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November 13, 2007 6:56 AM PST
Microsoft exec calls XP hack 'frightening'
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The demonstration took place Monday at an event sponsored by Get Safe Online--a joint initiative of the U.K. government and industry. At the event, which was aimed at heightening security awareness among small businesses, two members of the U.K. government intelligence group Serious Organized Crime Agency connected a machine running Windows XP with Service Pack 1 to an unsecured wireless network. The machine was running no antivirus, firewall, or anti-spyware software and contained a sample target file of passwords to be stolen.
The SOCA officials wished to remain anonymous. One of them, "Mick," remained behind a screen while carrying out the hack into the unpatched computer of a fellow officer, "Andy."
"It's easy to connect to an unsecured wireless network," said Mick. "You could equate Andy with being in his bedroom, while I'm scanning for networks outside in my car. If I ordered or viewed illegal materials, it would come back to Andy."
Mick used a common, open-source exploit-finding tool he had downloaded from the Internet. SOCA asked ZDNet UK not to divulge the name of the tool.
"You can download attack tools from the Internet, and even script kiddies can use this one," said Mick.
Mick found the IP address of his own computer by using the XP Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box. He deduced the IP address of Andy's computer by typing different numerically adjacent addresses in that IP range into the attack tool, then scanning the addresses to see if they belonged to a vulnerable machine.
Using a different attack tool, he produced a security report detailing the vulnerabilities found on the system. Mick decided to exploit one of them. Using the attack tool, Mick built a piece of malware in MS-DOS, giving it a payload that would exploit the flaw within a couple of minutes.
Getting onto the unsecured wireless network, pinging possible IP addresses of other computers on the network, finding Andy's unpatched computer, scanning open ports for vulnerabilities, using the attack tool to build an exploit, and using the malware to get into the XP command shell took six minutes.
"If you were in (a cafe with Wi-Fi access), your coffee wouldn't even have cooled down yet," said Sharon Lemon, deputy director of SOCA's e-crime unit.
Mick then went into the My Documents folder and, using a trivial transfer protocol, transferred the document containing passwords to his own computer. The whole process took 11 minutes.
A SOCA representative said that the demonstration was "purely to point out that, if a system hasn't had patches, it's a relatively simple matter to hack into it." SOCA stopped short of recommending small businesses move to Vista; a SOCA representative said that applying Service Pack 2 to XP, with all the patches applied, and running a secured wireless network is "perfectly sensible way to do it."
Nick McGrath, head of platform strategy for Microsoft U.K., was surprised by the incident.
"In the demonstration we saw, it was both enlightening and frightening to witness the seeming ease of the attack on the (Windows) computer," said McGrath. "But the computer was new, not updated, and not patched."
McGrath said that having anti-spyware installed was not as important as having the software updated. He added that Microsoft works closely with original equipment manufacturers to encourage the preloading of antivirus and anti-spyware on a 30-day trial basis. McGrath also said that Service Pack 2 for XP had a firewall and that Vista was not as "accessible to the average hacker" due to "operating system components."
Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK reported from London.
See more CNET content tagged:
hack, demonstration, wireless network, exec, service pack
181 comments
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connected live.
And yet it takes how long to get updates from Windows, on-line,
when you first build one?
(clue: if you can manually hunt down all the "net distribution"
versions of those patches and download those beforehand to
another computer before building your Windows box, you stand
a better chance of survival. Good luck finding them all if you're a
typical user, though...)
/P
modem, and immediately run Windows Update, while you
download ZoneAlarm, etc. and you still have an excellent chance
of being compromised / infected before you can secure your PC.
Until manufacturers start selling fully secured Windows boxes,
the average buyer is screwed, which means:
the average buyer is screwed.
It's a good article to show that no system should be left unpatched and unprotected, but... yeah, using outdated and obsolete versions isn't very sensible for testing. It would be like using OS 9 and then not applying any patches at all to it from the OEM, then claiming it's unsecure. Well... DUH?
Thankfully this test isn't realistic since SP1 isn't even available for sale and hasn't been for years.
Let's try that same test today with fully patched versions of Vista, OS X, and Ubuntu. Somehow I don't think it will as easy.
I also love the idea of a file with the passwords on the system being made known to the attacker in advance so they knew exactly what file to go for, where it was located, and that it was unprotected. That's like advertising on Craigslist that the keys to your Porsche are sitting in the sugar jar on the kitchen table, the doors are unlocked and you're out on vacation for a week.
Realistic test? No. Entertaining? Sure. :)
How is the fact that a non-firewalled, non-updated, non-protected
Windows machine on an insecure network can be hacked a real
story?
In this situation, you should include all kinds of machines. They
are all pretty "hackable" given these constraints.
this is a stupid story and should only concern people who don't know what a power button is.
As a matter of clarity, I have seen and participated in white hat demonstrations with REAL experts who hacked into PROTECTED systems in around 2 to 3 minutes, without the use of "script-kiddie" tools.
Now, add in the fact that these idiots probably don't even know what a command prompt is used for (a big clue is the fact that they had to get their current IP address for the wireless connection manager applet; what the....? Are you freakin' KIDDING me? No serious hacker would relegate himself to that unless none of the many other methods at his disposal were available, the greatest tool still being the command prompt).
At any rate, this is yet ANOTHER "soft news" story from Cnet, who is steadily losing credibility every single day that they allow this type of half-assed misinformation "reporting" to populate their website.
PLEASE, folks....get REAL writers who know how to discriminate between the fluff / lies and truthful hard information.
I totally agree with the first sentence. Toss in boxes with basic installations of a variety of operating systems.
However, living in the world of hearsay I cannot imagine that very many operating system are as hackable as Windows XP or previous versions of Windows. Until Vista Microsoft did an infamously bad job with security.
Comparing a basic Windows XP box to a basic Mac box I would have to say that Mac would win hands down, typically. There are of course tools to read unencrypted data streaming to and from any computer using WiFi and potentially any computer on the Internet. But to actually hack into a Mac has proven to require an 'inside job' to get it to work. That is, unless of course the hacker knows or can easily guess the ID and password of the Mac being hacked. (Please don't get over-sensitive about this point. I am not interjecting a computer warz comment, just information).
Microsoft doesn't even support SP1 any more. To get security updates, you have to have SP2 installed. I bought my computer way back in 2002, and am running SP2.
Anyone who runs WinXP with "no antivirus, firewall, or anti-spyware software" is a complete idiot.
And no, I don't store my passwords on my computer in a convenient, non-pasword-protected file, called herearemypasswords.txt -grin
If you build a house with no doors you might get robbed - frightening!
moot since most of the sorts of tools here wouldn't register with
either. Firewall software is far more likely to be useful (certainly
it's much more likely to trip up the intruder).
That said, while SP2 is much better, it's still susceptible to a
reasonably well-informed attacker with similar results. Someone
with skill in the art wouldn't take so long to crack into the box
as most of the steps would be automated.
I've seen SP2 machines cracked in less than 1/2 the time
demonstrated here.
Yes - you and I and about 1/4 of the world knows this, however, Ma and Pa don't. Little Billy doesn't. 3/4 of the world knows very little about vulnerabilities or security.
My machines are up-to-date. But I would care to say a majority of the machines I've worked on had to be updated from their original installs.
To me, this is a very realistic demo since Microsoft and hardware vendors have tried to make what was originally intended for intelligent people into an "Everybody Can Do It" concept.
As for the passwords in an unprotected text file, you'd be surprised and you're even MORE of an idiot if you think everyone behaves as you do, to say nothing of the thinking part of it - which isn't something you're obviously good at, either.
Don't hurt yourself in the process.
"unrealistic"
yeah, cause NOBODY would be running XP without SP2 right?
oh wait, i am sitting behind 2 windows users on laptops with XP
right now, let me take an informal poll.....
....well, turns out you are 50% so far. wanna try again? let me
look around the cafe and get back to you.
Actually, no. Only if you use Windows Update...
And besides, a lot of people don't update their systems. You may call them "idiots", and I actually agree, but fact is that most people don't understand the technology, and don't even know that they can update their system.
The only issue I have with the story is that 6 minutes to break into a Windows box is too long. Real experts can do that in as little as 2 minutes.
LOL on the last two
Install the latest service packs and updates.
Always run your antivirus, firewall, and antispyware software.
Turn off your computer when not in use.
seriously, how can people STILL not get this.....
run a high risks of data theft. No kidding! Really! Wow I would
not have known that. If your that stupid then even if someone
proves to you that it can be done. Those people probably don't
know how to activate the security anyway. I am sure the same
can be done for Vista and probably OS 10 and Linux if given
enough time. Let's have them try it with a fully secure system
and see what happens.
If they can break a fully secure system then I will consider it a
problem.
antivirus software subscription or know how to install a free
alternative like freeav.
We all pay the price for that. Knwoing that MOST people won't keep
their computer updated and secure, it's the OS manufacturer's
responsibility to create a safe and secure operating system that
requires little if any additional actions from the user. That's where
Microsoft fails miserably.
In this test:
1) An unsecured wireless router was used;
2) No anti-virus programs;
3) No Firewall;
4) No anti-spyware programs.
Under these conditions, XPSP2 could have been attacked just as easily.
IMHO... they might as well have left the keyboard on the sidewalk.
I don't mean actually cracking the computers, just rattling the door knobs. Or, is that illegal in it's self?
walking in the front door.
Now I'm not sure of what I should be more wary of, the "hack", or
the executives proclaimed fears. Or is this a yellow flag banner for
people to move over to Vista?
I can remember when Microsoft at least TRIED to hire folks with more "on the ball" than an inflation valve!
I mean, given the criteria for this laughable demonstration, I'd expect my wristwatch to be hacked in a few seconds!
Get on it, campers... there's two real nasty ones out today.
/P
They basically demonstrated how easy it is to get into a system with EVERYTHING LEFT WIDE OPEN. This is the IT equivalent of a girl walking into a frat party stark naked and drunk, and when she is interfered with using it as a warning that female students that they are at risk of being molested on campus.
You get more protection than this PC had simply by following the instructions on a basic wireless router. In fact since most PCs come with SP2, you get more protection straight out of the box than this PC had.
Sure, but people don't follow the instructions. They just plug the thing in. Just go around with a sniffer and watch how many wireless routers broadcast the default SSID.
I don't think these scare tactics will impress people enough to get them to upgrade.
Let's talk about programs that can only be run as an administrator after upgrading to Vista because of its new security "features"; now that's scary.
Future new Story: Microsoft-exec-calls-Vista-hack-'frightening'.... hahahaha!!!
Maybe it's not kid stuff yet, but as sure as write these lines, someone will offer packs on the net so that wiz kids (and not so kids)will be able to do so, hack Vista, just like that, 5 or 10 mn, with security plagued with the usual M$ flows, if not why do they already offer patches, + Vista SP1 due soon?!*roflol and ruffles*!!!
*** Tips, why don't people start to use DeepFreezer on their machine, make a day 0 ghost, naturally offline and use it when things go wrong!!!
That's what I offer to my customers when they bring me their wrecks to fix!
I also keep reminding myself of a few things, who made the internet, who builds and owns the global sistem, who sells us machines that don't work well?
By the way the other day I connected an old Windows 3.11, Ram 46MB, with Lotus and +++ and the damn machine was flying... Oh I'll hear some of the bot talkers say, Ey! try to play a game other than pinball with that...Ok, Ok but it's beside the point I try to make. Why this complicated, ever so intricated and heavy Windows XP, Windows Vista
Linux and others have long ago developed OS that beat any modern Windows running on double core 2x 3 Gigs, with only an Intel Pentium III at 1 Gig!!!
etc.etc.etc.
NO FRAKING DUHH!