WebApp Sec mailing list archives
Re: keyloggers? - dont doit
From: James.Barkley () noaa gov
Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 01:23:27 -0500
The two major attacks you have to look at: 1. Spyware/keylogger - very real threat If your provider offers secure auth mechanism such as OTP (one-time password) this is no threat. Dual authentication means nothing if you have a keystroke logger. Also, if OTP is used, you have to be sure that your provider codes against race conditions (e.g. I keylog 95% of your OTP and brute force the other 5%). 2. Man-in-the-middle attack - less real but real threat (IMHO) First, you can verify with an individual provider (cybercafe, etc.) if they provide their own DNS and what they do to protect against spoofing. Second, if you cannot verify this, then you are susceptible to Man-in-the-middle-attack (I establish ssl and joe-hacker intercepts, establishes ssl with me and also establishes ssl with end host, then translates from me to end host). Someone has to be dedicated to perform this, but in public spaces it is more right than wrong to expect a dedicated hacker. If someone performs man-in-the-middle I don't know what you can do. my 2 cents -Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: "lyal.collins" <lyal.collins () key2it com au> Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2005 11:37 pm Subject: Re: keyloggers? - dont doit
SSL falls to spoofed certs/trust lists and or DNS poisoning to create MITM attacks. Cybercafes can run their own DNS and routing mechanisms, enabling the latter. They run and manage their own browsers and trusted cert lists, enabing a fake 'root CA" cert to be laoded into browsers, enabing the former. SSL is a dead duck in every environment unless DNS is known to be 100% accurate, and no ARP sppofing tricks are happening. yalOn Apr 6, 2005 7:23 AM, Alvin Oga <alvin.sec () virtual linux-consulting com> wrote:- anything sent over the internet is sniffable from anywhere in the worldDelurking just to mention that this isn't correct. Onlinebanking (andother security-sensitive activities) aren't a good idea from shared sites like a cybercafe for all the reasons others havementioned, butthis isn't it. From my desktop here, I almost certainly have noway ofsniffing your traffic to your bank, unless I happen to be somewhere along your path. I'd also like to know about SSL being broken. I think you meanone ofthe common ciphers is broken, which would be substantial newsindeed.>Your conclusion is right but your reasoning is completely wrongAFAICT.>-- Kyle Maxwell [krmaxwell () gmail com]--
Current thread:
- Re: keyloggers? - dont doit lyal.collins (Apr 06)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: keyloggers? - dont doit James . Barkley (Apr 06)