Showing only posts by Bruce Schneier. Show all posts.

NIST Recommends Some Common-Sense Password Rules

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NIST’s second draft of its “ SP 800-63-4 “—its digital identify guidelines—finally contains some really good rules about passwords: The following requirements apply to passwords: lVerifiers and CSPs SHALL require passwords to be a minimum of eight characters in length and SHOULD require passwords to be a minimum …

New Windows Malware Locks Computer in Kiosk Mode

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Clever : A malware campaign uses the unusual method of locking users in their browser’s kiosk mode to annoy them into entering their Google credentials, which are then stolen by information-stealing malware. Specifically, the malware “locks” the user’s browser on Google’s login page with no obvious way …

Israel’s Pager Attacks and Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

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Israel’s brazen attacks on Hezbollah last week, in which hundreds of pagers and two-way radios exploded and killed at least 37 people, graphically illustrated a threat that cybersecurity experts have been warning about for years: Our international supply chains for computerized equipment leave us vulnerable. And we have …

Hacking the “Bike Angels” System for Moving Bikeshares

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I always like a good hack. And this story delivers. Basically, the New York City bikeshare program has a system to reward people who move bicycles from full stations to empty ones. By deliberately moving bikes to create artificial problems, and exploiting exactly how the system calculates rewards, some …

Python Developers Targeted with Malware During Fake Job Interviews

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Interesting social engineering attack: luring potential job applicants with fake recruiting pitches, trying to convince them to download malware. From a news article These particular attacks from North Korean state-funded hacking team Lazarus Group are new, but the overall malware campaign against the Python development community has been running …

Microsoft Is Adding New Cryptography Algorithms

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Microsoft is updating SymCrypt, its core cryptographic library, with new quantum-secure algorithms. Microsoft’s details are here. From a news article : The first new algorithm Microsoft added to SymCrypt is called ML-KEM. Previously known as CRYSTALS-Kyber, ML-KEM is one of three post-quantum standards formalized last month by the National …

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Reward Modeling of Generative AI Systems

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New research evaluating the effectiveness of reward modeling during Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF): “ SEAL: Systematic Error Analysis for Value ALignment.” The paper introduces quantitative metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of modeling and aligning human values: Abstract : Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) aims to align language models …

Australia Threatens to Force Companies to Break Encryption

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In 2018, Australia passed the Assistance and Access Act, which—among other things—gave the government the power to force companies to break their own encryption. The Assistance and Access Act includes key components that outline investigatory powers between government and industry. These components include: Technical Assistance Requests (TARs …

YubiKey Side-Channel Attack

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There is a side-channel attack against YubiKey access tokens that allows someone to clone a device. It’s a complicated attack, requiring the victim’s username and password, and physical access to their YubiKey—as well as some technical expertise and equipment. Still, nice piece of security analysis. [...]

Security Researcher Sued for Disproving Government Statements

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This story seems straightforward. A city is the victim of a ransomware attack. They repeatedly lie to the media about the severity of the breach. A security researcher repeatedly proves their statements to be lies. The city gets mad and sues the researcher. Let’s hope the judge throws …

SQL Injection Attack on Airport Security

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Interesting vulnerability :...a special lane at airport security called Known Crewmember (KCM). KCM is a TSA program that allows pilots and flight attendants to bypass security screening, even when flying on domestic personal trips. The KCM process is fairly simple: the employee uses the dedicated lane and presents their …

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