Researcher to Demonstrate Vista Attacks

[freebird]

Matthew Broersma Mon Apr 30, 3:00 PM ET

Joanna Rutkowska, a security researcher known for picking apart the security mechanisms built into Windows, is to demonstrate new ways for hackers to invade Windows Vista, including rootkit techniques and ways to defeat BitLocker drive encryption.
Rutkowska recently announced she will be running a training session called "Understanding Stealth Malware" during the Black Hat Briefings and Training event in Las Vegas, which runs from 28 July to 2 August.
The training session, which will be co-presented by researcher Alex Tereshkin, promises to demonstrate new rootkits developed for Vista, ways of defeating hardware-based forensics systems and other techniques Microsoft would probably prefer the world didn't know.
Rutkowska said she, too, is aware of the need for discretion. "For ethical reasons we want to limit the availability of this course to only 'legitimate' companies," she said in a post on her blog, Invisible Things.
Rutkowska isn't against Windows as such, but has a track record of ferreting out its weaknesses. She recently uncovered a number of flaws in Vista's much-hyped User Account Control (UAC) feature, which led Microsoft to declare that the feature wasn't really intended for security after all.
Until recently she was a researcher for Coseinc, but is now in the process of founding a security start-up based in Poland, she said.
Earlier this spring she demonstrated several methods that sophisticated rootkits can use to hide from even the most reliable detection method currently available-- hardware-based products that read a system's RAM.
The demonstration in July will cover such methods, but will be more comprehensive, including unpublished techniques, implementation details, new code and sample rootkits.
The target will be Windows and specifically 64-bit Vista, including new kernel attacks against the latest 64-bit Vista builds.
"These attacks, of course, work on the fly and do not require system reboot and are not afraid of the TPM/BitLocker protection," she wrote.
TPM (Trusted Platform Module) refers to security systems with a hardware component built into the processor, designed to improve security and specifically to make copy-protection systems more difficult to circumvent. Rutkowska said the demonstrated techniques would work against copy-protection systems, but that this side of things wouldn't be specifically discussed at the demonstration.
The training is aimed at security and OS developers, forensic investigators and penetration testers, Rutkowska said.
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source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2007...pcworld/131363

[gxsaurav]

Good, can't wait to see this one & getting the bugs fixed. It feels so awkward by not installing any security update in 6 months

[freebird]

Study: Users pay for Microsoft patent woes

Patent tax' of $21.50 each
Each copy of Windows cost users an additional $21.50 "patent tax" to cover Microsoft litigation bills, the Software Freedom Law Center claims.
The SFLC, which provides legal representation and services to promote free and open source software, said customers are the ones splitting the bill for Microsoft's ceaseless patent-related lawsuits and settlements.

The organization's directors include industry notables such as Eben Moglen and Lawrence Lessig.
Their math to reach this conclusion is rather straightforward: SFLC estimates Microsoft has publicly paid more than $4bn over the last four years to plaintiffs such as Sun, Novell, InterTrust, Alcatel-Lucent, and z4 Technologies who claim Windows and Office products infringe on their patents. Additionally, using a quote from Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith, the organization estimates Microsoft paid about $300m in legal fees over that time.
Using a figure of 200 million new Windows installations every three years, they reach the conclusion:
4.3 / 0.2 = 21.5
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read full:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04...ms_patent_tax/

[gxsaurav]

hmm $21 isn't that much. Considering that you are getting so many features, the most widely supported OS by 3rd party software & hardware. MS has done so many innovations & made standerds like AVI or VC-1, they do deserve money to make computing this easier for us.

But then again, not $400 (Vista ultimate), something like $150 would have been better. Paying for patents is not bad, whats bad is how much u pay.

People don't know but they are also paying for patents when they buy a fridge or a car or a cooler.

[eddie]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Good, can't wait to see this one & getting the bugs fixed. It feels so awkward by not installing any security update in 6 months

You don't use cursors on your Windows Vista?
http://secunia.com/advisories/24659/

[gxsaurav]

I do use cursors in Windows. But with that I also use common sence while clicking in links in EMails

[eddie]

So you trust your common sense and don't install updates? Nice!!! That is common sense at the highest peak!

[gxsaurav]

Umm...you can say that. Haven't seen a virus/malware in 4 years here so yeah, I got a very nice common sence of not clicking on a mail which says "Nude pics of priyanka chopra"

[iMav]

Originally Posted by eddie

So you trust your common sense and don't install updates? Nice!!! That is common sense at the highest peak!

just goes to show why we say that 'know how to use ur windows'

[eddie]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Umm...you can say that. Haven't seen a virus/malware in 4 years here so yeah, I got a very nice common sence of not clicking on a mail which says "Nude pics of priyanka chopra"

...and in these 4 years you've done what you are doing with Vista? Didn't install any updates? Wow!!!

[gxsaurav]

I installed updates, yeah. But no antivirus software so far. Just ad muncher & Zone alarm on XP & on Vista just ad muncher & once in a blue moon spybot along with installing monthly updates. Thats it.

Ad muncher is much like adblock for firefox. Which isn't an adware remover but ad removar from webpages.

[i_am_crack]

Sorry GX Saurav.....but just to ask you....So you paid for Ad Muncher right??? Tell me truth.....

[gxsaurav]

Ad muncher beta is free for home use.

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

Originally Posted by eddie

...and in these 4 years you've done what you are doing with Vista? Didn't install any updates? Wow!!!

well me too haven't installed ny updates since SP2 n i haven't got a single virus on my pc(check on a quarterly basis with nod32) , just use some real common sense n u'll be fine .

first don't install nything from untrusted sites , just intall from popular n trusty sites like Softpedia , download.com , sourceforge , etc , n u'll be fine .