[ale] semi [OT] cool info, sn podcast, FIXING SSD'S, linksys router flaws, more

Sun Jan 20 11:04:17 EST 2013

speaking of pod casts, does anyone else watch/listen to pauldotcom or hak5?

On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 10:44 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> The latest security now podcast had lots of good info I wanted to share.
>  Some of you already know much of what they cover and some are above the
> level the podcast is aimed at.  However, I find the info useful so I would
> just say use it for what it's worth to you.
>
> http://www.grc.com/**securitynow.htm <http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm>- show web page
> http://twit.tv/sn - show web page on This Week In Tech network
>
> http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-**387.mp3 <http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-387.mp3>- show audio
> http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-387.**pdf <http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-387.pdf> -
> transcript
>
> I'll reference pages in the transcript for each item.  Not sure of the
> exact position in the audio.
>
> * p2  -  They spent a while discussing yet another of the seemingly
> endless zero day exploits in Java as well as disconnecting it from your
> browser while leaving it on the system, if you have to.  -  p2
>
> * p6  -  They discussed the USB drives brings down power plant issue for a
> while.  -  p6
>
> * p7  -  They discussed a flaw which allows someone to get root access to
> certain Linksys routers, hopefully only from within the LAN side of the
> device. This could affect 70,000,000 routers.  Info here
> bit.ly/linksys0day which links to http://www.defensecode.com/**
> article/upcoming_cisco_**linksys_remote_preauth_root_**exploit-33<http://www.defensecode.com/article/upcoming_cisco_linksys_remote_preauth_root_exploit-33>.  According to Leo's and Steve's opinion, Cisco has been extremely
> negligent in patching flaws in the Linksys product line.  There was also a
> fiasco recently where they tried to disable the control panel in their new
> routers and force users to log into a Cisco web account just to be able to
> administer their router.  I don't think I'll be buying any Linksys
> products.  -  p7
>
> * p8  -   A short discussion about an article comparing various USB
> chargers.  Apparently some are much better and some are much worse.  I
> haven't read it yet but it sounds cool.  Info here bit.ly/usbcharge which
> links to http://www.arcfn.com/2012/10/**a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-**
> apple-is.html<http://www.arcfn.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html>.  This is a very detailed article.  -  p8
>
> * p10  -  FIXING SSD's - A number of listeners have reported that A) their
> relatively new SSD's are failing to read properly, and B) you can sometimes
> fix them with SpinRite.  This is important info.  According to Steve, the
> economics of the SSD market are forcing producers to operate at the very
> bleeding edge of what is technically possible for the price they're selling
> the product at.  Sometimes, they cross over to the wrong side of that
> fence.  According to Steve, the units are JUST RELIABLE ENOUGH to sell
> them, just like HDD's.
>
> Imagine this, you have a microscopic storage tank for electrons, a
> capacitor, which is VERY microscopic.  You stick a VERY small charge of
> electrons into the storage tank through a lid which is inherently leaky.
>  The more you use it, the more leaky it gets.  Not only that, you try to
> fill it either 1/4 1/2 3/4 or full, and then sense what state it's in to
> read back 2 bits of data.  (MLC cells)  The engineers know this won't work
> sometimes, so they rely on lots of ECC (error correction code) to make it
> work.  Sometimes, even that fails, and you get "sectors" that won't read
> properly.
>
> A number of listeners to the podcast have reported that they've used
> SpinRite to fix SSD's which are giving failures to read.  SpinRite has
> various operational levels.  It is now apparent that there is value in
> forcing an SSD controller to periodically read all of the "disk" in the
> same way it's useful to do this to a hard drive.  In the case of an SSD, it
> forces the controller to acknowledge weak storage cells and either refresh
> the data (electrical charge) or relocate it.  The user that contacted the
> show was having problems with a balky SSD running on a Mac.  He moved the
> SSD to a pc and ran SpinRite on it at Level 1 - read only and don't try to
> recover data.  He got a number of unrecoverable sector errors.  Upon
> Steve's advice, he ran SpinRite on Level 2.  This is also read only, but
> invokes a massive statistical analysis routine to try to recover unreadable
> sectors by reading the raw data up to 2000 times.  On a HDD, SpinRite would
> fly the heads in to the sector from many different locations to account for
> mechanical variances in the read mechanism.  On an SSD, this does not
> apply.  However, the statistical data analysis on bad sectors is still
> valid.  Note that something like badblocks can exercise the drive's
> controller.  However, it cannot do the extensive data recovery on
> unreadable sectors that SpinRite can.  In any case, once the user had run
> the SpinRite level 2 process on the drive, the unreadable sectors had been
> recovered sufficiently to put the drive in the Mac and it worked fine.
>
> To give you an idea of how Steve feels about the reliability (or lack of
> it) of SSD's, he is using some in a server, but for him to feel safe, they
> had to be:
>    - OWC premium brand
>    - Single Level Cell memory rather than Multi Level Cell (very expensive)
>    - Massively overprovisioned with spare sectors
>    - Configured in fully redundant RAID such that any two drives can fail
> and the server still works
>
>      -  p10 in the transcript
>
> * p15  -  They talk about using Java apps, like CrashPlan or MineCraft,
> without allowing Java to be active in the web browser.  -  p15
>
> * p17  -  They talk about new technology involving filling HDD's with
> helium, which allows higher platter speed and higher aerial density.  -  p17
>
> * p19  -  They talk about how to configure a PS3 for UPNP using a DMZ
> without endangering your network.
>                Glossary - PS3 - Play Station 3
>                                - UPNP - Universal Plug and Play
>                                - Demilitarized Zone (in the router)  -  p19
>
> For those that don't know, UPNP is a potentially dangerous technology that
> allows an application to open ports in your router's firewall, for games to
> work, etc., without your knowledge or permission.  In many cases, you
> cannot even tell what's been opened.  If something malicious does get
> inside your firewall, either through a web page or an application, it can
> swing the doors of your firewall open wide and let all it's malware friends
> in.  The best idea is to disable it unless you need it.
>
> * p19  -  They discuss The Quite Canine project - An ongoing (very cool)
> design for a simple high frequency sound blaster that can be used to
> convince barking and / or aggressive dogs that you encounter to shut up and
> leave without harming them.  -  p19
>
> * p24  -  Reminder by a listener of a year old problem in a large number
> of Linksys routers of a flaw in the WPS security system which allows the
> WPA password to be cracked in less than 10 hours by sniffing the traffic.
>  Apparently, yet again, Cisco has dropped the ball an not fixed it.  The
> moral of the story is, disable WPS on your router, if you even can.
>  Apparently, on some of the Linksys routers, the disable function doesn't
> work.  -  p24
>
> I found these links:
>
> http://lifehacker.com/5873407/**how-to-crack-a-wi+fi-networks-**
> wpa-password-with-reaver<http://lifehacker.com/5873407/how-to-crack-a-wi+fi-networks-wpa-password-with-reaver>
> http://arstechnica.com/**business/2011/12/researchers-**
> publish-open-source-tool-for-**hacking-wifi-protected-setup/<http://arstechnica.com/business/2011/12/researchers-publish-open-source-tool-for-hacking-wifi-protected-setup/>
>
> I hope you find this info helpful and useful.  There appears to be a never
> ending supply of security problems to talk about.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
> --
>
> (To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
> address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
> quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>
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