Internet-connected Sonos Speakers Leak User Information

By exploiting the issue, an attacker could learn a user’s musical preferences, get hold of their email address, and could even learn where the user lives and whether they are at home. Additionally, an attacker could play a recorded message on the device and trick the target into downloading malware.

While analyzing the device, Trend Micro’s researchers discovered the device had only three ports open and that Sonos applications on it were pointed to a specific website, while most of the communications were performed over port TCP/1400.

Looking at the specific URI path of /status on the device, the researchers also noticed that many of its subpages were shown via a simple website. Thus, no authentication was required to access information about the tracks being played or the music libraries the device knows about.

Furthermore, the website revealed personal information such as emails associated with audio streaming services and exposed various debug functions, including “the ability to traceroute, ping, and even make an mDNS announcement via a simple website,” the researchers say. The status page can reveal other information as well.

“Let’s say an attacker knows the target uses a Sonos device. The attacker can then take the information collected here to tailor better attacks against the target. This could include mobile devices, printers, and even types of computers on the networks,” Trend Micro notes in a technical analysis (PDF).

The security researchers also discovered a series of plausible attack scenarios that could be used not only against home users, but also to target enterprise networks.

By learning the user’s musical preferences, an attacker could craft phishing emails and deliver them to the target. In a workplace environment, such an attack could be used to discover other IoT devices connected to the same network and find vulnerabilities on them to further compromise the network.

Using a website that compounds multiple sources of Wi-Fi geolocation an attacker could also find where the user lives (the researchers determined the device location by looking at the wireless access points (WAPs) the device tried to access during installation) and whether they are at home by monitoring when the speaker is activated and deactivated.

“This hybrid attack involving cyber and physical elements presents new dangers that home and enterprise users should be aware of. Devices leaking presence data not only make users easier to predict — they can also put the user at physical risk,” the researchers say.

Leveraging information discovered on the aforementioned status page, including model numbers and serial numbers, an attacker could disrupt the device and even play a crafted status message containing misleading information.

The attacker could also send tailored emails to the user (to the addresses tied to accounts on music streaming applications) and trick them into downloading malware masquerading as a software update. Using other discoverable information on the target, the attacker could add personalized information to the message to make it even more convincing.

With the help of search service Shodan, the security researchers were able to find roughly 5,000 Sonos devices exposed to the Internet. The manufacturer was informed on the findings and has already released and updated to address the discovered bugs, but some of the issues continue to impact users, Trend Micro says.

“The problem of unsecured internet-connected devices is not limited to home users but also extends to workplace environments when seemingly safe IoT devices are introduced into the company network, as was shown in the attack scenarios. Whether these devices are installed to improve productivity or are simply brought to work by employees, the risk of having an exposed and unsecured device should not be taken lightly,” Trend Micro concludes.

Many GPS Tracking Services Expose User Location, Other Data

Fitness, child, pet and vehicle trackers, and other devices that include GPS and GSM tracking capabilities are typically managed via specialized online services. Security experts Vangelis Stykas and Michael Gruhn found that over 100 such services have flaws that can be exploited by malicious actors to gain access to device and personal data. The security holes, dubbed Trackmageddon, can expose information such as current location, location history, device model and type, serial number, and phone number.

Some services used by devices that have photo and audio recording capabilities also expose images and audio files. In some cases, it’s also possible to send commands to devices in order to activate or deactivate certain features, such as geofence alerts.

Attackers can gain access to information by exploiting default credentials (e.g. 123456), and insecure direct object reference (IDOR) flaws, which allow an authenticated user to access other users’ accounts simply by changing the value of a parameter in the URL. The services also expose information through directory listings, log files, source code, WSDL files, and publicly exposed API endpoints that allow unauthenticated access.

Stykas and Gruhn have notified a vast majority of the affected vendors in November and December. Nine services have confirmed patching the flaws or promised to implement fixes soon, and over a dozen websites appear to have addressed the vulnerabilities without informing the researchers. However, the rest of the tracking services remain vulnerable.

There are roughly 100 impacted domains, but some of them appear to be operated by the same company. Researchers have identified 36 unique IPs hosting these domains and 41 databases that they share. They estimate that these services expose data associated with over 6.3 million devices and more than 360 device models.

The vulnerable software appears to come from China-based ThinkRace, but in many cases the company does not have control over the servers hosting the tracking services.

Gruhn and Stykas pointed out that vulnerabilities in ThinkRace products – possibly including some of the issues disclosed now – were first discovered in 2015 by a New Zealand-based expert while analyzing car tracking and immobilisation devices that relied on ThinkRace software.

Users of the online tracking services that remain vulnerable have been advised to change their password and remove any potentially sensitive information stored in their account. However, these are only partial solutions to the problem and researchers have advised people to simply stop using affected devices until patches are rolled out.

Forever 21 Confirms Payment Card Breach

On November 2017, the US clothes retailer FOREVER 21 announced it has suffered a security breach, the company now confirmed that hackers stole payment card data from its locations throughout the country for several months during 2017. Even if the investigation is still ongoing, FOREVER 21 confirmed the presence of a malware at some point of sale (POS) systems in stores across the US, the malicious code was used at least between April 3, 2017, and November 18, 2017.

The payment made on the company website, forever21.com, were not affected by the incident.

The company explained that it has been using encryption technology since 2015 to protect its payment processes, but the investigation revealed that the encryption was switched off for some POS terminals at certain stores, a circumstance that allowed crooks to install the malware.

“The investigation determined that the encryption technology on some point-of-sale (POS) devices at some stores was not always on. The investigation also found signs of unauthorized network access and installation of malware on some POS devices designed to search for payment card data. The malware searched only for track data read from a payment card as it was being routed through the POS device. In most instances, the malware only found track data that did not have cardholder name – only card number, expiration date, and internal verification code – but occasionally the cardholder name was found.” reads the advisory published by the company.

“The investigation found that encryption was off and malware was installed on some devices in some U.S. stores at varying times during the period from April 3, 2017 to November 18, 2017. In some stores, this scenario occurred for only a few days or several weeks, and in some stores this scenario occurred for most or all of the timeframe.”

The company pointed out that not every POS terminal in affected stores was infected with the malware

“Each Forever 21 store has multiple POS devices, and in most instances, only one or a few of the POS devices were involved. Additionally, Forever 21 stores have a device that keeps a log of completed payment card transaction authorizations,” the company said while explaining the incident.

“When encryption was off, payment card data was being stored in this log. In a group of stores that were involved in this incident, malware was installed on the log devices that was capable of finding payment card data from the logs, so if encryption was off on a POS device prior to April 3, 2017, and that data was still present in the log file at one of these stores, the malware could have found that data.”

The company advised customers who shopped at its locations to monitor their credit transactions for any suspicious activity.

9 Steps to Being Completely Anonymous Online

Even many of the tools explicitly designed to protect your privacy don’t work quite as well as advertised. Our personal information is eroded through a combination of user information-driven commerce (nearly every company sells your personal data), weak governmental protections, leaky products, hacked records and a society that, in general, feels meh toward privacy in the first place. If you're concerned with the privacy of your business, contact our security experts. The end result is that it isn’t all that difficult for anyone to buy or see your personal information. You don’t have to be a government official with a legal warrant to peer into someone’s life. But just because your privacy isn’t protected by default doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to improve it. Here's how to take back a bit of your private life:

1. Find a safe country that values privacy

It’s good to be in a country that attempts to protect citizens from rampant government spying, at least without legal warrants and judicial oversight. It’s even better to be in a country that at least talks tough about protecting users' individual privacy and places limits on its commercial use.

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is pushing the privacy bar a bit. It impacts any company in the EU or doing business with any citizen in the EU. That’s a lot of coverage. Expect more businesses and countries not in the EU to be moving toward more GDPR-like laws, although you will always have your laggards.

Of course, most of us don’t have the option of simply moving to another, more privacy-embracing country. If that's your situation and if you care about your privacy, be an agent of change. I recommend contributing to any organization that fights for your privacy. Certainly, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are top organizations with lots of information and a track record of continued hard work and success.

2. Get an anonymizing operating system

Next, you'll need an anonymizing operating system that runs on a resettable virtual machine (VM) running on secure portable media. The portable media device should use hardware-based encryption or a secure software-based encryption program. One of the top products on that list is Ironkey Workspace. It offers good encryption, locks out users who enter too many bad passwords and comes with Microsoft's portable OS, Windows to Go, on several USB key models.

Many privacy advocates prefer a Linux Live distro, such as Tails or ZeusGuard. Live OSes are designed to be booted from removable media for each session, and Tails is one of the best, built for and focused on privacy and security. The U.S. National Security Agency has stated in an internal, leaked presentation that Tails and Live OSes like it are a threat to its eavesdropping mission.

3. Use an anonymous VPN

Next, you'll need to connect to the internet using an anonymous method. The best approach would probably be to jump around different open wireless networks, public or otherwise, as much as possible, rarely repeating at the same connection point. Barring that method, you would probably want to use a virtual private network (VPN) or device built for such purposes. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of VPNs that are specifically built to make your internet connection more difficult to identify and track. They do this by replacing your computer’s originating IP address and metadata information with something else. Instead they substitute one of their IP addresses for yours and block your metadata information from traveling to the eventual endpoint. On top of that, many privacy-protecting VPNs also promise not to log your connection, so even if they get a legal search warrant from law enforcement, they will have less data that can assist in identifying you.

You can also consider using a device explicitly designed to protect your privacy, like Anonabox and ProxyGambit. Devices like Anonabox can utilize Tor (covered below) or anonymizing VPN services, which are always on to protect your connection. Devices like ProxyGambit go even a little further. I'll let ProxyGambit describe itself:

ProxyGambit is a simple anonymization device that allows you to access the internet from anywhere in the world without revealing your true location or IP, fracturing your traffic from the internet/IP through either a long distance radio link or a reverse tunneled GSM bridge that ultimately drops back onto the internet and exits through a wireless network you're nowhere near. While a point to point link is possible, the reverse GSM bridge allows you to proxy from thousands of miles away with nothing other than a computer and internet with no direct link back to your originating machine.

If you are truly concerned about your privacy, then consider using a VPN or anonymizing device to protect your internet surfing.

4. Use Tor

Whatever Live OS and internet connection method you use, make sure to go with an anonymizing browser, such as a Tor-enabled browser. Tor is actually an entire system — tools, browsers, APIs and network — dedicated to helping you and your connection remain anonymous.

Once you enter a Tor network path, the traffic to and from your destination will be routed through a random set of "Tor nodes." Although Tor's anonymity can be defeated, it remains one of the best ways to stay anonymous when combined with these other recommendations. You can even buy hardware-based Tor solutions like Anonabox.

5. Don't use plug-ins

It's very important to remember that many of today's browser plug-ins, particularly the most popular ones, leave clues that reveal your identity and location. Don't use them if you want to preserve your anonymity.

6. Stick with HTTPS

When you connect somewhere on the internet, try to use HTTPS. This used to be harder to do, but now the most popular websites use HTTPS by default, and those that don’t can be defeated by using one of the anonymizing VPN services or devices used above. When working with HTTPS, use only handpicked, trusted certificate authorities that don't issue "fake" identity certificates.

7. Avoid the usual applications

Don't install or use normal productivity software, like word processors or spreadsheets. If it’s super popular, they probably don’t care about your privacy. Many "dial home" each time they're started and reveal information. If it’s free and isn’t explicitly designed to protect your privacy, don’t expect any. As computer security guru Bruce Schneier says in his seminal book, Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World, “If something is free, you’re not the customer; you’re the product.”

8. Set up anonymous burner accounts

You'll need a different password and password question answers for each website where you create a logon account. (Note: these steps are not only for privacy nuts and should already be practiced by everyone.)  The very paranoid will also want to create different email addresses for each website. These "burner" email accounts are expendable and are much harder to trace back to the real you. Use email services that explicitly advertise as being anonymous. You’ll find free and commercial versions. Always connect to them using other anonymity apps and connections, and switch among burner accounts, even when speaking to the same people.

9. Never use credit cards

If you plan to buy anything on the internet, you can't use a normal credit card and stay anonymous. You can try to use online money transfer services such as PayPal, but most have records that can be stolen or subpoenaed. Better, use an e-currency such as bitcoin or one of its competitors. E-currencies are starting to gain widespread validity and are accepted in more and more places every day.  You'll need a bank or service to convert your real money into one of these alternative forms (and to get it back out), but once you're using the currency, buying anonymity is easier to maintain.

The hard work of privacy

Each of these anonymizing methods can be defeated, but the more of them you add to your privacy solution, the harder it will be for another person or group to identify you. Of course, everything you do to protect your privacy causes inconvenience in your online life. Serious privacy advocates don't mind going to this trouble, but most of us aren't willing to do what it takes to accomplish even a modicum of privacy, such as configuring settings in our OS or on social media sites. Most people simply accept the defaults — which rarely protect privacy.

The people who hack and monitor us for a living hope the majority of us will take the easy way out and do little or nothing to prevent our online identities from being discovered, hacked, and revealed. You can be part of the solution.

How Secure are Your Communication Applications?

Personally identifiable information (PII) within corporations is worth millions. This data is even more valuable to malicious actors. I’ve noticed that a majority of corporations rely on consumer apps for communication, cloud storage, and collaboration. Have you ever considered the messaging apps that people in corporations use? According to some statistics in 2017, the biggest instant messaging apps in the world are WhatsApp and Facebook with 1 billion users, QQ Mobile and WeChat with 800 million users, and Skype with 300 million users. Hangouts, Viber, Line, and BBM follow. Lots of users are on multiple platforms as well. In fact, 7 in 10 Snapchat users definitely use another mainstream chat app.

Mainstream applications have been compromised more than once—some through affiliation with government surveillance programs and others through the inspection of privacy watchdogs.

One investigation was conducted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in collaboration with Julia Angwin of ProPublica and Joseph Bonneau of the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy. They dubbed it a “Campaign for Secure and Usable Crypto”, a project which started in late 2014 and has continued every year. The EFF, Angwin, and Bonneau are studying mainstream instant messaging apps and publish their results in an easy to understand scorecard table.

The applications have been analyzed according to the same seven criteria. They are as follows:

1. Is the message encrypted in transit?
2. Does the developers hold the encryption keys?
3. Can a user verify identities?
4. If your key is stolen, is your chat messages still secure?
5. Can people research and view the source code?
6. How well is the encryption method documented?
7. Has the application gone through a security audit?

What can we take away from all of this research? Obviously, we can see that many of these mainstream messaging apps are unsecure. Additionally, we can see how the study hasn’t made these apps much more secure. This proves that such apps aren’t fit for handling corporate communications, which is often very sensitive.

Corporations need a robust communication platform for chat, emails, calls, collaboration and file storage that’s encrypted with strong AES-256 with ChaCha20 at minimum and RSA 4096-bit key cryptography. This ensures that messages are sent through secure channels, free from malicious third parties.