Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...

Heartbleed

Reply
Created by nebbian > 9 months ago, 9 Apr 2014
nebbian
WA, 6277 posts
9 Apr 2014 2:30PM
Thumbs Up

It has come to light over the last few days that for the past two years (!), a bug has existed in the way that many web servers handle secure connections. This meant that it is easy for an attacker to go to any server, and sniff things like:
Usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, secure encryption keys...

Non-techy explanation here:
www.smh.com.au/technology/web-security-in-doubt-after-discovery-of-heartbleed-flaw-20140409-zqsif.html

More in depth info here:
heartbleed.com/

This is the most serious vulnerability I've seen, pretty much ever. Our sysadmin spent the night sorting out all our systems.

It pretty much means that if you put a credit card number into a secure website (that uses ) then that info might have found its way into the hands of hackers.

Many people are suggesting that the NSA knew about this backdoor a while ago, and might even be responsible for getting the 'bug' into the source code.

Gosh.

Mobydisc
NSW, 9029 posts
9 Apr 2014 4:41PM
Thumbs Up

Good thing Seabreeze doesn't use https......

Mark _australia
WA, 23581 posts
9 Apr 2014 3:35PM
Thumbs Up

Who woulda thunk it.

Interwebs are not safe?

laurie
WA, 3873 posts
9 Apr 2014 6:33PM
Thumbs Up

Freaky .. an amazing hole that has existed for almost two years!

Seabreeze does use "https", but we don't/haven't used the library that has the flaw..

From what I've read, a hacker can send a simple 1 byte request to any linux based server (which hasn't been patched), and the server will send back a random 64,000 bytes of it's internal memory.

Lots of requests = lots of data, and at some point, the hacking will gleen something, such as passwords, credit cards, etc...

Sigh ...


Mark _australia
WA, 23581 posts
9 Apr 2014 6:51PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
laurie said..
a hacker can send a simple 1 byte request to any linux based server (which hasn't been patched), and the server will send back a random 64,000 bytes of it's internal memory.

...


Well that's why it is called random access memory

Geez, basic computer stuff guys




Speaking of heartbleed, Nebbs' article just about gave me nosebleed as I tried to understand it

GalahOnTheBay
NSW, 4188 posts
9 Apr 2014 9:01PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
laurie said..
Freaky .. an amazing hole that has existed for almost two years!


If you a the NSA (or any other three letter agency) maybe it's more of a feature...

Aww shucks - not I have to move this thread to heavy weather. lol

Mark _australia
WA, 23581 posts
9 Apr 2014 7:14PM
Thumbs Up

OMG only me and now THREE nerds here. I feel like Penny in Big Bang Theory. Actually, no....
nevermind.


jbshack
WA, 6913 posts
9 Apr 2014 7:20PM
Thumbs Up

SO if we've bought anything via CC on SB do we need to worry..Just looking for the short answer

Carantoc
WA, 7235 posts
9 Apr 2014 8:04PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
laurie said..

..... a hacker can send a simple 1 byte request to any linux based server (which hasn't been patched), and the server will send back a random 64,000 bytes of it's internal memory.....



Sounds a bit like reading a thread started by PM33.

A simple 1 byte copy and paste generates 64,000 pages of random replies.

And then both your heart and your head start to bleed.

myusernam
QLD, 6155 posts
9 Apr 2014 11:02PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
Mark _australia said..

OMG only me and now THREE nerds here. I feel like Penny in Big Bang Theory. Actually, no....
nevermind.




i feel like penny in big bang theory also. Got her number?

GalahOnTheBay
NSW, 4188 posts
10 Apr 2014 8:16AM
Thumbs Up

Short answer re credit cards: no need to worry, but as always you should carefully check each and every item on your statements to make sure they are yours. Of course you do that anyway right?

Select to expand quote
myusernam said...
Mark _australia said..

OMG only me and now THREE nerds here. I feel like Penny in Big Bang Theory. Actually, no....
nevermind.




i feel like penny in big bang theory also. Got her number?


kiteboy dave
QLD, 6525 posts
10 Apr 2014 9:15AM
Thumbs Up

I'm not sure that this really changes anything.

There are any number of credit card number generators out there.

The reality is that you need to read your credit card statements every single month and account for every line item, particularly in the $20-$99 range, as this is often targeted to avoid arousing suspicion.

Visa / Mastercard repay any and every fraudulent transaction - it's the cheapest option for them.
Sometimes it takes time but you can always recover the money eventually.


FormulaNova
WA, 15093 posts
10 Apr 2014 6:26PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
laurie said..

Freaky .. an amazing hole that has existed for almost two years!

Seabreeze does use "https", but we don't/haven't used the library that has the flaw..

From what I've read, a hacker can send a simple 1 byte request to any linux based server (which hasn't been patched), and the server will send back a random 64,000 bytes of it's internal memory.

Lots of requests = lots of data, and at some point, the hacking will gleen something, such as passwords, credit cards, etc...

Sigh ...





Nah, that'd be awesome. All you'd need to do is setup some server to impersonate this flaw and start sending out fake 'random data'. You could seed usernames and passwords that would have the hackers trying these and wasting their time.

laurie
WA, 3873 posts
11 Apr 2014 4:03PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
jbshack said..

SO if we've bought anything via CC on SB do we need to worry..Just looking for the short answer




No. Seabreeze was NOT affected by it.

And.. NO credit card numbers are stored on our servers.



stamp
QLD, 2797 posts
11 Apr 2014 6:41PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
laurie said..

jbshack said..

SO if we've bought anything via CC on SB do we need to worry..Just looking for the short answer




No. Seabreeze was NOT affected by it.

And.. NO credit card numbers are stored on our servers.





just to be on the safe side, can you just check that my card details are not on the server please laurie?

it's a visa- card number 4518 8655 9432 1136. expiry 08/15, ccv is 582.

SpaceCoyote
VIC, 147 posts
11 Apr 2014 9:20PM
Thumbs Up

Throw that card out. Just tried to get a new kite, it declined

Stuthepirate
SA, 3591 posts
11 Apr 2014 9:28PM
Thumbs Up

That was just the cards security system preventing you from buying a kite

stamp
QLD, 2797 posts
11 Apr 2014 10:20PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
SpaceCoyote said..

Throw that card out. Just tried to get a new kite, it declined


that can't be right. the royal nigerian credit card inspection company checked it for me only this afternoon (i was lucky enough to be selected for a special online discount- it only cost me $50 to have it checked)

jn1
SA, 2718 posts
13 Apr 2014 1:58AM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
laurie said..
From what I've read, a hacker can send a simple 1 byte request to any Linux based server (which hasn't been patched), and the server will send back a random 64,000 bytes of it's internal memory.


This type of thing used to be my business before I left the industry 10 years ago, but still have a passing interest. The last serious open source exploit that I can recall was a fairly dangerous Apache (web server) bug about 10 years ago, which got fixed within 24 hours of the announcement. There was also an OpenSSH bug that researchers discovered and that got fixed quickly (I think around about 2005). Before that, a heap bug in one of the early 2.x.x Linux kernels that created chaos for a few days in the late 90's. Not bad track record for free to use operating system and software :). Compare that to Microsoft.

J

Mastbender
1972 posts
13 Apr 2014 1:29AM
Thumbs Up

Something that I got email to me~

From McAfee Security systems

Consumer Threat Alerts:

Recently, a major security vulnerability named "Heartbleed" has made headlines around the world. This is a severe vulnerability stemming from a coding mistake in a widely-used security utility called OpenSSL.

The bug affects the encryption technology designed to protect your sensitive data on the Internet, like usernames, passwords and emails.

This is a flaw in the OpenSSL encryption code, not a virus that can be stopped by McAfee or other consumer security software. Because this vulnerability takes advantage of servers, and not consumer devices, businesses need to update to the latest version of OpenSSL to mitigate and address the dangers posed.

McAfee is currently in the process of auditing all of our services, and the services provided by our partners, for any dangers posed by Heartbleed. If there is any instance that the vulnerable version of OpenSSL is in use we will remediate with the utmost urgency.

The severity of the Heartbleed vulnerability cannot be overstated: several major enterprises use OpenSSL, and are likely affected by this vulnerability as well. The dangers posed by this vulnerability are very real and could affect you if exploited.

So what do you need to do?
?Right now, the best thing you can do is wait to be notified about affected services and patches or you can investigate this list provided by Mashable that has some well known brands listed.
?If you'd like to investigate whether or not a website you frequent has been affected, you can use this tool.
?Reset your password for every online service affected by Heartbleed. But beware: you should only change your password after the afflicted business has fixed its servers to remove the Heartbleed vulnerability. Changing your passwords before a company's servers are updated will not protect your credentials from being leaked.
?For additional details, please click here.
We at McAfee apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. We will be contacting you again as we update our services that use OpenSSL.

Thank you for your time, and safe surfing.

Sincerely,

Gary Davis



Subscribe
Reply

Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...


"Heartbleed" started by nebbian