My next couple of posts will look at what is takes to perform forensics on mobile devices targeting specifically the With the explosion of mobile devices there is little doubt that the number of security incidents were a mobile device is involved will also increase exponentially.

My next couple of posts will look at what is takes to perform forensics on mobile devices targeting specifically the iPhone, the Blackberry and the Android platforms.

Some interesting statistics on the iPhone in particular and the number of them that AT&T activated in the last couple of years. As can be seen below the number of iPhones activated in the 3rd quarter 2009 was 3.2 millions devices in the US alone.

This doesn’t equate to iPhone’s sold because activations would also count dad’s giving their iPhone to their daughter and buying a new one for themselves, which would mean 2 activations but just one iPhone bought.

According to AT&T they added 2 million subscribers to that quarter. Nevertheless the evidence is there on an upward trend.

The graph below shows the how activations for the 1st quarter of 2010 rose by 50% over the previous quarter.

No longer is it viable to have a firewall protecting internal resources from the outside world without knowing and inspecting the legitimate traffic coming into the network, [...]]]> In an age were applications are quickly moving to the web, security threats increase the risks of a breach causing economic damage and loss of reputation to businesses.

No longer is it viable to have a firewall protecting internal resources from the outside world without knowing and inspecting the legitimate traffic coming into the network, which hackers take advantage of by climbing the OSI layer were 1st generation firewalls were not protecting.

The OSI layer is an abstract definition for layered communications between computers, starting at the bottom of the layer with the physical wire and moving to to the 7th layer called the application layer.

The first firewalls on the scene allowed the network administrator to protect up to the 3rd and 4th layer which are named the Network and Transport layers, by restricting access to certain to an IP address from a range of IP addresses or restricting access to a server only on port TCP 80 in the case of a web server.

Application aware firewalls soon surfaced but the horse power required to break down the packets for analysis and reconstruct them to send them to their destination was not there, taking a big hit on the performance of the link and even then only a few widely used applications (http, ftp, etc.) were available to perform inspection on.

A different device to address this shortfall was introduced and named IDS (Intrusion Detection System) allowing the detection of malicious attempts to access computer systems.

Later IDS (Intrusion Detection System) were able to send control signals to firewalls and routers to actively block attacks and were often used in conjunction with Honeypots which deflected attempts at unauthorized use of the systems it was protecting.

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) work by classifying traffic as either normal or anomalous based on rules and in order to create these rules the system must be taught to recognise normal traffic activity using artificial intelligence techniques. Once these systems were taught using neural networks or usage of the system adhering to a strict mathematical model, any traffic deviating from the norm would flagged as an attack.

This proved to be problematic with the introduction of new variables into the system/network like new applications or services that could potentially trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) by making an unwanted change to the firewall. Additionally IDS (Intrusion Detection System) would not be in-line with the firewall but rather out of band adding latency to the process handling attacks.

The IDS (Intrusion Detection System) required two major and critical areas of improvement which included moving beyond the anomaly detection to add vulnerability-based signatures and the capability to work at wire speeds to enable in-line deployment.

Vulnerability-based signatures was a way for security vendors to work proactively with software vendors in finding and patching vulnerabilities before the bad guys did, thus releasing updates to blocked specific attacks to systems which may have not been patched yet.

A device that blocked attacks and let everything else through was born and coined Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).

An Intrusion Prevention System is a network security device that monitors network and/or system activities for malicious or unwanted behavior and can react, in real-time, to block or prevent those activities. Network-based IPS, for example, will operate in-line to monitor all network traffic for malicious code or attacks . When an attack is detected, it can drop the offending packets while still allowing all other traffic to pass. Intrusion prevention technology is considered by some to be an extension of intrusion detection (IDS) technology.

As with any inline device, the reliability and availability is of utmost importance. This is mostly addressed by a bypass feature allowing fail-open for copper ports should the device fail.

Market leaders in this space are Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, McAfee, IBM (ISS), 3Com (Tipping Point) and Sourcefire.

So how do today’s available solutions stack up in the real world? A recent study of 170 randomly selected enterprises compares the results of real customers who use Cisco, IBM ISS, McAfee, Sourcefire, or TippingPoint in live network environments. The vendors were evaluated across eight key measures in three primary categories, including:

1. In Band Blocking: To block unwanted traffic in real time, IPS’s must be placed in-band rather than off a tap or mirror port. Only in-band devices can provide real-time, deep inspection of data packets at layers 2 through 7.
2. Filter Effectiveness: At the heart of the effectiveness of any IPS solution is how many attacks its filters can block.
3. Ease of Use: Network operators are less likely to deploy Intrusion Prevention Systems across the expanse of their networks if the solution is hard to set up and manage.

The real data are in on how leading IPS solutions perform in the real world. Tipping Point scores highest – often by large margins – on each key performance and manageability measure. The Tipping Point IPS provides superior protection against evolving network attacks – and continues to provide timely protection as new forms of attacks emerge.

The Tipping Point 210E provides 200 megabits per seconds of aggregate bandwidth with a typical latency of less than 1 millisecond while providing 10 x 10/100/1000 Ethernet copper ports divided into 5 segments in a little over 1-U package.

Initial configuration is performed by connecting via a console cable to the appliance and setting several parameters using a setup wizard. The management server running a custom version of Fedora also will need to be configured with network and user information.

Management of the appliance is done via an installable program which has 7 major components:

Events: Allows the monitoring of event based on a wide range of criteria including filters, filter taxonomy, network and segments as well as threshold filters.

Reports: Existing templates allow the quick generation of reports on attacks, performance protection, rate limit, device traffic and traffic threshold amongst others. Customized reports can be saved and scheduled for particular times and configured to be delivered via e-mail in a variety of formats including PDF, HTML and Excel. [Download not found]

Profiles: The IPS appliance comes preset with a default profile which contains how the appliance will handle the traffic coming through its segments. All 5 segments can have a different profile making it very easy to apply a policy to a network segment and a completely different one for another network segment or even to protect a certain host.

The filters are categorized as Application Protection, Infrastructure Protection, Performance Protection and Traffic Management.

A large number of filters are set to Block/Notify under Application Protection and Infrastructure Protection leaving the action taken by the other 2 categories to be determined by the Corporate security policy.

Quarantine: This allows the IPS to block particular IP addresses or networks for a particular time. Extremely customizable.

Devices: Provides the ability to manage multiple IPS appliances from one management console providing the capability to push policies, software updates and upgrades, and digital vaccines at the click of a button.

Admin: This allows the management of users and configuration of the management server.

Dashboard: A customizable window into protection and performance metrics provided by the IPS – Intrusion Protection System.

I was surprised to see the small amount of hacking attempts across 4 class ‘C’ networks of public IP addresses coming to the conclusion that the stateful inspection firewall in place was inspecting traffic allowed on certain protocols and thus filtering many of the attacks. Traffic not inspected by the firewall was filtered by the Tipping Point 210E appliance.

A side benefit of using this appliance after customizing the profile for the Application Protection – Spyware category was detecting spyware installed on the network and it being blocked from transmitting data outside the corporate network.

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• Juniper Networks Positioned in Leaders Quadrant of Leading Analyst Firm’s Magic Quadrant for Network Intrusion Prevention System Appliances (it-sideways.com)
• Cybercriminals in the Cloud (mycompuquest.blogspot.com)
• Report: IT not scrimping on security during recession (arstechnica.com)
• Cisco bakes software security into new Linksys routers (arstechnica.com)
• Security Jeopardy (stillsecureafteralltheseyears.com)
• CIOs: Your networks have already been compromised (macworld.com)
• Where Does The IPS Go? (phoneboy.com)

So what is that something? We’ll find out within 24 hours.

What we do know is that this variant of Conficker has become better at preventing removal and others from [...]]]> Without a doubt the whole security professional community have their eyes on the Conficker.C variant which is designed to do something on April 1st.

So what is that something? We’ll find out within 24 hours.

What we do know is that this variant of Conficker has become better at preventing removal and others from taking control of the network of worm infected computers.

The Conficker worm will begin to poll 500 different domain names every day looking for updates to download doubling its current rate.

Interestingly enough one of my most popular posts is on the removal of the Conficker worm from a network environment here and over the last couple of days visitors have exploded exponentially.

In my two other posts in which I talk about the Microsoft flaw and the Social Engineering components of the worm, I take a rather passive approach to the problem which is based on having contingency plans to prevent, contain and remove the worm from infected computers.

A more pro-active approach would be to look for infected machines without waiting for the symptons to appear by actively scanning the network for computers which have been infected.

Locating computers which have been infected with Conficker using a network scan has kept me up multiple nights, until the guys at Honeynet.org came up with the tool here. Thanks to DShield.org for linking to it in their article on locating Conficker.

http://blog.sekiur.com/2009/02/step-by-step-in-dealing-with-conficker/
http://blog.sekiur.com/2008/10/worm-takes-advantage-of-microsoft-flaw/
http://blog.sekiur.com/2009/01/worm-uses-social-engineering/

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• Windows PC Worm Set to Activate on April 1st (littlegreenfootballs.com)

Below are step by step instructions on mitigating the risk of the threat that “Conficker”/”Downandup” poses.

Symptoms

============

Symptoms to help you determine if you are infected

The worm called “Downandup”, “Conficker” or “Kido” by different anti-virus vendors uses the Microsoft vulnerability which I blogged about here (Worm Takes Advantage Of Microsoft [...]]]> A new worm has hit the Internet and its taking its toll on computers worldwide. It has been reported that over 9 million computers have already been infected.

The worm called “Downandup”, “Conficker” or “Kido” by different anti-virus vendors uses the Microsoft vulnerability which I blogged about here (Worm Takes Advantage Of Microsoft Flaw) and here (Microsoft Releases Emergency Patch).

The worm mostly spreads across networks, turning off the system restore and deleting the restore points, blocks access to security website, download additional malware from the author, attempts to infect other computers by scanning network shares and scheduled a task to re-infect the computer if removed.

What is interesting is that it can also spread by USB memory keys or devices making use of social engineering which makes it more dangerous to the untrained eye. When a USB drive is inserted it shows a modified AutoPlay screen seen below which will install the worm when the users inadvertently clicks on it.

According to SANS Internet Storm Center, one of the reasons the worm is infecting so many machines is that “Conficker” uses multiple infection vectors:

1. It exploits the MS08-067 vulnerability,
2. It brute forces Administrator passwords on local networks and spreads through ADMIN$ shares and finally
3. It infects removable devices and network shares by creating a special autorun.inf file and dropping its own DLL on the device.

Characteristics -

When executed, the worm copies itself using a random name to the %Sysdir% folder.

(Where %Sysdir% is the Windows system folder; e.g. C:\Windows\System32)

It modifies the following registry key to create a randomly-named service on the affected syetem:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\{random}\Parameters\”ServiceDll” = “Path to worm”
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\{random}\”ImagePath” = %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

Attempts connections to one or more of the following websites to obtain the public ip address of the affected computer.

• hxxp://www.getmyip.org
• hxxp://getmyip.co.uk
• hxxp://checkip.dyndns.org
• hxxp://whatsmyipaddress.com

Attempts to download a malware file from the remote website: (Rogue Russian site is up but not serving file anymore)

• hxxp://trafficconverter.biz/[Removed]antispyware/[Removed].exe

Starts a HTTP server on a random port on the infected machine to host a copy of the worm.

Continuously scans the subnet of the infected host for vulnerable machines and executes the exploit. If the exploit is successful, the remote computer will then connect back to the http server and download a copy of the worm.

Later variants of w32/Conficker.worm are using scheduled tasks and Autorun.inf file to replicate on to non vulnerable systems or to reinfect previously infected systems after they have been cleaned.

Suggestions -

1. Disable AutoPlay in your environment.
2. Run a good security suite.
3. Keep your computer updated with the latest patches.
4. Be PROACTIVE and look for the worm in your environment.

Sources:

http://www.nai.com

http://www.symantec.com

http://www.f-secure.com

http://isc.sans.org

Whether it be an iPhone or guest laptop connecting via wireless or using an unused network port, brings new challenges to [...]]]> In today’s environment of mobile computing and the increasing integration of consumer electronics with the corporate network, it has become a necessity to plan accordingly in order to mitigate the risk this presents.

Whether it be an iPhone or guest laptop connecting via wireless or using an unused network port, brings new challenges to network administrators who need, not only be aware of what is on their network but also prevent an un-managed device from infecting other devices on the network.

The situation grows in complexity in higher education where the inherent open network environment becomes a juggling act balancing network security and open access. Students do not patch and fail to run current anti-virus.

Network Access Control, which is more commonly referred to by the acronym NAC, is the most hyped term in networking today. It’s also one of the least understood.

Network Access Control (NAC) is a computer networking solution that uses a set of protocols to define & implement a policy that describes how to secure access to a network nodes by devices when they initially attempt to access the network^{[citation needed]}. NAC might integrate the automatic remediation process (fixing non-compliant nodes before allowing access) into the network systems, allowing the network infrastructure such as routers, switches and firewalls to work together with back office servers and end user computing equipment to ensure the information system is operating securely before interoperability is allowed.

The idea behind Network Access Control (NAC) is to implement a set of pre-admission rules and post-admission controls over where users can go and what they can do. Kind of like an in-versed firewall framework on steroids.

What’s important to understand is the Network Access Control (NAC) is not a device or appliance that is dropped in on the network, but rather a structure that needs to be deployed throughout the enterprise network.

The goals that Network Access Control aims to address can be distilled into three categories.

1. Identity Management – Which includes device registration, authentication and role based access.
2. Endpoint Compliance – The ability to prevent devices that lack anti-virus, patches or host prevention software from accessing the corporate network to prevent putting other computers at risk.
3. Policy Enforcement – Provides the ability to enforce company-specific policies in either block, notify or report mode and integration with other solutions to identify and disable unauthorized activities.

Different vendors take different approaches in order to accomplish these goals, were policies are enforced on a pre-admission vs. a post-admission basis, software clients are installed on the users computer vs. scanning those computers in an effort to gather information to automate decision making at the time the policy is enforced, and finally out-of-band vs. in-line solutions.

In 2005 I started experimenting with Network Access Control technology and came across an open-source solution called NetReg.

NetReg is an in-line, pre-admission, client-less Network Access Control solutions. The system sits between the users and the network. Identity management is accomplished by authenticating the user through a website against an LDAP server and storing in a database the username, the IP address assigned and the devices MAC address.

Endpoint compliance is achieved by 2 dynamic DHCP address pools; one for unregistered (unknown hosts) with non-routable IP addresses (network/Internet blocked) and the second for registered (known hosts) with routable IP addresses (network/Internet accessible). A bogus DNS server prevents users from accessing anything but certain websites where a user can download anti-virus and patches for remediation purposes.

Nessus vulnerability scanning software periodically scans devices to determine if these should be quarantined until they have met the established acceptable use policy. If a computer in the unregistered network is found to be non-compliant, it is notified and only when appropriate action has been taken will the computer be assigned a valid routable IP address. If the computer has already been assigned a valid IP address then it is blocked.

Some of the shortfalls of this approach were the inability to determine which patches were missing and firewalled clients are not checked.

Netreg which was originally developed by Southwestern University at Georgetown branched out into several versions and currently the only one being maintained is by Carnegie Mellon here.

Finally is important to note that there is no silver bullet when it comes to security and there are always ways to get around a system. A thought that came to mind was how these products deal with printers, VoIP phones, gaming consoles, etc, when it comes to registration and how by changing one’s MAC address to mimic a VoIP phone or printer vendor would bypass the authentication.

In researching when writing this blog, I came across another open source solutions started in 2007 called PacketFence which I will take a closer look at.

Major Commercial Solutions:

• Bradford Networks
• Cisco
• ConSentry Networks
• Juniper Networks
• Sophos
• StillSecure
• Symantec

Open Source Solutions:

• FreeNAC
• NetReg
• PacketFence
  

Sources:

Wikipedia
Gartner Market Scope for NAC 2008