The End of an Era – Next Steps for Adobe Flash

Earlier this week, Adobe announced that Flash will no longer be supported after 2020. Microsoft will phase out support for Adobe Flash in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer ahead of this date.

Flash led the way on the web for rich content, gaming, animations, and media of all kinds, and inspired many of the current web standards powering HTML5. Adobe has partnered with Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, Apple, and many others, to ensure that the open web could meet and exceed the experiences that Adobe Flash has traditionally provided. HTML5 standards, implemented across all modern browsers, provide these capabilities with improved performance, battery life, and increased security. We look forward to continuing to work with Adobe and our industry partners on enriching the open web without the need for plug-ins.

We will phase out Flash from Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer, culminating in the removal of Flash from Windows entirely by the end of 2020. This process began already for Microsoft Edge with Click-to-Run for Flash in the Windows 10 Creators Update. The process will continue in the following phases:

  • Through the end of 2017 and into 2018, Microsoft Edge will continue to ask users for permission to run Flash on most sites the first time the site is visited, and will remember the user’s preference on subsequent visits. Internet Explorer will continue to allow Adobe Flash with no special permissions required during this time.
  • In mid to late 2018, we will update Microsoft Edge to require permission for Flash to be run each session. Internet Explorer will continue to allow Flash for all sites in 2018.
  • In mid to late 2019, we will disable Flash by default in both Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. Users will be able to re-enable Flash in both browsers. When re-enabled, Microsoft Edge will continue to require approval for Flash on a site-by-site basis.
  • By the end of 2020, we will remove the ability to run Adobe Flash in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer across all supported versions of Microsoft Windows. Users will no longer have any ability to enable or run Flash.

This timeline is consistent across browsers, including GoogleMozilla, and Apple. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with Adobe, other browser vendors, and the publishing community, as we evolve the future of the web for everyone.

ransomware

5 Top ransomware exploits that you should know

We used to call the Internet the “information super-highway” back in the day, when connections were slow, bulletin boards and gopher were about as techie as it got. Those days are long gone, but something of the ‘highway’ has remained, like a bad smell, one that has come back to haunt us in 2017… The highway robber in the form of ransomware exploits !

The person who went about their villainy on the trade routes and highways of the world, extorting money and valuables from unsuspecting travellers with a simple threat –– ”your money or your life” –– reinforced of course with the trademark flintlock pistol and sabre.

Today’s highway robber is a lot more sophisticated and savvy. They take far less risk and turn to the latest technology to extort you out of your money by threatening your valuables. In this case your data, your technology and most probably your computing ability.

Of course, I’m talking now about ransomware, the threat that’s been in the news almost every day for the past couple of months. The tool of choice for the modern highway robber has become headline news around the world with variants such as WannaCry and the more recent Popcorn Time. Organizations around the world have been affected by this ransomware, from the UK National Health Service, through to the Russian Postal Service in the last few weeks.

Interestingly, WannaCry leverages a previously known vulnerability in the Windows operating system, which is alleged to have been hoarded by a national security agency of the USA. In this case a vulnerability which allowed the ransomware to be especially successful in both current and older versions of Windows, such as XP and Windows 7, by using a weakness in their inbuilt SMB networking functionality. Even when out of support, there are still organisations using Windows XP and putting themselves at risk.

Luckily however an enterprising security researcher managed to find a kill switch written into some variants of WannaCry, in the form of a phone-home domain which hadn’t been registered by the malware’s author. Registering the domain seemed to give these variants of the malware the dead letter box it was looking for in order to shut down, thus halting the attack.

After intense examination of WannaCry’s tactics by the security community, we now know the infection spread within organizations by means of leveraging SMB connections. And, while patching the known vulnerability (as the patch had been out for over a month) helps sqelch WannaCry’s ability to spread, there are a broad range of ransomware sources through which you can get infected, such as:

  • Trojans – Perhaps the most common and the ransomware attack source we read the most about. Email attachments that contain malicious macro attachments are the chosen method here.
  • Removable media – Perhaps the most likely ransomware source of infection for the majority of malware in an enterprise, whether it’s ransomware or something more nefarious. Especially for those organisations that don’t lock down their USB ports. USB sticks and removable media are a very simple way to infect a PC as users generally trust those devices. A study by Google and two US universities showed that dropping USB sticks in public places was a simple and effective way to trigger human curiosity, with a full 49% of the ‘bait USBs’ being plugged into a computer by people who found them. Imagine if those had been malicious?
  • Malvertising – Malver-what-now? A portmanteau of malicious advertising. Where attackers compromise the weak infrastructure of an online ad network that serves adverts to legitimate websites. Therefore, when users view those adds, usually on well-known news websites, they can be used to trick browsers into downloading malware through the page display ads. Exploit kits such as Angler and Neutrino are often used as the initial dropper of the malware, which often then allows cyber criminals complete control of the infected endpoint. Ransomware is just one of the common outcomes of these watering-hole or drive-by attacks.
  • Social media and SMS – The prevalence of shortened links used on social media platforms and in SMS text messages gives attackers a superb mechanism to deliver ransomware and malware. Users rarely, if ever, check the destination of shortened links in social media, SMS or even email and attackers know this. Security solutions that ‘link-follow’ are increasing in popularity, but not fast enough. Ransomware delivered through shortened links is also often JavaScript based and requires little action on the users’ part, other than to click the link.
  • Ransomware-as-a-Service – RaaS? Yes, it does exist, as one of the many ‘Crime-as-a-Service’ networks. (Yes, those exist too). RaaS allows criminals of any variety to use ransomware exploits and become instant cyber criminals, to the extent we’re seeing a drop off in classic crime like burglary, as RaaS is far a less risky ransomware source for them. RaaS and CraaS have given rise to vast affiliate networks too, where ransomware is easy to deploy and manage for almost anyone and where the earning potential is significant. I use this example to demonstrate the sophistication and motivation of the cybercriminals behind ransomware. Ignore them at your peril.

Of course, we’re used to thinking of ransomware as an email-specific or Trojan-based attack and that’s certainly the most common route it takes, but we should note that once ransomware makes its way into your business, ransomware creators will attempt to take as many routes possible to ensure as widespread an infection as is possible.

What all of these attacks and the breadth of ransomware sources show us is that it’s a live and hostile environment on the information super-highway and that for all the good we do, there are still people intent on exploiting, stealing, violating and pillaging our assets. Don’t be under any illusion they’re not motivated either; ransomware is a great money earner for them so don’t expect the attacks to die down anytime soon. Technologically not doing your best is not an option either. Sitting back hoping Windows XP or 7 will “struggle on for a little longer” or that those patches you didn’t deploy don’t matter is not a sensible strategy. Remember there are books written about hope not being a strategy, so don’t fall into that trap.

Patch your stuff, back up your valuables and keep an eye out for the highway robbers and those ransomware exploits.

Stay safe out there.

Update Adobe Flash Player NOW

One of the favourite pieces of software for malicious hackers to target on users’ computers is Adobe Flash Player.
Why? Well, there are a few reasons.

Firstly, Adobe Flash Player is on an awful lot of computers. Many users may have installed it long ago in order to access Flash-based media content online, such as videos. Malicious hackers can rely upon a large number of people having Flash installed, making it a target for attack.

Secondly, the version of Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer may be out-of-date. Users may have failed to configure updates properly, or chosen to ignore reminders to update the software promptly when a new security update is released. There’s only one thing more attractive to a malicious hacker than widely-used ubiquitous software, and that’s widely-used ubiquitous software that hasn’t been kept updated with the latest patches.

It doesn’t matter if a hacker doesn’t have a zero-day exploit to throw at your Adobe Flash Player if you haven’t been bothering to keep it protected against known vulnerabilities.

Thirdly, there has been a long history of malicious hackers finding critical security holes in Adobe Flash Player, and building their attacks into exploit kits for anyone to deploy. Flash is closed, proprietary software controlled by Adobe and it has been plagued with software vulnerabilities and serious flaws over many years. Quite why Flash has been targeted so often is open to some debate, but the mere fact that it has suggests that it will continue to be for some time to come.

The upshot of this is that when Adobe releases new security patches for Adobe Flash Player, it would be very sensible indeed for its users to sit up and take notice.

Earlier today Adobe issued a security advisory detailing updates it has released for Adobe Flash Player for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Chrome OS.

The updates are said to address critical vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to penetrate a vulnerable system, allowing a remote attacker to execute code on a victim’s computer and take control over the device.

Adobe recommends that users of the Adobe Flash Player Desktop Runtime for Windows, Macintosh and Linux update to Adobe Flash Player version 26.0.0.137 as soon as possible. You can do this either by visiting the official Adobe Flash Player download page, or ensuring that Flash’s global settings are set to “install updates automatically when available”.

Even with that option enabled you may be disappointed to find that security updates are not immediately available to you, and – rather than wait – prefer to manually force an update instead.

Things are a little simpler for those who rely upon the Adobe Flash Player code integrated with the Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers, as they should be automatically updated to the latest version as the browser itself updates.

The best approach of all, of course, if you want to permanently secure your computers and devices against Flash flaws is the nuclear option: uninstall Flash from your computer. Or – if you just need Adobe Flash for very specific websites or bespoke applications – have Flash installed on an alternative browser rather than the one you regularly use to surf the web.

If you’re not quite ready to take the step of entirely uninstalling Flash, then you should at the very least consider enabling “Click to Play”, which stops Flash elements from being rendered in your browser unless you give specific permission.

malware attack

Microsoft networking protocol at the core of recent global malware attacks

The company is going to kill off SMB1 at long last, but you shouldn’t wait to disable it

Another day, another global malware attack made possible by a Microsoft security hole. Once again, attackers used hacking tools developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), which were stolen and subsequently released by a group called Shadow Brokers.

This time around, though, the late-June attack apparently wasn’t ransomware with which the attackers hoped to make a killing. Instead, as The New York Times noted, it was likely an attack by Russia on Ukraine on the eve of a holiday celebrating the Ukrainian constitution, which was written after Ukraine broke away from Russia. According to the Times, the attack froze “computers in Ukrainian hospitals, supermarkets, and even the systems for radiation monitoring at the old Chernobyl nuclear plant.” After that, it spread worldwide. The rest of the world was nothing more than collateral damage.

The NSA bears a lot of responsibility for this latest attack because it develops these kinds of hacking tools and frequently doesn’t tell software makers about the security holes they exploit. Microsoft is one of many companies that have beseeched the NSA not to hoard these kinds of exploits. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, has called on the NSA “to consider the damage to civilians that comes from hoarding these vulnerabilities and the use of these exploits” and stop stockpiling them.

Smith is right. But once again, a global malware attack exploited a serious insecurity in Windows, this time a nearly 30-year-old networking protocol called SMB1 that even Microsoft acknowledges should no longer be used by anyone, anywhere, at any time.

First, a history lesson. The original SMB (Server Message Block) networking protocol was designed at IBM for DOS-based computers nearly 30 years ago. Microsoft combined it with its LAN Manager networking product around 1990, added features to the protocol in its Windows for Workgroups product in 1992, and continued using it in later versions of Windows, up to and including Windows 10.

Clearly, a networking protocol designed originally for DOS-based computers, then combined with a nearly 30-year-old networking system, is not suitable for security in an internet-connected world. And to its credit, Microsoft recognizes that and is planning to kill it. But a lot of software and enterprises use the protocol, and so Microsoft hasn’t yet been able to do it in.

Microsoft engineers hate the protocol. Consider what Ned Pyle, principal program manager in the Microsoft Windows Server High Availability and Storage group, had to say about it in a prescient blog in September 2016:

“Stop using SMB1. Stop using SMB1. STOP USING SMB1!… The original SMB1 protocol is nearly 30 years old, and like much of the software made in the 80’s, it was designed for a world that no longer exists. A world without malicious actors, without vast sets of important data, without near-universal computer usage. Frankly, its naivete is staggering when viewed though modern eyes.”

Back in 2013, Microsoft announced it would eventually kill SMB1, saying the protocol was “planned for potential removal in subsequent releases.” That time is almost here. This fall, when the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is released, the protocol will finally be removed from Windows.

But enterprises shouldn’t wait for then. They should remove the protocol right away, just as Pyle recommends. Before doing that, they would do well to read the SMB Security Best Practices document, put out by US-CERT, which is run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It suggests disabling SMB1, and then “blocking all versions of SMB at the network boundary by blocking TCP port 445 with related protocols on UDP ports 137-138 and TCP port 139, for all boundary devices.”

As for how to disable SMB1, turn to a useful Microsoft article, “How to enable and disable SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 in Windows and Windows Server.” Note that Microsoft recommends keeping SMB2 and SMB3 active, and only deactivating them for temporary troubleshooting.

An even better source for killing SMB1 is the TechNet article “Disable SMB v1 in Managed Environments with Group Policy.” It is the most up-to-date article available and more comprehensive than others.

Turning off SMB1 will do more than protect your enterprise against next global malware infection. It will also help keep your company safer against hackers who specifically target it and not the entire world.


This article was reposted from : www.computerworld.com