Advisory #257 - Microsoft (Multiple), Multiple News

Sûnnet Beskerming Alert List Advisory #257

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Contents
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1. SECURITY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 Microsoft (Multiple)
        - Remote Hacker Automatic Control
        - Time Since Discovery - >1 week
=======================================
/*
        - Remote or Local - Can it be achieved through a network or does it  
require physical access?
        - Hacker - The bad guy
        - Manual or Automatic  - Does the vulnerability need to be manually  
performed, or can it be automated?
        - Control, Denial of Service or Data Theft - Will the hacker get  
control of your system / website, will they prevent you from using it,  
or will they steal data.
*/
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2.    NEWS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1 $1 Million gets you International Hacking Capabilities
2.2 Online Attacks for Political Reasons
2.3 You can Only Blame Technology so Often
=====================================

1. SECURITY

1. SECURITY

1.1 Microsoft (Multiple) - Remote Hacker Automatic Control

        -- Products Affected --
        Windows
        Exchange Server
        SQL Server

        -- Technical Description --
        MS08-037 - DNS Server / Client. Spoofing / Cache poisoning.  Important
        MS08-038 - Windows Explorer. Multiple remote code execution. Important
        MS08-039 - Exchange Server - Outlook Web Access. Privilege  
Elevation.  Replaces MS07-026. Important
        MS08-040 - SQL Server. Privilege Elevation. Important

        -- Description --
        Microsoft provided four Important patches with the July Security  
Patch Release.  Only one of the patches had any vulnerability or  
exploit data available
Microsoft has provided seven patches with the June Security Patch  
Release.  Of the patches, three are rated as Critical, three as  
Important, and the remaining patch as Moderate.  Exploit data for some  
of the Internet Explorer (MS08-031) and Speech API (MS08-032)  
vulnerabilities has been publicly available, but limited in  
distribution.

        -- Recommended Action --
        All users and administrators should apply the updates at the earliest  
opportunity.

        -- Source --
        http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-jul.mspx
        http://www.beskerming.com/premium/patch_pack.html
        http://store.eSellerate.net/s.asp?s=STR3448907936&Cmd=CATALOG&CategoryID=9811
       
        -- Updates Available --
        http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-037.mspx
        http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-038.mspx
        http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-039.mspx
        http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-040.mspx

        -- External Tracking Data --
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-1447 (MS08-037)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-1454 (MS08-037)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-1435 (MS08-038)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-0951 (MS08-038)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-2247 (MS08-039)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-2248 (MS08-039)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-0085 (MS08-040)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-0086 (MS08-040)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-0106 (MS08-040)
        CVE-ID: CVE-2008-0107 (MS08-040)

        -- Threat Matrix --
                        U O
        Home User 10 10 (Highly Critical)
        Corporate 10 10 (Highly Critical)

=======================================
/*
Threat Matrix:
        U - User
        O - Operator
        Harmless - 0 ----- 10 - Highly Critical
*/
=======================================

2. NEWS

2.1 $1 Million gets you International Hacking Capabilities

A recent briefing by the US Department of Homeland Security has thrown  
up some interesting figures about the level of online attack  
capability that a number of designated terrorist organisations are  
believed to possess. What is somewhat surprising is the level of  
capability being claimed for a relatively low level of investment.

That a number of these organisations are developing an ability and  
commensurate plans to target online services and data stores is not a  
surprise. After all, online attacks represent almost the perfect form  
of attack - significant short to medium term effect for almost no  
personal risk, easy to set up and administer and have effects far  
beyond the immediate region.

Figures were quoted in the report for Hezbollah, which is estimated to  
be devoting almost $1 million of the estimated $60 million annually  
that it receives to electronic warfare. From that amount it has  
apparently developed the capability to tap and monitor / hijack fiber  
optic networks, though it could be assumed that much of whatever  
capability they have has come direct from their state sponsors (Syria  
and Iran).

While people are coming to rely upon the Internet as an essential  
service, it wasn't all that long ago that there was no real level of  
interconnection as such and so the wider community probably won't be  
too greatly affected by an attack on an individual level. Communities  
as a whole may suffer due to outages with essential services and  
service providers that may be relying upon the Internet for operations.

How the terrorist organisations compare to the existing spam networks,  
Russian and Chinese controlled botnets, and system and software  
updates going awry remains to be seen. Perhaps now that Information  
Security threats have been linked with terrorist groups, the  
Information Security may start to see some of the funds set aside to  
combat terrorism.


2.2 Online Attacks for Political Reasons

It seems that the only time that state-sponsored online attacks are  
covered in the media is when someone wants to create a short term  
scare campaign that is focussed on driving business to a company, or  
on increasing funding or perceived relevancy for a government agency  
or group of agencies. Perhaps the best known case in the last few  
years was in Estonia, though there remains contention about who  
exactly was behind the attacks. Even though the official story is that  
an ethnic Russian in Estonia was responsible, there are those who  
still believe that the attacks were coordinated and managed from Russia.

State sponsored attacks are always guaranteed to attract interest, but  
the idea of semi-state and stateless organisations developing online  
attack capabilities for political goals is also starting to attract  
attention. With many of the groups that have openly admitted to  
developing such capability already engaged in open attacks in other  
environments and many also attracting designation as 'terrorist'  
groups, an online attack that is claimed by or attributed to one of  
these groups is considered far more likely than a state-sponsored  
attack. While the technology and methods used may be no different from  
those used in spam, phishing, and other online criminal activity, it  
is the political intent behind their use which places them in a  
separate class.

Supporting this argument is a number of claims by different terror  
groups that they have access to an electronic attack capability  
surfacing in recent weeks and months. These claims are actively  
promoted by the groups, who argue that it allows them to level the  
playing field against their opponents and, more importantly for them,  
it provides a means to disrupt their opponents without significant  
risk to themselves.

Even though online attacks offer far less personal risk to the  
instigators, there are still some global regions where this is not the  
case. Earlier this year Israel killed a Palestinian believed to have  
been in charge of the online attack element for a Palestinian militant  
organisation, but this is probably the only global region where an  
electronic attacker may be at significant personal risk.

India is the latest country to join the ranks of those accusing China  
of attacking their internal networks and systems. This accusation is  
more significant than most, given the geographic proximity of the two  
countries and their historical military and political tension  
(including two current disputed regions and a number of historical  
armed conflicts).

It will be interesting to see how the two most populous and rapidly  
developing countries in the world handle this sort of activity and how  
each responds to claimed attack and counter attack, given that the  
attacks may be attributed to state-sponsored, semi-state, and  
stateless bodies in varying proportions. Though the scale of the  
attacks is relatively small, given the overall size of both countries,  
the economic and technological boost that has been delivered with the  
outsourcing industry means that some of the juciest targets in India  
are actually datasets belonging to foreign companies.

There is no sign that these sorts of attacks will increase in scope  
anytime soon, but it is something to consider with data security  
concerns - especially in an outsourced environment. You might wake up  
one day to find that your data is being held ransom or under attack by  
an external party that is actually targeting your supplier and not you  
directly. That is cold comfort for the people whose data lies within  
that dataset and it will be you ultimately held responsible for its  
safety.


2.3 You can Only Blame Technology so Often

Is the latest defence against embarrassing or criminal emails, text  
messages, and Internet activity that a hacker did it? Detroit's Mayor  
is currently the subject of a lawsuit alleging that he and a former  
aide conspired to lie under oath in a previous investigation.

That in itself isn't too much out of the ordinary, but the Mayor's  
lawyers are arguing that allegedly incriminating text messages that  
are supposed to have been sent between the parties were actually the  
work of hackers.

It is assumed that the text messages will provide sufficient evidence  
of guilt but it does make for an interesting defence tactic to prevent  
the release of the messages. What it leaves most people with is the  
impression that the text messages will implicate the Mayor and his  
aide and that it is a wildly speculative attempt from his defence  
lawyers to avoid them having to be shown in court.

It has been pointed out that while it is technically feasible to have  
had hackers create the messages, it is fairly straight forward to  
correlate messaging activity with other events on the Mayor's  
schedule. A further reason why the defence lawyers seem to be pushing  
hard to suppress release of the records is the belief that the  
messages are the key component to the prosecution's case, and without  
them the case will fail.

Making matters worse, when it can be shown that there is a reasonable  
assumption that the person involved has actually been the victim of a  
malware author / hacker, such as the Julie Amero case, it can be  
difficult to convince people that it actually is the case.

=======================================

Sincerely,

Sûnnet Beskerming Team
info@...
Sûnnet Beskerming Pty. Ltd.
Adelaide, Australia
http://www.beskerming.com
Tel: +61 (0) 410 707 444

** Sûnnet Beskerming Pty. Ltd. **

Established in mid 2004, Sûnnet Beskerming Pty. Ltd. is the sister  
company to Jongsma & Jongsma Pty. Ltd., and was formed to develop and  
commercialise the research coming out of Jongsma & Jongsma Pty. Ltd..  
Sûnnet Beskerming Pty. Ltd. is an Information Security specialist and,  
in conjunction with the tools developed by Jongsma & Jongsma Pty.  
Ltd., provides total security solutions and services, from the  
perimeter to internal data stores, including web application security  
and security testing and analysis.
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