Researchers Discover Potential Threats

Now that this year's Black Hat security convention is underway in Las Vegas, there is a good deal of information that is being shared among the attendees and participants. Various speakers and researchers give their theories and beliefs on the current and future prospects of IT security and what they believe to be the new growing threats to arrive.

Security researchers have discovered new methods cyber hackers can utilize to spy on users even though a complete and secure connection is being employed to do business, including online e-commerce, banking, and other sensitive related websites. First demonstrated within the Las Vegas conference, the researchers showed how a hacker can poke around the edge of various Internet traffic even though it is encrypted and discover clues in terms of what the user is doing. The researchers said the problem is in the area of how a web browser uses SSL technology, also known as Secure Socket Layers for encryption. This encryption is used to provide a secure path from a website or its related server to your browser, and in doing so secures the data so it is protected from anyone attempting to intercept it.

Many sites that transmit sensitive and critical information uses this Secure Socket Layer encryption technology. The researchers who discovered this originally desired to see what trails are left behind from browsers whenever users surf the Internet, and to see what the hackers might view. It is possible the information could contain the setting for a web browser with a number and type of websites a user visited. Or it could contain information stored in cookies, such as passwords and usernames. The researchers also noted all browsers have the ability to be affected by this issue, and may bring new thoughts in terms of restructuring the methods of e-commerce.

As always, for all users this means remaining very aware and extremely careful whenever using Wi-Fi networks from a public location. Public Wi-Fi's are known to have little or no security installed and are a favorite location for a hacker to snoop around and insert himself within your system or your Internet traffic. These sites are also known as being an easy target to set up a false connection that seems to resemble the public Wi-Fi.

The two researchers located about 20 or more situations that could be exploited but did say all of them would be very difficult to execute. One of the exploits included browsers with more than one tab are currently open, as one tab could have traffic that is unsecured, leading to the exploitation of traffic located in a secure tab. As one encryption expert noted, “No one will be targeted with these attacks in the near future but it is research that should be explored in detail.”

Another bit of conversation at the conference involved a breach that could affect routers used in the home. One researcher looked it over 30 times the routers that are used in a home and discovered over half of them had an opening that could be exploited by the newly discovered attack. His method involved fully a web browser into allowing him the use of administrative menu access that only the owner of the home routers should be able to view. The vulnerability in question is within the browser and demonstrates another problem of high browser ascertains if a site is trustworthy or not. The underlying factor is at first the user has visited a malicious webpage, and the default password on the router has not been changed.

Also at the conference, Michael Hayden a retired general and also a former United States spy, gave a speech that this country's cyber defenses are wide open and need to be strengthened. He noted that if any controlled and continued attacks were to occur our weakened positions would be compromised. Hayden, who at one point was a leader of the Central Intelligence Agency as well as the National Security Agency said that many countries are in the process of spying in the cyber environment. He said the Internet, which is created on the foundation of being able to share locate information in a very quick manner also provides any attacker with a very open foundation that gives them an advantage over those who would defend it. Hayden is very much in favor of the United States officials who desire to set up various rules of international engagement through the Internet. He also says the nation should have made this move at least 10 years ago or longer. There are many sensitive areas including financial districts, utilities, and other entities we depend on, that should be listed as being off limits to prevent catastrophes from occurring. By putting in place various rules of conduct and behavior on an international level would provide an easier method of locating terrorist threats that try to use the cyber arena.

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