Collaborate Disseminate
In today’s hyperautomated world, organizations connect various environments, applications and databases to one another, creating complex infrastructures. Security professionals discuss the difficulties inherent in securing cloud environments, and the … Continue reading How Air Gapping Can Protect IP
Researchers have developed an ingenious way to eavesdrop from a distance without relying on planted bugs: they just stare at a light bulb. Continue reading Eavesdroppers can use light bulbs to listen in from afar
Hacking tools and techniques that are capable of accessing “air-gapped” systems — those cut off from external network connections — are coveted by intelligence agencies and pored over by security researchers. Spies try to conceal them; researchers try to expose them to warn potential victims. That dynamic is behind Slovakian anti-virus company ESET’s decision Wednesday to go public with what it says is a previously unknown malicious software framework designed to steal files from air-gapped systems. Much around the hacking tool — who is using it, who some of its victims are — remains a mystery. But ESET is hoping publicizing it will shake loose more clues in their hunt for the hackers. “We believe Ramsay is intended to be used in targeted attacks only and [has] espionage written all over it,” Alexis Dorais-Joncas, a security intelligence team lead at ESET, told CyberScoop. “‘Normal’ people do not operate in air-gapped environments.” The […]
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Continue reading Researchers expose new malware designed to steal data from air-gapped networks
For years, researchers and spies have devised ways of getting malware to computers that are “air-gapped,” or physically isolated from external network connections. Attacks like Stuxnet, the computer worm deployed against an Iranian nuclear facility a decade ago, shattered the myth that air-gapped systems are impenetrable fortresses. In that case, suspected U.S. and Israeli intelligence operatives crossed an air gap with malware that ultimately sabotaged centrifuges at a uranium enrichment plant. They also planted an idea in the head of Mikhail Davidov, an ethical hacker: Getting malicious code into an air-gapped computer is one thing, but how do you retrieve data from the network? One possibility, it turns out, is in the radio spectrum. With a radio, antenna, and his own computer script, Davidov figured out how to use a signal emitted by an air-gapped computer’s graphics processing unit (GPU) to exfiltrate data. Davidov, the lead security researcher at Duo […]
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Continue reading How one security researcher used radio signals to hop an air gap
Researchers have retrieved data from a disconnected computer by altering its LCD’s pixel density just enough for a camera to pick it up. Continue reading Researchers transmit data covertly by altering screen brightness
Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of protocols that enables two electronic devices to establish communication by bringing them very close together. Usually the devices must be within less than 4cm. Contactless payment systems use NFC devices, inc… Continue reading NFCdrip: Data Exfiltration Research in Near Field Communication
Air-gapping means physically isolating a secure computer from unsecured networks, such as the public Internet or an unsecured local area network. The concept of air-gapping represents just about the maximum protection one network can have from another,… Continue reading Meet NFCdrip – a New Security Concern for Air-Gapped Systems
A cyber espionage group known for attacking organizations in Japan and South Korea has targeted USB drives in a likely effort to infect “air gapped” systems, according to new research. The so-called Tick hacking group has gone after a specific type of USB drive made by an unnamed South Korean defense company, said researchers with cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks. The newly revealed malware isn’t part of an active campaign and was likely used in attacks years ago, according to the researchers. Nonetheless, the apparent effort to infiltrate air-gapped systems speaks to the lengths to which advanced hackers will go to reach sensitive infrastructure. Whereas other malware used by Tick requires an internet connection to reach a command-and-control server, the group’s “SymonLoader” malware needs no such connectivity, according to the researchers. Instead, the malware tries to extract a hidden payload from a plugged-in USB drive – a technique that is […]
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Continue reading ‘Tick’ espionage group is likely trying to hop air gaps, researchers say