SiteKey, this
week in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. It launched last month
in Tennessee, and should be available nationwide by the fall. By Paul
Nowell, The Associated Press
The
Mozilla Foundation this week updated its rival to Microsoft Outlook,
the Thunderbird stand-alone POP3 e-mail and news client, to plug some
of the same security holes that earlier were fixed in the open-source
group's popular Firefox browser.
Anti-spyware
vendors and consumer groups took a stab at issuing uniform definitions
for "spyware" and "adware" on Tuesday in hopes of giving computer users
more control over their machines.
The definitions seek clarity that could help improve anti-spyware
products, educate consumers and fend off lawsuits from developers of
software that sneaks onto computers.
Identity
thieves and impersonators thrive on publicly available personal
information and data pilfering. Now that information, along with some
bogus data on would-be fraud victims, is being used against the thieves
in an identity verification scheme from StrikeForce Technologies.
Last Chance to Stop Renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act!
15th, July, 2005
Congress
will vote any day now on new legislation that would renew parts of the
USA PATRIOT Act scheduled to expire or "sunset" at the end of the year,
while possibly handing the FBI even more unchecked power to snoop on
your mail and private records, including logs of your Internet
activities.
In
the Internet criminal justice system the people are betrayed by two
separate, yet equally important groups: the hackers who investigate and
exploit security problems and the legal authorities who don't take the
offenders seriously. These are their stories.
It appears as if a popular Firefox community site, Spread Firefox!, was hacked: It
appears that a part of Spread Firefox was hacked in an attempt to use
it to send out spam. It doesn't look like the attacker accessed any
personal data on the site, but to be safe, we're encouraging all of our
users to log in and change their passwords..
Doesn't look like a big deal but if you're a member of that site you may want to go change your password.
The
basic facts are that Benjamin Smith III used someone else's WiFi
network. The facts aren't in dispute; Smith parked his vehicle outside
the home of Richard Dinon, logged onto the network, and did some
surfing.
"Surprise! Stealing is illegal!" bellowed Larry Seltzer in his ZD security blog.
