Category: Security

Security Articles

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Metasploit 3.3 Released

What is Metasploit?

The Metasploit Framework is a development platform for creating security tools and exploits. The framework is used by network security professionals to perform penetration tests, system administrators to verify patch installations, product vendors to perform regression testing, and security researchers world-wide. The framework is written in the Ruby programming language and includes components written in C and assembler.

What does it do?

The framework consists of tools, libraries, modules, and user interfaces. The basic function of the framework is a module launcher, allowing the user to configure an exploit module and launch it at a target system. If the exploit succeeds, the payload is executed on the target and the user is provided with a shell to interact with the payload.

Metasploit has come a long way since it’s early versions and have received notable support from the security community.

  • Metasploit now has 445 exploit modules and 216 auxiliary modules (from 320 and 99 respectively in v3.2)
  • Metasploit is still about twice the size of the nearest Ruby application according to Ohloh.net (375k lines of Ruby)
  • Over 180 tickets were closed during the 3.3 development process

Full release notes for v3.3 are here. Or read more here.

You can download Metasploit 3.3 here:

Windows – framework-3.3.exe
Linux – framework-3.3.tar.bz2

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Katana v1 – Portable Multi-Boot Security Suite

The Katana Portable Multi-Boot Security Suite is a comprehensive open source security auditing suite. The idea behind Katana is to bring together the best security distributions and applications to run from a single USB flash drive. Instead of keeping track of dozens of CDs and DVDs loaded with your favorite security tools, you can keep them all conveniently in your pocket.

Katana includes distributions which focus on Penetration Testing, Auditing, Password Cracking, Forensics and Honey Pots. Katana comes with over 100 portable Windows applications, such as Wireshark, HiJackThis, Unstoppable Copier, Firefox, and OllyDBG. It also includes the following distributions:

  • Backtrack 4 (Pre)
  • The Ultimate Boot CD
  • Ophcrack Live
  • Damn Small Linux
  • The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
  • Got Root? Slax
  • Organizational Systems Wireless Auditor (OSWA) Assistant
  • Damn Vulnerable Linux

Katana is highly customizable. You can modify Katana by adding or removing distributions and portable apps with ease. You can add functionality to distributions like the Ultimate Boot CD, Got Root? Slax and UBCD4Win. You can also load your personal scripts and documents to keep them conveniently with you on your flash drive to use in concert with the provided tools.

You can download Katana from here or read more here.

Note: The download file size is approximately 1.4 GB.

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Unmask Parasites

Unmask Parasites is a simple online web site security service that helps reveal _hidden_illicit content (parasites) that web site crackers/hackers insert into benign web pages using various security holes.

Wikipedia defines Parasitism as a “type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species in which one, the parasite, benefits from a prolonged, close association with the other, the host, which is harmed.”

Hackers exploit security vulnerabilities of web software (blogs, forums, CMS, image galleries, wikis and e-commerce solutions) to insert hidden illicit content into web pages of innocent third-party web sites.

Most times this technique is used by spammers who insert hundreds of hidden links to web sites advertising medications, cheap loans and porn.

Another example of hidden malicious content is code that redirects visitors that click on your site’s search results in Google to absolutely different web sites owned by spammers. This sort of exploit can hardly be detected by site owners, because the malicious code redirects only first time visitors.

What all these techniques have in common is they parasitize benign web sites to take advantage of their search engine ranking, visitors, and site hosting which is paid for by their victims – unaware web site owners.

You can test out Unmask Parasites against your own site by clicking here.

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Botnet Responsible for 1/3 of Worlds Spam Shut Down

After carefully analyzing the massive botnet known as Mega-D and Ozdok, the security company FireEye last week launched a coordinated blitz on dozens of its command and control channels used to send new spamming instructions to the legions of zombie machines that make up the network. Almost immediately after this, the spam stopped.

Read the full article here and technical information here.

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Massive Power Outages In Brazil Caused By “Hackers”

“CBS reports on 60 Minutes that a massive two-day power outage in Brazil’s Espirito Santo State affecting more than three million people in 2007, and another, smaller event in three cities north of Rio de Janeiro in January 2005, were perpetrated by hackers manipulating control systems.

Former Chief of US National Intelligence Retired Adm. Mike McConnell says that the ‘United States is not prepared for such an attack’ and believes it could happen in America. ‘If I were an attacker and wanted to do strategic damage to the United States, I would either take the cold of winter or the heat of summer,’ says McConnell, ‘I would probably sack electric power on the US East Coast, maybe the West Coast and attempt to cause a cascading effect.’ Congressman Jim Langevin says that US power companies need to be forced to deal with the issue after they told Congress they would take steps to defend their operations but did not follow up. ‘They admit that they misled Congress. The private sector has different priorities than we do in providing security. Their bottom line is about profits,’ says Langevin. ‘We need to change their motivation so that when see vulnerability like this, we can require them to fix it.’

McConnell adds that a similar attack to the one in Brazil is poised to take place on US soil and that it may take some horrific event to get the country focused on shoring up cyber security. ‘If the power grid was taken off line in the middle of winter and it caused people to suffer and die, that would galvanize the nation. I hope we don’t get there.'”