Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 21

Thread: Cloud computing - episodes ...

  1. #11
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Thumbs down Amazon cloud used by hacks ...

    FYI...

    Amazon cloud used by hacks...
    - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...om-server.html
    2011-05-13 - "Amazon’s Web Services cloud-computing unit was used by hackers in last month’s attack against Sony's online entertainment systems, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Hackers using an alias signed up to rent a server through Amazon’s EC2 service and launched the attack from there, said the person, who requested anonymity because the information is confidential. The account has been shut down, the person said. The development sheds light on how hackers used the so- called cloud to carry out the second-biggest online theft of personal information to date... The hackers didn’t break into the Amazon servers, the person said. Rather, they signed up for the service just as a legitimate company would, using fake information... The Federal Bureau of Investigation will likely subpoena Amazon as part of its investigation process..."

    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  2. #12
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Exclamation Eucalyptus cloud - critical vuln...

    FYI...

    Eucalyptus cloud - critical vuln...
    - http://www.h-online.com/security/new...s-1252593.html
    30 May 2011 - "... critical vulnerability in Eucalyptus, an open source implementation of the Amazon EC2 cloud APIs. An attacker can, with access to the network traffic, intercept Eucalyptus SOAP commands and either modify them or issue their own arbitrary commands. To achieve this, the attacker needs only to copy the signature from one of the XML packets sent by Eucalyptus to the user. As Eucalyptus did not properly validate SOAP requests, the attacker could use the copy in their own commands sent to the SOAP interface and have them executed as the authenticated user. All versions up to and including 2.0.2 are vulnerable; a fixed version, 2.0.3*, is available to download. Ubuntu's Eucalyptus-based Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) is also vulnerable; updates for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, 10.10 and 11.04 are already available in Canonical's repositories. Eucalyptus does note** that the changes made to close the holes may lead to some existing tools failing to work as the system will interpret them as a replay attack if they issue commands too rapidly."
    * http://open.eucalyptus.com/downloads

    ** http://open.eucalyptus.com/news/2011...eucalyptus-203

    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  3. #13
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Thumbs down Attackers use Amazon Cloud to host malware

    FYI...

    Attackers use Amazon Cloud to host malware
    - http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/at...malware-060611
    June 6, 2011 - "Attackers are beginning to host their malicious domains and drive-by download sites, and most recently researchers have discovered a number of domains on Amazon's cloud platform that are being used to install malware as part of a spam and phishing campaign designed to steal banking credentials and other sensitive data... attack sites are installing a variety of malicious files on victims' machines, including a component that acts as a rootkit and attempts to disable installed anti-malware applications. Other components that are downloaded during the attack include one that tries to steal login information from a list of nine banks in Brazil and two other international banks, another that steals digital certificates from eTokens stored on the machine and one that collects unique data about the PC itself, which is used by some banks as part of an authentication routine. Researchers say that the attacks likely originated in Brazil and are targeting users in Brazil, specifically. The domains that are being used in this attack have now been removed by Amazon, according to Kaspersky Lab researcher Dmitry Bestuzhev, who discovered the malicious domains*... The advent of commodity cloud computing platforms gives attackers one more venue in which to host their attack domains, but the attacks themselves are quite similar to what users have been seeing for years."
    * http://www.securelist.com/en/blog/20...Services_Cloud
    ___

    - http://www.information-management.co...Printable=true
    June 6, 2011

    - https://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...ge_Gets_the_Ax
    June 6, 2011

    Last edited by AplusWebMaster; 2011-06-08 at 23:44.
    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  4. #14
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Thumbs down Amazon cloud users reveal confidential data

    FYI...

    Amazon cloud users reveal confidential data...
    - http://www.h-online.com/security/new...a-1263704.html
    20 June 2011 - "Sharing Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) to run on Amazon's Web Services (AWS) can open the door to attackers when users do not follow appropriate safety advice. The AMIs may contain private cryptographic keys, certificates and passwords, as researchers at the Darmstadt Research Center's CASED (Center for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt) found. In a report** [German language], they say that they examined 1100 public AMIs for cloud services and found that 30 per cent were vulnerable to manipulation that could allow attackers to partially or completely take over virtual web service infrastructure or other resources... Amazon Web Services have also been informed which customers are affected."
    * http://aws.amazon.com/amis
    ** http://www.sit.fraunhofer.de/presse/...ud-nutzung.jsp

    - http://www.h-online.com/security/fea...m-1255576.html
    20 June 2011 - "... As many people use the same password in multiple places, criminals can use the passwords to obtain unauthorised access to further services... Cloud, CUDA and multi-core computer technologies are both a blessing and a curse: they can greatly accelerate the processing of data and make even complex simulations available to end users. Unfortunately, crackers use the same high-speed computing power to reconstruct plain-text data from an encrypted password, and then they use the password to log into a system as administrators. In this context, password crackers can take advantage of the fact that the harvested hashes were probably created using the MD5 algorithm, which is optimised for fast processing..."

    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  5. #15
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Post 'We can hand over... data without your permission' ...

    FYI...

    'We can hand over Office 365 data without your permission'...
    - http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneratio...rmission/11041
    June 23, 2011 - "... Hidden within a whitepaper*, detailing the security features in the upcoming Office 365 suite, it reveals links to the Trust Center; a treasure trove of data protection policies and legalities of how Microsoft will handle your data in its cloud datacenters. Next week, Microsoft will announce the launch of Office 365 in both New York and London... In light of the Patriot Act furore, customers of cloud services are naturally becoming more aware of the limitations to cloud security and privacy; with legalities and powerful acts of law taking precedent. In short, Microsoft states:
    “In a limited number of circumstances, Microsoft may need to disclose data without your prior consent, including as needed to satisfy legal requirements, or to protect the rights or property of Microsoft or others (including the enforcement of agreements or policies governing the use of the service).”
    This covers all users and data of Microsoft Online Services, including the current offering of BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), currently in migration to Office 365. Current Live@edu users are also affected by this — mostly schools and colleges — which are also upgrading to Office 365... a personal and heartfelt congratulations to Microsoft — in full sincerity — for being as open, honest and transparent in their documentation..."
    (More detail at the URL above.)
    * http://www.microsoft.com/download/en....aspx?id=26552
    Security in Office 365 Whitepaper.docx 5.0 MB

    Data Use Limits
    - http://www.microsoft.com/online/legal/v2/?docid=23
    "... FAQ: ... Question: Can Microsoft Online Services use or disclose my data without my permission? In a limited number of circumstances, Microsoft may need to disclose data without your prior consent..."

    Last edited by AplusWebMaster; 2011-06-24 at 04:58.
    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  6. #16
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Post When consumers go to the Cloud ...

    FYI...

    When consumers go to the Cloud...
    - http://www.darkreading.com/taxonomy/...e/id/231000837
    June 30, 2011 - "For four hours last week, a flawed authentication update allowed anyone the ability to access the data of any user of the cloud storage service Dropbox. The error could have caused a massive privacy breach. As it turned out, the company was notified and fixed the error before widespread knowledge allowed the vulnerability to be exploited by malicious actors. "According to our records, there were fewer than a hundred affected users, and neither account settings nor files were modified in any of these accounts," the company wrote in a blog post last Friday*... Dropbox encrypts data on the servers, but not to individual accounts, notes Sorin Mustaca, a product manager with security firm Avira. Anyone with admin access to the server can read all of its data. In addition, data on the servers of external services have lesser legal protections, Mustaca says. "I always advise our users to be very, very careful what they put online because if they put anything online, then the data does not belong to them anymore - it belongs to the cloud," Mustaca says. "This is the most important lesson that needs to be learned by anybody. If you put it online, you lose control of the data"... Dropbox is not the only consumer cloud service that has been the focus of security concerns. Evernote, Apple's MobileMe, iCloud, and cloud offerings from Google and Amazon all have generated security concerns in recent months. Barring employees from using cloud services usually does not work, Chaudhry says. Companies attempted to bar the use of social networks, but employees found ways of using the services anyway..."
    * http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=821

    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  7. #17
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Post Lawyers in the Cloud ...

    FYI...

    Lawyers in the Cloud ...
    - http://blogs.csoonline.com/1616/lawy...and_their_data
    2011-07-27 - "Even state bar associations, the entities that regulate lawyers, are struggling with the cloud. Specifically, the “big” question is “if a lawyer stores attorney-client privileged information in the cloud, will that result in a waiver of that privilege.” Remarkably, only a very few bar associations have directly addressed this issue. Arizona, New Jersey, and New York bar associations have all issued guidances for lawyers regarding cloud storage of sensitive attorney-client information. In general, they find the practice is permissible if reasonable care is used to vet and monitor the cloud provider’s security measures. For example, the New York bar stated, “[A] lawyer may use an online ‘cloud’ computer data backup system to store client files provided that the lawyer takes reasonable care to ensure that the system is secure and that client confidentiality will be maintained.” New York State Ethics Op. 842. The question, of course, is “what constitutes reasonable care?” For example, if a cloud provider has a good record of security and has a great SAS 70 Type II audit report, but specifically disclaims any liability for security breaches and offers only minimal confidentiality protection, is this good enough to satisfy the “reasonable care” requirement? No one knows. What is clear is that, just like all other businesses, lawyers must be cautious in this area and thoroughly vet their cloud providers."

    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  8. #18
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Thumbs down SpyEye in the Amazon cloud ...

    FYI...

    SpyEye in the Amazon cloud ...
    - http://www.securelist.com/en/blog/20...through_SpyEye
    July 28, 2011 - "... According to our research, cybercriminals have been running SpyEye activities and from Amazon for the past couple of weeks... One hurdle for these cybercriminals to abusing Amazon S3 is the creation of an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account. These accounts require a legitimate identity and method of payment, so it is evident that criminals are using stolen data to overcome this challenge. Data shows that Amazon cloud services were abused heavily this month to spread malware. The following graph shows the domains used for this campaign from the second half of July 2011...
    > http://www.securelist.com/en/images/.../208193067.png
    ... there are isolated cases, but the tendency to exploit services like cloud storage is in full expansion. This trend clearly represents a critical point for online storage services and requires special treatment. We have reported these domains to the appropriate security teams..."
    ___

    >> http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=AS:16509
    ___

    - http://blog.trendmicro.com/cybercrim...-host-malware/
    Aug 1, 2011 - "... collected approximately 22Mb of malware for analysis & detection that was hosted on AWS... advice is to avoid clicking on any suspicious link either in an unsolicited e-mail, or an apparently benign link embedded in a webpage hosted on AWS (e.g. zx1uporn.s3.amazon .com, et al.) until this problem is resolved. We have recently seen about 30-50 various subdomains and specific URLs created on AWS which appear to harbor malicious content. We have reported this to Amazon Security..."
    ___

    SpyEye Tracker
    - https://spyeyetracker.abuse.ch/
    "... quick statistics about the SpyEye Trojan:
    SpyEye C&C servers tracked: 381
    SpyEye C&C servers online: 184
    SpyEye C&C server with files online: 38
    • Average SpyEye binary Antivirus detection: 26.14% ..."

    ZeuS Tracker
    - https://zeustracker.abuse.ch/
    "... quick statistics about the ZeuS crimeware:
    ZeuS C&C servers tracked: 659
    ZeuS C&C servers online: 223
    ZeuS C&C servers with files online: 53
    ZeuS FakeURLs tracked: 19
    ZeuS FakeURLs online: 6
    • Average ZeuS binary Antivirus detection rate: 38.67% ..."

    (... as of 2011.08.04)

    Last edited by AplusWebMaster; 2011-08-04 at 14:10.
    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  9. #19
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Post MS CRM Online, Office365 outage ...

    FYI...

    MS CRM Online, Office365 outage ...
    - http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/...59?tag=nl.e539
    August 17, 2011 - "Microsoft CRM Online and Office 365 users were hit with outages to their cloud services on August 17. Microsoft has yet to respond as to what’s going on. A number of customers using the Microsoft-hosted Dynamics CRM Online and its Office 365 cloud service were reporting performance problems aon August 17... On the CRM Online front, “performance is slow for most users, to the point that some can’t use CRM at all,” one Microsoft CRM user said. His company is based in the U.S., he said, but international users of the system were affected, as well..."

    - http://rcpmag.com/articles/2011/08/1...e-outages.aspx
    August 17, 2011 - "... UPDATE: Microsoft said as of late Wednesday afternoon, all systems are back up. The company is still investigating the root cause of the network failure."

    - http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft...cing-an-outage
    17 August 2011

    Last edited by AplusWebMaster; 2011-08-19 at 20:08.
    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

  10. #20
    Adviser Team AplusWebMaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,881

    Question Hotmail, Skydrive and Office365 knocked offline...

    FYI...

    Hotmail, Skydrive and Office365 knocked offline...
    - http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...nocked-offline
    Sep 09 2011

    - http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_l....aspx#comments
    Sep. 08, 2011 - UPDATE 9:45 PM PT, UPDATE 11:02 PM PT, UPDATE 11:49 PM PT...

    The machine has no brain.
    ......... Use your own.
    Browser check for updates here.
    YOU need to defend against -all- vulnerabilities.
    Hacks only need to find -1- to get in...
    .

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •