security

Glimers of hope in OS security

On April 13, 2010, In security, virtualization, By eugenekogan

I hate band aids. No, not the kind you put on a scraped knee. I’m talking about the kind we’ve been layering on top of our broken software. Firewalls, intrusion detection systems, anti-virus, and perhaps the saddest of all, data loss prevention. They are all band aids we’ve invented because our underlying systems are fundamentally flawed, and will never be secure. And thus was born defense in depth.

There are times when you’ve made so many mistakes, and are in so deep, that it’s best to just start over. Of course, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. However, I still have hope that research into operating systems security can make a big impact in terms of improving end-point security, and reducing our reliance on expensive and ineffective products.

I recently came across a couple of promising projects. The first one, Qubes, is already available in a prototype form. This is an effort by Invisible Things Lab to design and implement a more secure OS. They liberally take advantage of virtual machine technology (and the latest hardware) to isolate one part of the system from all others. Even the networking subsystem runs in its own unprivileged “NetVM.” I think Qubes has a lot of potential, and I really hope it continues to mature.

The second development I read about is really just an idea at this point; it’s an academic research project, and is only now getting started. Using a hefty grant from the National Science Foundation, a professor at University of Illinois at Chicago is going to design and build a security-focused operating system called Ethos. Once again, the plan is to make use of Xen-based virtual machines to enforce isolation.

These attempts at improving the OS are still not hitting the root cause of most security issues (poorly designed software), but they are at least trying to mitigate the damage caused next time your browser’s Flash plug-in gets pwned. I think that’s a step in the right direction, at least until we’re ready to throw in the towel and start fresh with this whole “computing” thing.

Sandia to boot behemoth botnet

On August 12, 2009, In malware, security, By eugenekogan

I’m looking forward to finding out the results of this research!

[Sandia's] Thunderbird supercomputer will periodically run a million virtual machines all at once, all with botnet client software. By setting this large network of systems into operation, the researchers, Ron Minnich and Don Rudish, hope to better understand how botnets operate.

It’s a cool idea, and could probably keep me busy forever. The only issue I have with this project is that the time and money would be better spent on trying to improve the fundamental security issues of our computing model, rather than just learning about a symptom (in this case, botnets). Still, it sounds like fun, and will hopefully produce some actionable knowledge in a year or two.

via Sandia to boot behemoth botnet — Government Computer News.

The end of the world and Conficker.C

On March 28, 2009, In malware, security, By eugenekogan

There is way too much hype about Conficker.C and what it may or may not do on April 1. I’m not sure who is feeding the media, which is fueling the hype, but it’s very counterproductive. There are worse threats out there than this one botnet, and focusing all of our attention on Conficker is letting the others go unchecked.

Rather than rehash what’s already known about Conficker.C, I’ll just point readers to an excellent Q&A post from F-Secure. Question number one:

Q: I heard something really bad is going to happen on the Internet on April 1st! Will it?
A: No, not really.

If that’s not enough information for you, read the rest of their post, and stop freaking out.

Update: I just read an interesting post on this topic from Verizon Business Security (Risk, Group Think and the Conficker Worm), which I saw thanks to TaoSecurity.

We need more than a new Internet

On February 16, 2009, In networking, security, By eugenekogan

It’s nice to see the New York Times write on the topic of Internet security, and actually focusing on a more radical solution than normal. The article basically says, Internet security is so broken that we need to start over with a “new Internet.” Sounds like fun, but that seriously misses the point.

If we are going to go down the path of starting over, why not go right to the root of the problem, and fix our hardware? Now that we know what kinds of vulnerabilities exist in our existing designs (based on the von Neumann architecture), we could create a new hardware platform that has security and privacy protections built in. This would naturally lead to a new kind of software, which could take advantage of the new hardware features and architectural decisions, to keep itself secure. Since the Internet is just a collection of networking hardware and software, it would obviously also benefit.

In fact, by rethinking the very basic underpinnings of computer design, we can propagate the results throughout the entire CPU-based world, not just the Internet. Trying to fix only one part of the problem, such as by creating “a ‘gated community’ where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety” would be a disaster. Not only would it quickly be broken and misused, like every other attempt to do something similar, but it would eliminate one of the best features of the Internet that caused it to thrive in the first place.

Sadly, I doubt we will ever be able to “start over” on something like this (IPv6, anyone?). I mean, there are so many aspects of life that could use the benefit of hindsight and a redesign, like politics, tax law, health care… but they are too entrenched in society to be replaced by better systems. That makes for good job security for those of us in the computer security field, as long as we can put up with the feeling of continuous frustration, knowing that a true alternative is possible, but we are essentially powerless to pursue it.

Security news items

On January 19, 2009, In news, security, By eugenekogan

Some interesting items in today’s security news:

Obama plans to keep his BlackBerry
There will be plenty of security and legal hurdles. Here’s one already: “The security question was inadvertently highlighted on Friday as Obama’s BlackBerry tumbled from his belt as he exited his limousine and got onto his plane…”

Widest night/day megapixel lens without distortion for the security industry
This is cool for those into physical security or surveillance: “Theia leveraged their patented Linear Optical Technology platform with all-optical barrel distortion correction to provide a nominal 110 degree horizontal field of view…” The article has a picture showing the difference from a regular wide angle lens.

Frankly Speaking: What would really make software more secure
Not a bad idea, although I’m not sure how I feel about yet another expensive software certification process: “…SANS says some state governments are already thinking about requiring software suppliers to certify in writing that their code is free of the errors on the list.” Hasn’t the federal government already tried similar approaches?

Philosophically Secure

Eugene Kogan's blog on information security and software engineering

Glimers of hope in OS security

Sandia to boot behemoth botnet

The end of the world and Conficker.C

We need more than a new Internet

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