Rogue Google certificate used by 300,000 Iranian IPs

DigiNotar's network "severely breached", servers not patched

Iranian internet users whose security may have been compromised by the forged Google.com digital certificate could number in the hundreds of thousands. An interim report (PDF) commissioned by DigiNotar, the certification authority (CA) at the centre of the hacking incident, also reveals lax security at the Dutch firm.

"Around 300,000 unique requesting IPs to google.com have been identified. Of these IPs >99% originated from Iran," said the report, which was based on an analysis of DigiNotar's server logs by Dutch information security firm Fox-IT. "A sample of the IPs outside of Iran showed mainly to be TOR-exit nodes, proxies and other (VPN) servers, and almost no direct subscribers."

TOR is a network of servers that hides the origin of web browsing sessions, allowing anonymous internet use.

The rogue DigiNotar certificate may have been used in a man-in-the-middle attack to intercept a user's Google login. If their Google login cookie were intercepted, this would allow the attacker to log in directly to their Gmail inbox to read email, and access other Google services including stored location information from Latitude and documents in GoogleDocs.

"Once the hacker is able to receive his targets' e-mail he is also able to reset passwords of others [sic] services like Facebook and Twitter using the lost password button," the report said.

DigiNotar's network was "severely breached", with numerous security flaws.

"All CA servers were members of one Windows domain, which made it possible to access them all using one obtained user/password combination. The password was not very strong and could easily be brute-forced," the report said.

Software on the public web servers was outdated and not patched, no secure central network logging was in place, and the servers investigated by Fox-IT had no anti-virus protection.

"The most critical servers contain[ed] malicious software that can normally be detected by anti-virus software," the report said.

"A number of malicious/hacker software tools was found. These vary from commonly used tools such as the famous Cain & Abel tool to tailor made software. Specifically developed software probably enabled the hackers to upload the generated certificates to a dropbox."

Fox-IT found that a total of 531 fraudulent certificates have been issued. They include certificates for the domains android.com, aol.com, logmein.com, microsoft,com, mossad.gov.il, the UK's MI6 at sis.gov.au, skype.com, torproject.org, twitter.com, windowsupdate.com and wordpress.com.

Fox-IT's investigation team included forensic experts, cybercrime investigators, malware analysts and a security expert with PKI experience, and was headed directly by CEO J R Prins.

Tags: breach, DigiNotar, digital certificates, Dropbox, Fox-IT, Google, hackers, MI6, network security, network servers, pki, security, Tor, VPN servers

Comments

1

gigi

Wed 30/11/2011 - 23:55

VPN servers

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CSO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
CSO Corporate Partners
  • FirEye
  • Clear Swift
  • Trend Micro
  • Sophos
  • NetIQ
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to CSO, invitation only events, reports & analysis.
CSO Directory

Sophos SafeGuard Enterprise

Your central key for data protection

more »

Submit your own security event

Submit your training courses

Security Awareness Tip
Clearswift tips: Guidelines for introducing and policing an effective IT Policy

1. Make it clear that the policy is not about playing ‘Big Brother’ but to ensure the security of employees, company information and data and to safeguard the company’s reputation.
2. Invest time to get buy-in from managers and their teams.
3. Convey the message of flexibility – with regard to social media, it is not about blocking staff usage but working in everyone’s interests to ensure that threats are contained.
4. Introduce a regular company-wide training programme that everyone attends at regular intervals throughout the year, not merely as part of an induction programme.
5. Within the training programme make sure that there are specific examples to demonstrate each rule or regulation, and that there is a clear explanation of the dangers of casual or careless talk on social networking sites. Again use examples, employees need to understand the consequences of raising a throwaway comment that has negative connotations for the business, as much as they need to be aware of dangers of making a more direct but ill-considered attack on a competitor, regulator or even a fellow colleague. They need to be clearly advised on any impact on the company and/or legal action or inquires that may be raised as a result.
6. Alert employees to any changes in policy through regular clear communication.
7. Reinforce the operational policy guidelines regularly, cover everything from blogging to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
8. Ensure that the rules are fair and that they apply throughout the business.
9. Enforce the rules – if there is a deliberate or malicious contravening, disciplinary action needs to be taken. A policy isn’t worth having if it is seen to be lax and unenforced.
10. Review the policy regularly to ensure you keep up to date with new systems and technology.

Phil Vasic is Regional Director, APAC, at Clearswift, the software security company www.clearswift.com
Security ABC Guides

7 Ways to Protect Your Business Printers

Can a hacker burn down your business by remotely setting one of your printers on fire? Researchers at Columbia University have recently proposed such a scenario, although HP quickly denied that it's possible. However, even if your printers can't be used as remote firestarters, there are many risks involved in networking a printer.

Read More
more »