Tenable Network Security Podcast - Episode 17

Welcome to the Tenable Network Security Podcast - Episode 17

Announcements

• A new blog post has been released from Marcus Ranum titled, "Afterbites with Marcus Ranum: Gartner & Two-Factor Authentication"
• You can provide feedback to this podcast and all of our social media outlets by visiting our discussions forum and adding messages to the "Tenable Social Media" thread. I would love to hear your feedback, questions, comments, and suggestions!
• We're hiring! - Visit the web site for more information about open positions, there are currently 14 open positions!
• You can subscribe to the Tenable Network Security Podcast on iTunes!
• Tenable Tweets - You find us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tenablesecurity where we make various announcements, Nessus plugin statistics, and more!

Stories

• PHP-Calendar remote code execution - I know, I know, we've all been warned about how bad PHP applications can be. But really, its bad. You may dismiss some of the web application vulnerabilities, but PHP has some nasty ones. Simple vulnerabilities can be manipulated to read files, including configuration files. SQL injection can be used to write files to disk, then execute them. In short, PHP vulnerabilities are just as good as remote shell in many cases, so treat them as such in your risk evaluation.
• "Attack Of The RAM Scrapers" - The evolution of computer security and hacking never ceases to amaze me. Just when you think that the good guys are "winning", you see attackers adapting to the changes and being very successful. This is prime example. Since many organizations, in part due to PCI regulations, are now encrypting data from end to end, attackers are just pulling it from RAM where it is temporarily stored unencrypted. This simple, yet elegant attack, has been around for some time, but becoming very useful in today's landscape.
• U.S. Predator drones video snooping - $26 worth of parts gives you the capability to snoop on video signals sent from the latest U.S predator drones. This epic fail makes us all wonder what else is being sent "in the clear" across the air that may be sensitive. In my experience, I've found that security through obscurity reigns supreme when it comes to radio communications. We've seen this happen with Wifi, bluetooth, ZigBee, and even pager traffic! If its in the air, people will intercept it, so it had better be encrypted.
• Top Ten Nessus Plugins of 2009 - This week we will be putting a post together that will document some of our favorite plugins. If you would like to make recommendations, feel free to email your suggestions to paul [at] nessus.org. I have to say that without a doubt the web application testing plugins are some of my favorites. There has been some new functionality added that you will see features on the blog and our video site starting next year. For example, Nessus now supports a cookie import feature. This is great for applications that use a cookie for various settings (for example DVWA uses it to set the security level) and for authentication. Also, with respects to authentication, Nessus can now login to an application and be provided with a web page and string to check which indicates if Nessus is still logged into the web application. The other class of plugins that are my favorites are any plugin that detects a default or weak username and password. My absolute favorite is the plugin that detects a Dell Remote Access Controller default password, which in certain cases gives you a root prompt!