Skip to main content

GMail Hacking Tool: Your Cloud could be hacked!

The attack works something like this: As Perry explained at DEFCON, a Gmail user might login to Gmail using the ostensibly secure URL https://mail.google.com. If subsequently surfing CNN.com, for example, via an open wireless connection, an attacker could inject a Gmail image URL and prompt the user's browser to transmit an unprotected Gmail 'GX' cookie in conjunction with the image fetch operation. The attacker could then 'sniff' the unprotected cookie and later use that file to access the victim's Gmail account.

Perry is planning to release a tool that makes HTTPS cookie hijacking easy. And he defends his plan to do so.

Revealing security flaws isn't popular among those that have to patch affected systems. The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, for example, recently obtained a temporary gag order -- lifted on Tuesday -- that prevented three MIT students from presenting information about security problems in the transit agency's fare card system.

But Perry maintains making security problems public is necessary.


My observations:

I'm glad that all the concerns are coming on surface a lot before the adoption phase. This way we won't have firms running after you while you hesitantly adopt their hot cool technology.

Source

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Security: VMware Workstation 6 vulnerability

vulnerable software: VMware Workstation 6.0 for Windows, possible some other VMware products as well type of vulnerability: DoS, potential privilege escalation I found a vulnerability in VMware Workstation 6.0 which allows an unprivileged user in the host OS to crash the system and potentially run arbitrary code with kernel privileges. The issue is in the vmstor-60 driver, which is supposed to mount VMware images within the host OS. When sending the IOCTL code FsSetVoleInformation with subcode FsSetFileInformation with a large buffer and underreporting its size to at max 1024 bytes, it will underrun and potentially execute arbitrary code. Security focus

Virtualization: GlassHouse hopes to cash in with its IPO!

GlassHouse Technologies Inc. on Tuesday registered to raise as much as $100 million in an initial public offering that, despite the company's financial losses, could prove a hit with investors drawn to its focus on "virtualization" technology. The Framingham, Mass., company offers consulting services for companies that use virtualization software to improve the performance of corporate servers and cut costs in their data centers. GlassHouse also provides Internet-based data storage. "Software-as-a-service," or SaaS, companies and vendors of virtualization products have proved popular among investors in recent years as corporate customers seek alternatives to conventional packaged software. GlassHouse, with roots in both sectors, will test the strength of that interest, said Peter Falvey, managing director with Boston investment bank Revolution Partners. "It will be a bit of a bell weather," he says. "It's not as though it's the 15th SaaS m...