First Patch Tuesday for 2016

The new year brought a set of new patches for the vulnerabilities identified in the Microsoft product family. I know there is no point saying it once more but for those who need to hear it, make sure you patch your systems as soon as possible! :

See here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/mt637763.aspx

MS16-010	Security Update in Microsoft Exchange Server to Address Spoofing (3125573)	Microsoft Exchange
MS16-008	Security Update for Windows Kernel to Address Elevation of Privilege (3124605)	Microsoft Windows
MS16-007	Security Update for Microsoft Windows to Address Remote Code Execution (3124901)	Microsoft Windows
MS16-006	Security Update for Silverlight to Address Remote Code Execution (3126036)	Microsoft Developer Tools & Software
MS16-005	Security Update for Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers to Address Remote Code Execution (3124584)	Microsoft Windows
MS16-004	Security Update for Microsoft Office to Address Remote Code Execution (3124585)	Microsoft Office
MS16-003	Cumulative Security Update for JScript and VBScript to Address Remote Code Execution (3125540)	Microsoft Windows
MS16-002	Cumulative Security Update for Microsoft Edge (3124904)	Microsoft Edge & Microsoft Windows
MS16-001	Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (3116180)	Internet Explorer & Microsoft Windows

SSH vulnerability in Fortinet Fortigate products

It was stated that an SSH "backdoor" was identified in Fortinet Fortigate products and the proof-of-concept source code was posted on the Full Disclosure mailing list. 

See here: http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Jan/26

Fortinet released a brief statement regarding the issues found with FortiOS on January 12, 2016. The brief statement says that the issue that was recently disclosed publicly was resolved and a patch was made available in July 2014. 

Fortinet stated that: "This was not a “backdoor” vulnerability issue but rather a management authentication issue. The issue was identified by our Product Security team as part of their regular review and testing efforts. After careful analysis and investigation, we were able to verify this issue was not due to any malicious activity by any party, internal or external."

Have you heard of "Cyber Insurance"?

The Cyber Liability Insurance Cover (CLIC) or otherwise referred to as cyber insurance, is a market that grew significantly in 2015. One of the main factors that contributed significantly to this growth is the constant increase of threats in the cyber space and more specifically the high profile data breaches that took place during the past years. Due to these data breaches companies were taken to court and were forced not only to cover the losses, but to take upon the extra costs for the data breaches as well. In most cases, these additional costs included crisis management, legal costs, reputational damages, engaging in identity theft resolution, credit and fraud monitoring and further technical costs as well.

Under the potential threat of a breach and the inevitable consequences, this has established not only a need but also a demand for a cyber insurance market. This has also been highlighted by a cyber survey conducted by RIMS. The survey showed that 74 percent of the companies without Cyber insurance will be purchasing one within the next two years. Likewise, by 2025 the total annual premiums for stand-alone cyber insurance are projected to grow to $20 billion.

Quickly detect CMS & other technologies being used on a website

Ever wanted to uncover quickly the Content Management System (CMS) being used on a particular website? Well, if you are a developer or responsible for assessing the security of Web Applications, this might be a good tip on how to do this quickly and effectively. 

First of all, let me point out that there are several websites online that offer to analyse a given URL and then return results not only about the particular CMS being used, but on other technologies utilised in each case as well. These technologies may be the use of Apache, the presence of Google Analytics, other technologies such as jQuery, reCaptcha, etc. 

The problem with all these online services however is privacy. When checking a particular website, especially if you have been contracted to assess the security of the web application in place, you do not want this information to be shared with a third party or to be included in a publicly available "recently checked" list. 

I actually spent some time trying to locate a button or a check box on these website that would allow me to opt-out from allowing them to cache or display the information, but I couldn't. Thus, I had to find a different way that would respect my privacy and I think that I did. 

Biometrics: the Future of Mobile Payments?

Billions of people are now using smartphones, even in the most remote areas of the planet. Global adoption of these new mobile technologies opens up the discussion for more advanced methods of identification, authentication, and verification, especially when it comes to protecting against fraud, identity theft and financial crime. One of these promising new technologies, available to end users as a result of the acceptance of mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and laptops, is biometrics.

Biometrics look promising when it comes to simplifying the processing, authentication, and confirmation of transactions in general, but more importantly when it comes to payments. Technological advances, along with pattern recognition and multi-factor biometrics, are expected to tackle cybercrime by making it very expensive and time-consuming for cybercriminals to attempt to target these systems.