Hacker proves Vista can be intercepted
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| Posted
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Mon, 07 Aug 2006 09:36:00 GMT |
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Mike Burns |
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LAS VEGAS: In spite of claims by Microsoft Corp. that its forthcoming Windows Vista is a secure version, a researcher at the Black Hat hacker conference last week demonstrated how the system can be hacked.
Microsoft had handed over test versions of the OS to some 3,000 researchers attending the conference, inviting them to try their hand at hacking it. And Joanna Rutkowska, a polish researcher, working for a Singapore-based security firm, Coseinc, proved how easy it is to bypass security measures in the code that should actually prevent unsigned code from running. She said the security systems in Vista can be sidestepped by using a piece of malicious software she had created and named Blue Pill.
She later explained that it is possible to use virtualization technology to make the malicious code undetectable like what a rootkit does.
Microsoft was, however, not bothered by this claim. A company spokesperson at the conference said it is investigating for solutions to help protect the OS against the attacks demonstrated. It is working with its hardware partners to investigate ways to help prevent the virtualization attack used by the Blue Pill, the company said.
Microsoft has introduced a measure in Vista to block unsigned driver software. Rutkowska, however, could get past the shield and make her code to run. She said, "The fact that this mechanism was bypassed does not mean that Vista is completely insecure. It's just not as secure as advertised."
However, she admitted the intrusion was possible only when Vista is running in administrator mode. An attack can be foiled by the user account control, which is a Vista feature that runs a PC with fewer user privileges.
The issues notwithstanding, several experts feel the security changes the company has brought in are effective. Vista is the first of the company's products, which has been subjected to the "security development lifecycle", with an aim to rid it of all security problems before it is shipped.
Copyright,
respective author or news agency
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Vista
By:
Ethan ,
Sun, 13 Aug 2006 23:44:42 GMT
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Hey-This woman was a professional. How many people would know half the things that she knows? Anyway, Microsoft is working to fix it.
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Blue Pill
By:
sugardave ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 23:07:48 GMT
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So, I'm not sure...did she HAVE to use Blue Pill to exploit the driver sign check?
Oh, and Josh...your vision of the future is more terrible to me than the one where arsonists can get together and talk about explosives, assuming the arsonists were working to make structures fireproof.
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JOSH!!! you close minded twit!
By:
AxFactor ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 21:13:55 GMT
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Get ur facts straight! Hackers are not the problem, crackers and script kiddes are. Hackers are the reason why Norton and McAfee can protect your sorry azz! Seriously, if computer software designers didnt interact with hackers imagine where your pc would be today!!! Not to pretty eh? Or your bank for that matter, wouldn't you want a hacker to test their security and notify them of vunerabilities? Hackers are the ones who educate themselves and realize what is good and what is bad, crackers just like to get free stuff and script kiddies are leeches who jump on the backs of hackers to get their code and use it to impress their loser friends. Hackers were once the elite of the software world until the media destoryed the name due to what the public already knew, hackers are easy targets and deserve our rescect, they and I are the reason you still have your privacy, your money and most of all your life online!
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Hmmmm
By:
Rob ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 20:10:09 GMT
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I wonder if some of you realize why that let the OS go to that convention. It was to let the hackers find exploits so they could fix them. As for the Blue Pill, from the sounds of it that was something they developed before the convention, so they had an idea of an exploit and went after it and where right to an extent.
The idea is Microsoft will try to fix the exploit before release.
Anyway good luck you you all.
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1 of 3000
By:
mojo ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 19:01:26 GMT
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One of three thousand spoke about one of the exploits she has found. Not 1 in 3,000 found an exploit, I imagine that her research was a bit more headline-worthy than others.
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Black Hat
By:
Josh ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:01:41 GMT
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I wish the FBI would simply surround the "Black Hat" convention hall, arrest them all and double bunk them at Guantanimo they are just as much terrorists as the jihadists. The fact that these b******s can show their faces in public and not be arrested is symptomatic of whats wrong with the worlds attitudes about their destructive behavior.
Can you imagine serial arsonists having a convention and exchanging formulas for incindery devices, while insurance companies give them the VIP treatment.
If the computer using public understood how much these scum bags cost them, how much damage their criminal vandalism causes; they would form a mob and torch the convention hall with the "black hats" inside.
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Sounds terrible
By:
JC ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:00:25 GMT
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Don't claim your OS is secure, then send it out for testing, then say its not a problem when it does get hacked.
1 in 3000 hacked it, there are what 6 Billion people on the plant... Divide that by 3000, thats a lot of people that will be able to hack the most widely used OS in the world!
Also as you all know, the best hackers don't work at security firms, or go to BS conferences. They are 16-25 and work out of there basement dedicating there free time to it...
Working is work, but hacking for fun is a lifestyle. Dedication is the key to success and a paycheck will only make people work so hard...
Hackers will always win the battle, but don't make BS claims about your OS like when 98 cam out, come on. They are a terrible company, accross the board.
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re: Sounds pretty good to me
By:
bill ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 16:18:12 GMT
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Except, once the node has been exploited, you have no more security.
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Wasn't that the point?
By:
eleavings ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 15:31:06 GMT
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Wasn't that the very reason MS distributed the OS at BlackHat? So hackers could have a go at it and reveal security holes? I think MS did the right thing here. They put it out there to get banged up so they can continue to lock it down prior to release.
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Specific circumstances
By:
phealy ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:43:16 GMT
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If I remember properly from other articles, this only works on processors with virtualization. What Blue Pill managed to do was basically slip a hypervisor in *below* windows on the system. I'm sure more processors will have VT as time goes on, though.
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re:sounds pretty good to me
By:
Anna ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:41:38 GMT
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1 out of 3,000 is all it takes. They share their
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No raindrop believes it is responsible for the flood
By:
-hh ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:34:53 GMT
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The good news:
Only one hacker (so far) has found a breach.
It required Admin mode.
The bad news:
It seems that they found it fairly quickly.
Unsure how many hackers actually have looked.
While its "only one" breach, it exists in every computer.
It only takes one breach to compromise a platform.
Microsoft wasn't particularly alarmed that a breach had been found.
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All it took was a woman
By:
Twilex ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:14:00 GMT
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They should apply car security to that OS. :p
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Sounds pretty good to me
By:
Idan ,
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 12:54:59 GMT
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1 out of 3,000 experts managed to hack the OS?
Sounds pretty damn secure to me...
Expecting a 100% exploit-proof OS is like expecting to go to a total war and not lose one soldier.
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