macOS High Sierra Bug Lets Anyone Gain Root Access

 
Hi guys hope you are all keeping well, and if not I am yet again going to drain the brightness from your day. If you own a Mac computer and run the latest version of Apple's operating system, macOS High Sierra, then you need to be extra careful with your computer. Apparently anyone and I mean anyone from your two year old to your grandad can break into your mac device and become a superuser. Yes I said it, a superuser a god of elevated privileges a root to all evil, only the geeks in the room will get that one. So here's the thing Apple are calling this a bug when they should really just come out and say:

 "look guys we turned on root to do some shit, then we kinda forgot to turn it off, and, em, looks like that's the image we used to roll out 1,000s of machines on, our bad.....
PS the iPhone X is great you should go buy one it comes with enhanced features like stealing your key biometrics data for facial recognition so the CIA don't have to." - This may or may not have been a statement made by Apple T&C's apply.

Here's How to Login as Root User Without a Password

If you own a Mac and want to try this exploit, follow these steps from admin or guest account:

• Open System Preferences on the machine.
• Select Users & Groups.
• Click the lock icon to make changes.
• Enter "root" in the username field of a login window.
• Move the cursor into the Password field and hit enter button there few times, leaving it blank.

With that macOS High Sierra logs the unauthorized user in with root privileges, allowing the user to access your Mac as a "superuser" with permission to read and write to system files, including those in other macOS accounts as well.

This flaw can be exploited in several ways, depending on the setup of the targeted Mac. With full-disk encryption disabled, a rogue user can turn on a Mac that's entirely powered down and log in as root by doing the same trick.

At Mac's login screen, an untrusted user can also use the root trick to gain access to a Mac that has FileVault turned on to make unauthorized changes to the Mac System Preferences, like disabling FileVault.

All the untrusted user needs to do is click "Other" at the login screen, and then enter "root" again with no password. However, it is impossible to exploit this vulnerability when a Mac machine is turned on, and the screen is protected with a password.

I suppose there is no point in doing the scary dance without having a solution to hand and just as easy the potential to carry out this exploit the fix is similarly as simple to fix just follow the steps below.

Here's How to Temporarily Fix the macOS High Sierra Bug

To fix the vulnerability, you need to enable the root user with a password. Heres how to do that:

• Open System Preferences and Select Users & Groups
• Click on the lock icon and Enter your administrator name and password there
• Click on "Login Options" and select "Join" at the bottom of the screen
• Select "Open Directory Utility"
• Click on the lock icon to make changes and type your username and password there
• Click "Edit" at the top of the menu bar
• Select "Enable Root User" and set a password for the root user account

This password will prevent the account from being accessed with a blank password.

Just to be on the safer side, you can also disable Guest accounts on your Mac. for this, head on to System Preferences → Users & Groups, select Guest User after entering your admin password, and disable "Allow guests to log in to this computer."

Are your keystrokes being recorded?

It's always nice to set the scene for these subjects it helps my over active imagination to write better, so lets sit back and imagine the following: you are browsing the internet, firstly you look up a few weird and wonderful subjects, then you tip over to that dodgy website your wife doesn't know about to catch up on that online affair you have been having. You ask how did you know? well if you have been watching any tech related news in the past week you would have seen a headline or two stating things like "popular sites record your every keystrokes" and the rest.

So you ask what does that mean, websites are recording my keystrokes so they have a bulk file filled with code and text and links right?  Well technically yes but someone also though it would be a good idea to create a software that plays back all of this stuff in a film like format, sound scary? well it is and as you can see from the video below were your "keystrokes" to get leaked you might be in a whole pile of doo doo pretty quickly.

Researchers from Princeton University's Centre for Information Technology Policy (CITP) analyzed the Alexa top 50,000 websites in the world and found that 482 sites, many of which are high profile, are using a new web-tracking technique to track every move of their users.

Dubbed "Session Replay," the technique is used even by most popular websites, including The Guardian, Reuters, Samsung, Al-Jazeera, VK, Adobe, Microsoft, and WordPress, to record every single movement a visitor does while navigating a web page, and this incredibly extensive data is then sent off to a third party for analysis.

"Session replay scripts" are usually designed to gather data regarding user engagement that can be used by website developers to improve the end-user experience. However, what's particularly concerning is that these scripts record beyond the information you purposely give to a website—which also includes the text you type out while filing a form and then delete before hitting 'Submit.'

If your starting to get cold sweats after reading the above then here are a couple of sites where you can educate yourself a bit further on this topic.

https://thehackernews.com/2017/11/website-keylogging.html

https://thenextweb.com/security/2017/11/21/hundreds-of-websites-record-your-every-keystroke-without-you-knowing/

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/websites-record-keystroke/

Is Facebook tracking me?

Have you logged onto Facebook in the past few months and been targeted with an advert relating to something you recently looked up on your device? For the majority of people the answer to this will be yes. Only a few days ago I searched for the new Jaguar using safari on my iPhone, that evening when I opened the Facebook app I was met with an advert for the new Jaguar XF. This was a very strategically placed targeted advert, and you need to remember that the reason Facebook is free is because we the users are the product. It was reported in the states that Facebook makes approx $7 a year for each and every user by giving marketers access to a defined market based on search history and social patterns of users. Now I have no issue with this, my issue however is I was carrying out searches for the above Jaguar car on safari and not through the Facebook app and this is where it gets a little scary. If I did not use the Facebook app to carry out a search how did I get an advert targeting me for this item? Well my guess is that Facebook is actually monitoring my activity on my phone even though I have it pretty well shutdown. You will notice on all of these adverts that at the top right hand corner there is a little arrow when you click this you get a drop down menu. On this drop down menu you will see the option "why am I seeing this?" This is Facebook's way of telling you why you have been targeted with a specific advert when I clicked on this I got the below information.

As you can see it specifically notes that this information is based on information from your profile and here is the important part AND YOUR DEVICE! Now you can limit Facebook right down by enabling all of your privacy setting but there is no option to click that says "stop spying on my applications outside of Facebook". The issue is if I have limited all of my privacy setting to the highest level how is this information still been obtained? And what information is Facebook gathering from my device? We know that tracking cookies are more than lightly the reason that Facebook can obtain this information so there is one way to stop this, you could stop your device from receiving cookies. This however is not a great solution as you need cookies enabled in order to log into any site where you may have a user account otherwise your session won't run so you can see where the issue lies if you were to turn them off. This means that until someone comes up with an iron clad way to stop tracking cookies from monitoring your online activity it's up to you how much information you really want to share. 

                                     

  

  

5 golden rules for staying safe online

If you have been reading my posts you will notice that a number of points keep popping up. The reason for this is of course that these particular points are vital to keeping yourself safe online. For the few out there who want to do the minimum in order to stay safe I am laying out 5 golden rules to follow.

1) Keep your software updated

Updating software, whether it be on your phone, laptop, or television, is extremely important. When hackers discover new ways to steal your data, gadget and software companies usually work quickly to release fixes for those vulnerabilities. Once a fix is in place an update becomes available and you should download this update, I try to set as many applications as possible to do automatic updates or in the case of my phone I set it running at night time when its not been used.

2) STOP using the same password everywhere

You are living in an age of big hacks and data breaches if you use the same password everywhere once your details are stolen once all your accounts are compromised. And you can be guaranteed that there is a high possibility your details have already been stolen from somewhere.  

3) Don't fall for phishing scams

These scams are getting more and more frequent and the attacks been used are becoming more professional. I recently received an email claiming to be a free password security tester, the email asked me to enter my password to test how strong it is and of course I deleted it as its purpose was of course to steal my password. Be smart when you receive phone calls and emails that you are not expecting and never open an application you receive in an email with the file extension .exe.

4) Add recovery contact information to your accounts

This is important you should always have two different contact methods on your accounts. The reason for this is if you forget your password and lose your phone well then your snookered and you may be locked out of that account forever, leaving your information hanging in cyber space. The second reason for this is If your account is compromised, companies will probably try to let you know. But that’s only possible if they have some means of getting in touch with you on file.

5) Enable two factor authentication 

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your accounts by requiring another code in addition to your memorized password. That code can be sent to your smartphone via a text or generated by an app. With two-factor authentication, even if a hacker has your username and password, he or she won’t be able to access your account unless they also have your smartphone — not a likely scenario. I ask if you don't do any of the above at least do this one and give yourself some chance of staying protected.

Recovering "Deleted" snapchat messages

You have just arrived at this post and read the heading "recovering deleted snapchat messages" and now your thinking snapchat deletes my messages after 10 seconds doesn't it? Well the simple answer to that question is no. This isn't any kind of a new revelation the research has been around since 2013 it just doesn't seem to be well known so I have decided to do my part to try and highlight it. The main reason for writing this post is to try and get the message through to teenagers and young adults that the content you are sending may not be secure and could come back to bite you. There is also a massive legal issue with the sending of explicit images if both parties are seen as minors and you could land yourself in a whole lot of trouble with the law. It is important to presume that anything you send or do online can be traced and made public so the safest approach to take is think twice before sending anything out there that may prove harmful to yourself or others.

If you would like to read through the report on how to recover snapchat messages and I suggest that you do the link can be accessed here. After reading this report maybe you might consider sending a snap to your friends just to let them know you have a code red situation and you need to meet up. For anyone who is to lazy to click on the link I have copied in the body of the report below.
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Methodology

We used two android devices to examine artifacts left behind by Snapchat. An account (rhickman1989) was created on a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, and pictures and videos were sent to another account (DeciphForensics). The receiving account was logged into on a Samsung Galaxy S3, when some of the images and videos were viewed, while others were not. We then acquired the phone using AccessData’s Mobile Phone Examiner+ version 5.2.1.499. After the acquisition was complete, the image was exported as an .AD1 image file, and then imported to AccessData’s Forensic Toolkit version 4.0.2.33.

After a brief examination of the contents, a different account (decipforensics2) was created on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, and more pictures and videos were sent to the account on the Samsung Galaxy S3 (rhickman1989). This was to determine if there are identifiers for the sender account of a “snap.” The same acquisition process was followed again after the second batch of “snaps” were sent.

After another brief examination of the contents, pictures and videos were sent from the Samsung Galaxy S3 with the rhickman1989 account to both the DeciphForensics and DecipForensics2 accounts. The same acquisition process was followed again after sending these “snaps.”

All examination took place using AccessData’s Forensic Toolkit version 4.0.2.33.

Snapchat Structure

The majority of Snapchat data is stored within the data/data/com.snapchat.android folder. There are four folders within this directory, with two folders within the cache folder.

Examination of the Samsung Galaxy S3 revealed that within the shared_prefs folder are several XML files: CameraPreviewActivity.xml, com.google.android.gcm.xml, com.snapchat.android_preferences.xml, and SnapPreviewActivity.xml.

The com.snapchat.android_preferences.xml File

This file is where the majority of information stored by Snapchat is located. Within this file is a listing of all the contacts stored on the device. This is done with the permission allowed by the user for the application to read the contacts on the device.

Below the list of contacts is a listing of Snapchat messages. It appears that there is a set of fields stored for each message in Snapchat. The following are the fields stored in this section of the XML file: type, mSender, mWasViewed, mCaptionPosition, mCaptionOrientation, mIsLoading, mIsTimerRunning, mIsBeingViewed, MWasOpened, mWasScreenshotted, mDisplayTime, mId, mTimestamp, mStatus, mIcon, and mMediaType.

We sent only two pictures from the DecipForensics2 account, and one was viewed and expired. Within this XML file are two records that show the mSender field set to “decipforensics2.” Of those two records, one has the mWasOpened set to “true.” The author kept documentation as to which images were opened and allowed to expire and which are not, so it is known which image is tied to this record.

The mTimestamp field is stored in Epoch format. Upon conversion of this value, it showed the time that the image was either taken or viewed. Further research will need to be done to determine which it is, however, the time is within the timeframe of both being sent and viewed. Unfortunately, the author did this within a few minutes of each other and did not record the exact time sent.

The mId field for the picture shown to the left is “270518365528484358r.” The mTimestamp field in the same record is “1365528484358.” After converting the Epoch time format to readable format, the time stamp is for April 9, 2013 11:28:04 MDT. The similarities here will be address further in a later section of this paper

The received_image_snaps Folder

Within this folder were located every image sent to the DeciphForensics account on the Samsung Galaxy S3, including the images that had been viewed and were expired. There were some duplicate images with different names as well, the reason for this is unknown.

Android developers created a way for media files such as graphics to be stored on the phone for application use and function without being put into the Gallery application as an image to be viewed. The way that they did this was with .nomedia files. “If a directory has a file named .nomedia, then the media store will not scan and record the metadata of files in that directory” (Hoog, 2011).

Each of the images within the received_image_snaps folder had a .nomedia extension appended to the end of the file name. For example, the name of the file figure 3 is “h1a81hurcs00h1365528700423.jpg.nomedia”. This was likely done to prevent the images stored within this directory from being placed in the gallery or from being scanned by the media store. AccessData’s Forensic Toolkit recognized the .nomedia extension that was appended to the end of the file name and ignored it, displaying the images.

Correlations between the XML Records and the Image Names

There is a small correlation between records within the com.snapchat.android_preferences.xml file and the name of the image file stored in the received_image_snaps folder.

As shown above, there are three correlations between the name of the image, the mTimestamp value, and the mId value. While this is consistent with this image, it is not always consistent with all images. The section in blue is present in several of the other images, only with different numbers following to separate the image.

Conclusion

The author began this research in an attempt to answer several vital questions about the Snapchat application as it is stored and used on Android devices. The author has concluded that metadata is stored for Snapchat images, as shown by the com.snapchat.android_preferences.xml file, and that it contains metadata about expired “snaps” as well as unexpired “snaps,” and that images that are sent via Snapchat are indeed recoverable, and do not “disappear forever.”

Securing your iot devices

2016 has been named the year that the internet of things (iot) takes hold, with a reported 50 million plus devices sold worldwide to date with everything from smart fridges to smart plugs iot is here to stay. It must be noted however with all of this extra connectivity comes a juicy threat surface for cyber criminals to prey on. The main thing consumers need to remember that if you bough a devices that connects to the internet then you can be guaranteed that it needs to be secured. In this post I am going to outline a number of steps you can take to help protect yourself and your family from becoming victims of a cyber attack.

1) Keep your devices up to date

This goes for all devices that connect to the internet but I would especially recommend it for iot devices as new exploits are exposed manufactures may push down patches to solve the vulnerability and therefor you should regularly check to make sure your device is running the latest software.

2) Change the default password on your device

This is a very important step to take as the majority of iot devices are mass produced with a default login and not changing this on day one will leave yourself vulnerable to attack. May I suggest using a password that is at least 10 character long with special characters and capitals and numbers i.e don't use your last name and type 123 after it.

3) Be familiar with your devices privacy section

What kind of information are you saving or sharing through this device and what guarantees are put in place that this information is been protected. Don't assume just because the manufacturer says its a secure device to use that it is and make sure your information isn't been shared with third parties.

4) Be carefully buying a second hand device or selling your own device

Buying a second hand device on line may come pre-installed with malware or a backdoor only buy second hand devices from a reputable dealer. On the flip side think long and hard about selling your device, resetting a device may look like all your data has been cleared but with a little know how a lot of this information may be retrieved. There are a number of programs out there that ensure proper data erasure and this may be something you should look into first.

Steps to take after the Vtech Hack

In the last week the figures released from toymaker VTech surrounding the massive hack they have suffered is startling. The worst part about this hack is it shows that children are not immune to cyber crime. It is important to first realise the scale of this attack and just how many children have been affected worldwide. Below are statistics detailing how many individuals data has been leaked and in what countries along with if the data was that of an adult or a child. As you can see from the statistics below I have highlighted Ireland, the only reason for this is that I am Irish.

Country                         Parent Accounts                             Child Profiles

United States                  2,212,863                                             2,894,091

France                             868,650                                                1,173,497

United Kingdom             560,487                                                727,155

Germany                         390,985                                                508,806

Canada                            237,949                                                316,482

Others                             168,394                                                223,943

Spain                               115,155                                                138,847

Belgium                          102,119                                                133,179

Netherlands                    100,828                                                124,730

Republic of Ireland      40,244                                                  55,102

Latin America                28,105                                                  36,716

Australia                        18,151                                                   23,096

Denmark                        4,504                                                     5,547

Luxembourg                  4,190                                                     5,014

New Zealand                 1,585                                                     2,304

What I find the most frighting about all of this is that a particular VTech service known as Kid Connect was hacked and the information stolen. You may ask why is this frighting and I am going to explain why. Kid Connect is set-up to allow parents and their kids to communicate. That information includes kids head-shots and chat logs between parents and children. Most, if not all, of these cases, the logs, pictures, and recordings can be traced back to specific usernames, allowing anyone in possession of the hacked data to identify the people chatting as well as those in the pictures.

This may lead to a lot more unforeseen problems down the road but as it stands is just a very uncomfortable situation for parents to be in, and yet again starkly highlights the dangers for children in the digital age.

If you have been affected by this attack you might want to know what steps do you need to take now.

Luckily for you its coming up to Christmas so the VTech spin doctors are in full flight trying to somehow roll out reassuring and efficient damage control to save what's left of the companies reputation. In response to the attacks they have posted a very detailed breakdown of all of the events and the VTech response that can be found here. If you just want the main points I have pulled them out and you can find the below. 

What kind of information are stored in the database?

Parent account information including name, email address, secret question and answer for password retrieval, IP address, mailing address, download history and encrypted password.
Kids profiles include name, genders and birthdates.
Encrypted Learning Lodge’s contents including, Kid Connect’s profile photos, undelivered Kid Connect messages, bulletin board postings and Learning Lodge content (ebooks, apps, games etc).
Download sales report logs.
Progress logs to track kids games, for parents’ reference.
It does not contain any credit card information. VTech does not process nor store any customer credit card data on the Learning Lodge website. To complete the payment or check-out process of any downloads made on the Learning Lodge website, our customers are directed to a secure, third party payment gateway.
It does not contain any personal identification data (such as ID card numbers, Social Security numbers or driving license numbers).

Was any credit card information stolen?

No, our Learning Lodge website database does not contain any credit card information and VTech does not process or store any customer credit card data on the Learning Lodge website. To complete the payment or check-out process of any downloads made on the Learning Lodge website, our customers are directed to a secure, third party payment gateway.

Why do you need this customer information?

Learning Lodge allows our customers to download apps, learning games, e-books and other educational content to their VTech products. Customers need to set up an account for such transactions. The information is used to identify the customer and track their downloads. As customer safety and privacy are of utmost importance to us, we are making all necessary adjustments to our system security, which will include only storing such information as is required for our customers to download and enjoy our services. All other information will be deleted from our servers.

Is there anything I can do to better protect myself?

Whilst all personal customer passwords are encrypted, even encrypted data can be susceptible to skilled hackers, so we are advising you to immediately change your passwords on any other sites that may use the same email, secret question and answer, and password combination.

What is VTech doing to protect data stored on Kid Connect?

The Kid Connect service has been temporarily suspended. We are reviewing our security protocols and will delete all unsent messages before we restart the service.

How can I change my password or delete my Learning Lodge account and personal data stored on your servers?

As an precautionary measure, we have temporarily suspended Learning Lodge and Kid Connect service along with a number of other websites to conduct a thorough security assessment and whilst we implement additional security protocols. We will advise our customers of further action when the websites are ready to be reactivated.

When can we expect that Learning Lodge will be online again? Should I then register again?

We are working as fast as possible to resume our service. We will advise our customers of further action when the websites are ready to be reactivated.

Is it safe for my kids to play with the toys with Learning Lodge app? Could the hacker reach my kids through the devices, trace their activity or location?

Our investigation to date suggests the breach is on the server, not on the device itself. There is no evidence to suggest the toys are not safe at this time. We will continue to investigate and share more information as it becomes available.

Has there been any customer data found leaked on the internet?

We have no evidence that any of the data has been used or distributed criminally. Whilst all personal customer passwords are encrypted, even encrypted data can be susceptible to skilled hackers, so we are advising you to immediately change your passwords on any other sites that may use the same email, secret question and answer, and password combination.

Protecting your children online

For parents the risks of the internet to your child can be over looked. Coming up to Christmas you may be tempted to buy the next great gadget for your child however with the Vtech cyber attack this week as one example, how safe is the data your children are inputting into these devices? I would always advise parents if they are giving their children access to tablets and smart phones at a young age they should always consider a number of factors.

1) Don't put your child's personal data into any device when setting it up! Use your own details if you have to otherwise create throw away credentials to enter in any applications that don't require factual information.

2) Set boundaries! balance is key, create times of use around their devices avoid your children becoming addicted to their devices.

3) Educate your children to the dangers of the internet and the fact that everything they do online is there for life! Snapchat is a popular example to use and I suggest you give this article a quick read.

4) Put safe guards in place to monitor your child's online activity, this will give your child the device they want and you can have the piece of mind that they are not putting themselves at danger online.

5) Keep you kids off social media until they are an appropriate age, most sites don't allow children until they are 13 years of age but this can be easily overcome by entering a fake date of birth.

6) Make sure you need to enter a password to download apps and games don't leave your credit card information signed in on the device they use. This will allow you greater control over what applications they are using, it may also stop a nasty credit card bill from unseen app charges.

The internet is a great place but the dangers it poses are very real, take a few minutes to watch the video below before disregarding this post.

Below are some tools for monitoring or limiting the amount of time your child's device is in use.

For Window's users: 

When you create an account designated as a child’s account, you get the option to enable Family Safety settings. Family Safety allows you to monitor and /or time the usage from your child’s account, block certain applications or sites, and get weekly reports reviewing the activity on the account.

For Mac users:
Log on as Administrator on your child’s Mac, go to the Sharing preferences and choose Screen Sharing. Continue to “Allow Access For” and choose Administrators. When you are on your Mac, go to the Finder and choose Go: Network to see your child’s Mac. Click on Share Screen to see the activity.

For Smartphones:
Backing up your child's phone’s content to your own PC or Mac is a good way of keeping tabs on things. This will allow you to see which apps are being used on the phone, and you’ll be able to see what calls and text messages your child is making. Be sure to activate the basic security features, as well as any further limitations on usage you want, I have already done a blog on securing iPhone's.

There are also many products on the market that will allow you to use GPS tracking and more in-depth monitoring of all your kids devices. One free option that allows some of this functionality is Norton Family Online. The free version lets you monitor every site your kids visit, examine a list of everything they search for, and track their activity across social media via any Internet connection. You can tell Norton to always allow (whitelist) or block (blacklist) certain sites, customize the settings for each child, and set time limits so you can boot them offline when it’s time for bed. A premier version lets you monitor their instant messages, video consumption and mobile devices. This is just one product that I am aware of but their are many similar software type packages out there.

I hope that you have found this post of some help and if you need advice on anything just pop a comment below and I will do my best to give you a constructive answer,