10,000 Netgear Routers Hacked Via Zero-Day Flaw

More than 10,000 routers network manufacturer Netgear been hacked via a zero-day vulnerability for which no security update is made ​​available. That says Alexandre Herzog of the Swiss security company Compass Security. Through the vulnerability could allow an attacker without a valid password or user access to the admin panel.

The problem was reported to Netgear in July. In September, the network manufacturer announced that it had developed firmware for routers in which the problem was solved. It was, however, this is a beta version. Netgear did however not know when the final version would appear. On September 29, however, made another investigator same security issue known.Then Herzog decided Tuesday to place the vulnerability of details on the company website and Full Disclosure mailing list. Netgear user then let the mailing list know that he was hacked by the leak.

Herzog then asked for information from the victim, to step up the pressure on the Netgear. From the user's information appeared that his router was adapted so that all DNS requests were forwarded to the server of the attacker. The attacker would the user will have to send them to phishing sites or sites containing malware. Researchers from the Swiss security managed with a server that is to make up for the control of the infected routers compound was used. Then they found data indicating that more than 10,000 routers via the vulnerability were hacked, Herzog as late as compared Threat Post know.

The Swiss government GOVCERT would now be trying to get the server from the air and warned the providers of most victims. Which would are located mainly in the United States. To attack the vulnerability, the attack must be run from the internal network. In case the remote management is enabled, this can also be done directly from the Internet. Remote administration is not enabled by default. The problem is present in Netgear routers with the router firmware: N300_1.1.0.31_1.0.1.img and N300-1.1.0.28_1.0.1.img. This firmware is used among others in the WNR1000v4 Router.

Indian Student Pays Training With Bug Reports

The search for vulnerabilities in applications, web applications and other software for many researchers now become a lucrative business, with an Indian student pays even trained with. Shashank Kumar, known on Twitter as cyberboyIndia would now have about $ 30,000 in bug reports are earned. Thus he was able to pay most of his training, so he lets opposite The Verge know.

Despite the revenue say many researchers working on so-called "bug bounty" join programs that they are not full-time to look for vulnerabilities, but rather a part-time job or a way to generate additional income. Earnings that are higher on the black market. Nevertheless, most hackers would choose an official reward program, says Alex Rice, former security chief on Facebook and now CTO of HackerOne.

"In order to sell something on the black market you should make one weapon. That could take months," said Rice. Most hackers do have the skills, according to him, but no bad intentions. Yet it also happens that hackers find that they did not have enough money or that bugs are not resolved quickly enough. Often these hackers then decide to reveal the problem yet, what a PR nightmare for businesses can be said Gus Anagnos of SYNACK.

That can ensure that companies in each bug melding overreact. "As an organization wasting a gun to his head, the start time to vulnerabilities that are not very important," Anagnos notes. There are also now several platforms launched where companies can join. The platform receives the entries and make the selection and communication, so the company only receives structured bug reports, so that can be solved earlier.

Just Patched Flash Player Flaw In sight Cybercriminals

A critical vulnerability in Flash Player that last week was patched used to attack Windows users. Through the vulnerability an attacker can place malware on your computer, for example if the user visits a malicious or hacked website or see a banner gets infected.

Report that security company FireEye and anti-virus company Malwarebytes . The exploits of the leak abuse is added to the Nuclear Exploitkit. This makes it easy for cybercriminals to attack unpatched Flash Users via the vulnerability. In the case, the attack is successful, a Trojan horse is installed there.

Although the update is available for a week does not mean that everyone who has installed, says analyst Jerome Segura."We know that in some cases, consumers, but usually companies, can not immediately install patches. In many cases, there must first be internally tested so that the patch does not disturb any business processes." The analyst advises organizations in this case to shield these systems from other systems on the network.

Microsoft Tightened Security Windows With EMET 5.2

Microsoft has released a new version of the free security tool released EMET, which should make it more difficult for attackers to attack Windows computers through both unknown and known vulnerabilities. EMET stands for Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit and adds an extra layer of security to Windows and installed applications increase, so often exploits software vulnerabilities no longer work.

EMET 5.2 includes several fixes and improvements. EMET so now supports warnings and reports of Modern Internet Explorer and IE desktop with Enhanced Protected Mode. There is an added measure to prevent attacks using VBScript. It is an attack technique called "VBScript God Mode", which was used by attackers in recent attacks. This allows an attacker to execute malicious script with elevated privileges.

Additionally, the DLL files are EMET now with Control Flow Guard compiled. This is a new feature that hijacking code must exist. In the past, researchers have demonstrated several times that EMET circumvented can be. In practice, however, it appears that attackers in a different way take into account EMET. So last year was a zero-day attack on IE10 discovered .The attackers, however, decided not to execute the exploit on computers that EMET was installed, probably to avoid detection of the exploit. EMET 5.2 is through this page ( msi download).

Expert Warns Of Patch Policy Windows 10

Windows 10 has yet to appear, but a security of the Slovak anti-virus company ESET has both end users and businesses warned that Microsoft's patch policy for the new operating system the door for zero-day attacks open.

With Windows 10, Microsoft will roll out updates in several ways. There will be a Long Term Servicing (LTS) branch for companies with important systems. In this case, only security updates will be rolled out, but no new features. Then there is the "Current branch for Business". By computers and devices to set this new feature updates will be rolled out after they have been tested extensively in the consumer and validated.

In this way, systems can be upgraded with great certainty. Talking only about new features. Security updates are still always immediately available. Finally there are the consumers that all updates, both security and new features, immediately received.According to expert Aryeh Goretsky it makes sense to divide Windows users into different groups to test patches. He suspects that the patches are rolled out among consumers and not repaired properly works first before they are distributed to companies.

This approach brings under the expert also has its disadvantages. Consumers and organizations that do not run the enterprise version of Windows 10 could receive less well tested patches and so may have to deal with crashes. Companies on the other hand, may have to wait longer until Microsoft feels that the updates have been tested enough and she gives green light.

Goretsky says the wait is still how the new patch policy of Windows 10 will turn out, but already advises that if the delay with which companies receive updates ensures that the attack surface increases, organizations are better off with an older enterprise version of Windows that receives updates rather than the enterprise version of Windows 10.