Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have published a paper describing security holes in five, web-based password managers including LastPass, My1login and Roboform. According to the paper (PDF), four out of the five password managers inadvertently leaked a user’s credentials for stored web sites due to all-too-common web based security flaws like Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) and Cross Site Scripting (XSS). The researchers, Zhiwei Li, Warren He, Devdatta Akwawe and Dawn Song, all of the University of California Berkeley, said that they disclosed the holes in August of last year and that all of the affected firms and that all but one – NeedMyPassword – have since patched the vulnerabilities. All the password managers tested were found to contain one of a short list of security problems. Either they were vulnerable to classic web-based holes (like XSS), or they were found to be susceptible to user interface-focused attacks, like […]
authentication
Yet Another IoT Standards Group: This One For Privacy
Data privacy firm TRUSTe announced that it is forming a group to identify technical standards to ensure consumer privacy in the Internet of Things. Speaking at the Internet of Things Privacy Summit in San Francisco last week, Chris Babel, the CEO of TRUSTe said that the multi-party group will draw up “technical standards to help companies develop the privacy solutions that are needed to protect consumer privacy in the Internet of Things.” [Read Security Ledger’s coverage of privacy issues related to the Internet of Things here.] The group, dubbed the IoT Privacy Tech Working Group will include representatives from TRUSTe as well as online privacy groups The Center for Democracy & Technology, The Future of Privacy Forum and the Online Trust Alliance, according to a statement from TRUSTe. IoT privacy tech working group announced. “This working group will work to address the mounting security and privacy concerns, while promoting transparency and user […]
Intel Promotes ‘Trustlets’ To Secure Embedded Devices
The integrity of data stored on- and transmitted between Internet-connected embedded devices is one of the biggest technical hurdles standing in the way of widespread adoption of Internet of Things technology. For one thing: embedded devices like wearable technology and “smart” infrastructure are often deployed on simple, inexpensive and resource constrained hardware. Unlike laptops or even smart phones, these are purpose-built devices that, by design, run for long periods in remote deployments, with extremely constrained features and low power consumption that is the result of limited processing power and memory. [Read Security Ledger’s coverage of connected vehicles.] Now Intel is promoting a platform that it says can bridge the gap and provide robust security features even for resource-constrained Internet of Things devices like wearables and connected vehicles. Back in April, the Intel Labs unveiled the results of joint research with Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany. The researchers have developed a platform, dubbed TrustLite […]
This Week In Security: Poking Holes In Two Factor Authentication
It was another busy week in the security world. There was big news on the legal front, as The U.S. Supreme Court took steps to protect the data stored on mobile devices from warrantless searches by police. (That’s good news.) But the week also plenty of concerning stories about the security of data stored on mobile phones, tablets and the like. One of the stories that gained a lot of attention was DUO Security’s report on a flaw in PayPal’s two factor authentication feature that could expose the accounts of security-conscious PayPal users. As The Security Ledger reported, DUO researcher Zach Lanier discovered a flaw in mobile APIs published by PayPal that would allow anyone with a valid PayPal user name and password to sidestep two-factor authentication when accessing PayPal accounts that had that option enabled. After DUO went public with information on the flaw, PayPal disabled two factor authentication […]
Paypal Disables Two Factor From Mobile
In the wake of a disclosure, yesterday, that a secure log-in feature was vulnerable to hacking, PayPal has suspended the ability of customers who elect to use the feature to log in to PayPal using the company’s mobile application. In a blog post on Wednesday, PayPal Director of Global Initiatives Anuj Nayar said that the company took the step of disabling mobile application log ins after the researcher, Zach Lanier of DUO Security, published his findings in a blog post yesterday. As reported by The Security Ledger, researcher Zach Lanier of DUO Labs discovered that a PayPal mobile API (application program interface) for its Security Key two-factor authentication technology contains a vulnerability that would allow even a non-technical hacker to bypass the second factor when accessing a Paypal customer’s account. The problem comes up when trying to access a Paypal account protected using two-factor authentication using a PayPal mobile application – […]
