Ghulam Ghous’ Post

#DAY39/100 Day 39 of 100 Days of Cybersecurity Apple vision pro Vulnerability Exposes Virtual Keyboard Inputs to Attackers 🛡️ A recent vulnerability in Apple’s Vision Pro has raised concerns in the cybersecurity community. This flaw allows attackers to intercept virtual keyboard inputs in augmented reality (AR), potentially exposing sensitive information like passwords, financial data, and private messages. 🔍 How the Vulnerability Works: The Vision Pro’s immersive virtual keyboard, used for typing in AR environments, was found to lack adequate encryption or isolation mechanisms. When a user interacts with the virtual keyboard, the inputs could be monitored by a nearby attacker, leading to data leakage. The vulnerability exploits the insecure communication channels between the AR environment and the system handling the keyboard inputs. 🛑 Impact: Exposed Credentials: Passwords, login details, and sensitive information typed in AR could be captured. Privacy Invasion: Attackers can gain insight into a user’s private communications and activities within the AR space. Expanded Attack Surface: Since AR devices are connected to various online services, attackers could exploit this vulnerability for broader attacks. 🔧 Mitigation Steps: Patch Update: Apple has issued a critical security patch to fix the input handling mechanism. Users should update their Vision Pro devices immediately. Use Strong Authentication: Always enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) to minimize the impact of exposed credentials. Be Cautious in AR: Until AR environments adopt stronger security frameworks, avoid entering sensitive data in AR spaces. This vulnerability underscores the evolving risks in immersive AR technologies. As devices like the Vision Pro become more popular, so too do the security challenges that come with them. The balance between innovation and cybersecurity must be continuously maintained. #Cybersecurity #AppleVisionPro #VirtualKeyboardVulnerability #ARSecurity #TechSecurity #Infosec #100DaysOfCybersecurity #Day39

Qualcomm Chip vulnerability encourages Malware attacks on Android Users https://lnkd.in/euvvtrW9 Android users, especially those using high-end phones manufactured by Google, Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Samsung you better be aware of this intense cyber threat. Security researchers from Counterpoint Research have discovered a vulnerability in Qualcomm Chips being operated in some of the high-end smart phones that when exploited could lead to malware attacks and data steal. Yes, what you’ve read is right! Vulnerability in Qualcomm Mobile Station Modem (MSM) is allowing hackers to tamper the android operating system on a device and inject malicious codes that then grant permissions to hackers to access data such as contacts, SMSes, photos, […]

As we embrace the exciting possibilities of 5G technology, a chilling discovery exposes a potential Achilles' heel in our hyperconnected world – a series of critical vulnerabilities in Qualcomm's 5G chips, impacting 714 smartphone models making up about 80% of the handsets from leading brands. Unveiled by Dr Matheus E. Garbelini during his PhD research at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), these flaws (CVE-2023-33044, 33043, and 33042) could allow malicious actors operating rogue 5G base stations to launch "Denial of Service" attacks. This essentially cripples your phone's 5G connection, leaving you disconnected to a fake base station and potentially vulnerable. Dr. Garbelini and his team, including SUTD's Mr. Zewen Shang and collaborators from A*STAR's Institute for Infocomm Research, uncovered these vulnerabilities through meticulous "Wireless Fuzzing" tests. Thankfully, Qualcomm promptly acknowledged the issue and released security patches to address the flaws. However, the lack of foolproof defense against such attacks underscores the importance of keeping your phone software up-to-date. Dr Garbelini urges users to prioritize software updates, a simple yet crucial step towards safeguarding their mobile security. Qualcomm, recognizing the significance of Dr. Garbelini's discovery, awarded him for identifying these critical vulnerabilities. This is a testament to their commitment to strengthening security measures and protecting their users. This incident is a stark reminder of the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats, especially with the rapid adoption of 5G technology. It's time we embrace a proactive approach to mobile security, prioritizing software updates and remaining vigilant against potential vulnerabilities. So, are you keeping your phone software updated? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below. #5G #Security #Innovation #Motivation #Singapore

A group of researchers say they have uncovered a series of security flaws in different 5G basebands — essentially processors used by cell phones to connect to mobile networks — which could have allowed hackers to stealthily hack victims and spy on them. The researchers from Pennsylvania State University presented their findings at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, as well as in an academic paper. Using a custom-made analysis tool they called 5GBaseChecker, the researchers uncovered baseband vulnerabilities made by Samsung, MediaTek, and Qualcomm, which are used in phones made by Google, OPPO, OnePlus, Motorola, and Samsung. The researchers are Kai Tu, Yilu Dong, Abdullah Al Ishtiaq, Syed Md Mukit Rashid, Weixuan Wang, Tianwei Wu, and Syed Rafiul Hussain. On Wednesday, they released 5GBaseChecker on GitHub so that other researchers can use it to hunt for 5G vulnerabilities. Hussain, an assistant professor at Penn State, told TechCrunch that he and his students were able to trick phones with those vulnerable 5G basebands into connecting to a fake base station — essentially a fake cell phone tower — and from there launch their attacks. Tu, one of the students, said that their most critical attack allowed them to exploit the phone from that fake base station. At that point, Tu said, “the security of 5G was totally broken.” “The attack is totally silent,” Tu added. #informationsecurity #cybersecurity #security #networks #5g #telecom #smartphones #hacking #blackhat #vulnerabilities #mobilenetworks #spying #networksecurity #blackhat2024

CMMC Level 2 Assessment Objective: Collaborative Device Control PRACTICE: Organizations must prohibit remote activation of collaborative computing devices and provide indication of devices in use to users present at the device. ASSESSMENT: Collaborative computing devices include networked whiteboards, cameras, and microphones. Notification that a device is in use can include an indicator light that turns on or a specific text window that appears on screen. If a device does not have the means to alert a user when in use, the organization should provide manual means. Be prepared! Your assessor could ask to 🔍 EXAMINE system and communications protection policy. 🗣 INTERVIEW system or network administrators. 📝 TEST mechanisms supporting or implementing management of remote activation of collaborative computing devices. (CMMC Assessment Guide: Level 2 Version 2.11, page 231) #CMMC #DoD #cybersecurity #NIST #InformationSecurity

WHAT ARE THE CYBER SECURITY IMPLICATIONS OF WINDOWS RECALL? You may or may not have seen the reports in the news over the past week about a new feature coming to compatible Windows 11 devices later this year. #WindowsRecall is designed to be your digital memory, linking directly into Microsoft Copilot as part of their new Copilot+ line of devices. Originally designed to launch alongside the new Qualcomm #SnapdragonXElite and #SnapdragonXPlus powered devices (with compatible Intel Corporation & AMD devices expected to follow), Microsoft designed this as a new "Opt Out" feature which would take a screenshot of your displays every 5 seconds so that it could use #AI and #MachineLearning to understand what you have been doing, what websites you have been visiting, apps that you have been using, emails you have been sending and receiving and much more. Allowing you to ask questions such as "Where did Vik say we would meet for coffee?", it can then look at websites you have used, WhatsApp, emails and more to find conversations that you have had with people, messages sent & received, and produce results for you based on this query, understanding those screenshots and their content in context. Sounds useful for many right? But what are the #CyberSecurity implications? Windows is taking a screenshot of everything you do every 5 seconds and storing them in a folder on your device. Thankfully this is encrypted so that only the user of the device can access them. But what happen's if that user is targeted in a #CyberAttack? Or plugs in a malicious #USBRubberDucky that is designed to target and extract the contents of this screenshots folder? That could potentially steal a wealth of user information! Including bank details, addresses, personal details, photos (both sent and received) that may not even be stored directly on the device, they could understand the sites you visit, shop at and MUCH more. What happens if you leave your laptop unlocked in your hotel room and a cleaner comes in and asks #Copilot "Show me my bank details."? Will it be able to produce results for times that you have entered your bank credentials? Microsoft has quickly tried to assure people by assuring that screenshots will not be taken in certain scenarios such as when browsing privately or if you blacklist particular websites from the feature. But this still left many concerned, causing Microsoft to delay the rollout of Recall until later this year and to instead make this an "Opt In" feature. Regardless, many businesses have still stated that, unless Microsoft can put stronger protections in place, they will be blocking this from being enabled outright due to the cyber security concerns with Windows screenshotting potentially sensitive business data that could be targeted by cyber criminals. But what are your thoughts? Will Microsoft Recall be a useful tool to improve productivity? Or is it a Cyber Security nightmare that businesses should be aware of? #TwentyFourIn24

I briefly touched on this topic in a recent talk I gave... This has been going on for years, and although it is not as simple, as it once was, it is still a concern, unfortunately. Similar to stealthy open / free public WiFi in hotels and coffee shops etc., you could be routing all of your information through someone's rogue network and never know it as they capture your data or worse... Something to be aware of and understand your surroundings.... https://lnkd.in/g-y53pcr

My thoughts and *very* brief explanation of the hardware backdoor discovered on the iPhone chip, as part of Operation Triangulation: Background: Operation Triangulation is the name of attacks utilizing undocumented functions in Apple Chips to circumvent hardware-based security measures. As part of this, Kaspersky discovered and disclosed a hardware backdoor on the iPhone chip. It was not documented anywhere, and was incredibly obscure, to the point where the Kaspersky researchers were only able to uncover it after discovering Malware that was utilizing it. The steps required to take advantage of this by threat actors required chaining multiple zero-days before utilizing this hardware feature, which ultimately allowed full control over the device. Apple has since addressed it in CVE-2023-38606. This leaves multiple questions and thoughts. 1. The hardware backdoor still exists, Apple has just removed access to it. 2. Who knew about this, and how did the threat actors learn about it given how obscure it is? 3. Even if this one was discovered and patched, who's to say that the next generation of phones or other devices doesn't have a similar design, just in a different memory location, etc, which hasn't been discovered yet? I recommend reading Kaspersky's article about this, as it was discovered by their GReAT team. I also highly recommend episode #955 of the Security Now Podcast by the TWiT network, where they do a deep dive into the technicals of this discovery. If anyone wants to chat tech and cybersecurity, please connect with me, I'm always happy to discuss! #cybersecurity #apple #iphone #infosec #informationsecurity https://lnkd.in/e3kRbAPS https://lnkd.in/evBMbdq3

Highly anticipated Apple Vision Pro, hacked hours after launch. The highly anticipated launch of Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset was met with an unexpected cybersecurity hiccup. Within hours of its release on February 6, 2024, a critical kernel vulnerability was identified by Joseph Ravichandran, a Ph.D. student at MIT specializing in Microarchitecture Security. This flaw in the device’s visionOS software could potentially open doors to jailbreaks and malware attacks, marking a significant security concern for early adopters of the technology. Ravichandran, known on X (formerly Twitter) as @0xjprx, revealed the world’s first publicly-disclosed kernel exploit for the Vision Pro. His findings were demonstrated through a custom application named “Vision Pro Crasher,” showcasing a 3D skull wearing a headset alongside a “Crash My Vision Pro” button. This exploit triggers a crash, forcing the device into a full passthrough view and prompting the wearer to remove the headset for a reboot, accompanied by a panic log indicating a kernel crash. This incident highlights the ever-present challenge of securing cutting-edge technology and the importance of rigorous security testing. Apple, known for its swift response to security vulnerabilities, faces a critical test in addressing this flaw, especially considering the Vision Pro’s premium launch. The tech community eagerly awaits to see whether Ravichandran’s discovery will qualify for Apple’s Security Bounty program and how quickly the Cupertino-based tech giant will issue a fix. As we navigate the evolving landscape of mixed reality technology, this serves as a reminder of the importance of cybersecurity vigilance. It’s likely that Apple will release a patch for this pretty quickly, based on their existing track record. #AppleVisionPro #Cybersecurity #TechnologyNews #KernelVulnerability #MixedReality #data

Vision Breach: "𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗞𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗶𝘁 Explained" Exploit Technique: Kernel Exploit leveraging undocumented API calls Triggering device's passthrough mode to display a warning and force a reboot. Local access is required for execution. Enjoy. Joseph Ravichandran, an MIT PhD student, managed to discover a kernel exploit in the Apple Vision Pro on its launch day. This exploit potentially allows unauthorized access, malware installation, or complete jailbreaking of the headset. Ravichandran demonstrated that when the device crashes, it switches to full passthrough and requires a reboot within 30 seconds—highlighting a critical vulnerability right at the heart of the new technology. Impact Estimation: Compromise of device integrity and user privacy Secondary Effects: Potential disruption of iCloud, FaceTime, and Apple Pay services Risk to Users: High due to the possibility of unauthorized software installations that can lead to device inoperability Apple has updated its Vision Pro user guide to caution against unauthorized modifications of visionOS, indicating potential severe repercussions such as device inoperability and denial of service from Apple. Mitigation Measures: Users should apply any updates from Apple that address this exploit. Clear communication to users about the risks of unauthorized modifications. Apple should review and tighten security measures around kernel access and device boot processes. This incident underscores the importance of robust security testing, especially for new technologies entering the market. Companies must anticipate and guard against both direct and indirect attack vectors. Apple and other tech companies may need to rethink their security strategies, especially for devices integrating advanced technologies like mixed reality, to prevent similar vulnerabilities in the future. https://lnkd.in/ecVEbGVY #AppleVisionPro #KernelExploit #CyberSecurity #TechNews #MIT #Hacking #InnovationSecurity #VisionProHack #SoftwareVulnerability #AppleUpdate