» Smart Phones, Web Design, Google or whatever
Posts tagged security
Gmail, China and Security
Mar 25th
Gmail has beefed up account security a little recently, possibly in part due to the recent China hacking and phishing attacks and intrusions. Now, detecting suspicious account activity has gotten a little simpler.
You may remember Gmail’s 2008 Remote Sign Out and Info post where they announced the then new remote sign out and info feature which allowed you to see from what IP, and at what time your past several logins occurred in your Gmail account. You can access the Activity on This Account info window when logged into Gmail by scrolling to the bottom and clicking the Details link you can see in the screenshot below.
Now, if Gmail notices logins from different locations and figures you aren’t likely to have accessed your account from those locations, you will see a notice when you login next.
For example, you aren’t likely to be able to access your account from Canada and Mexico within 15 minutes of one another.
Now, if it looks like something unusual is going on with your account, we’ll also alert you by posting a warning message saying, “Warning: We believe your account was last accessed from…” along with the geographic region that we can best associate with the access.
- Google’s Pavni Diwanji, Engineering Director
The Activity on This Account info window has been changed to reflect new information now available to you as a result of this latest security change. Here’s what it looks like now.
Now you can more easily detect if your account has been accessed without your permission or knowledge more easily. If you think your account has been compromised you should change your password, and it won’t hurt to check your Google Account settings to make sure that your secondary email address has not been changed – or in the case you don’t have one making sure that one has not been added. I’d guess that in the future it will only get easier to determine if someone has been tampering with your Gmail account.
RELATED READING
Google and China, New Approach No Censoring
Mar 22nd
Today, 3/22/2010, Google stopped censoring Chinese search results as a result of continued hacking/phishing attacks and intrusions against Google and other companies as also noted in their earlier post from January, 2010 – A New Approach to China.
The search engine & web applications giant has redirected visits at Google.cn (Google China) to Google.hk (Google Hong Kong). Google has tried it the Chinese government’s way, now they are taking their new approach. Google says:
So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong.
- A new approach to China: an update (Google Blog)
Concerning the increased traffic at Google Hong Kong, Google says:
Due to the increased load on our Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as we switch everything over.
- A new approach to China: an update (Google Blog)
More Gmail Security Tips
Oct 27th
The Gmail blog today posted another security-related article as part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Of the 5 security tips in their Gmail account security tips the only one that causes me any pause is tip 3, Enable “Always use HTTPS.” Any of my friends would tell you that I’m a “Google Freak” and this blog will backs that up pretty well.
Here’s my issue with the Enable “Always use HTTPS” feature, just take a trip to Gmail Help’s “Enabling the HTTPS setting” and read the yellow warning box at top. Call me spoiled, but I don’t want any problems with Gmail Notifier (patch available here), Gmail for Mobile application (if you have a new enough version a workaround is posted here, at the cost of speed), or my Google Toolbar (a minor issue you can read about here).
With that one exception I heartily recommend the security tips, and in case you missed the link, you should read Gmail account security tips for all 5 tips!
MORE GMAIL RESOURCES
Getting Started
Gmail Support
Known Issues
Suggest a Feature
Gmail Blog Highlights Passwords
Oct 6th
As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (see Gmail’s post for a link) Gmail is reminding people to use passwords wisely and has some great tips.
I am somewhat of a security freak (as those who know me will attest to) and I heartily recommend reading Google’s post. Here are some bad password practices Gmail’s Michael Santerre, Consumer Operations Associate points out that his original post lists solutions to:
- Re-using passwords is a bad practice (using the same password for more than one website)
- Using dictionary words, common passwords, and letters in sequence on the keyboard (like “pass”, “password”, “logmein”, “start”, and “zxcvb”)
- Using passwords based on personal data (like spouse’s name or birthdate)
- Storing your password in an unsecure place (like a sticky note on your monitor)
- Poor Password Recovery (hard passwords may be forgotten/lost, how will you find them if this happens?)
User-friendly ‘Darknets’ may become a Reality
Jul 27th
ZDNet ran a story recently called Researchers create browser-based ‘darknet’ that sheds favorable light on computer manufacturer HP, and gives some credit to Google Chrome, Mozilla and Firefox. Evidently HP has come up with a browser-based darknet (Wikipedia – Darknet) that they have no intention of patenting, copyrighting or making into anything more than an open source their idea.
Advances in JavaScript engines, such as Google’s Chrome V8 and Mozilla’s TraceMonkey, have also helped make browser-based darknets possible, according to Wood. These engines allow browser-based communications to be set up quickly and encrypted. The Veiled darknet uses RSA public key cryptography, but any cryptography will work.
So thank HP for getting the ball rolling and pushing the envelope with new browser advancements and the promise of simpler file sharing, but expect the open source community to have to actually write the code for the project since HP isn’t sharing code.
MORE DETAILS
Read ZDNet – Researchers create browser-based ‘darknet’
Read HP – Hello darknets, my old friend…
Read Slashdot – Researchers Build a Browser-Based Darknet
Turkish Hackers Penetrate Army Servers
Jun 13th
According to ZDNet’s U.S. Army servers breached by Turkish hackers and InformationWeek’s Anti-U.S. Hackers Infiltrate Army Servers Turkish hackers penetrated US Army servers in January of this year and September 2007. The same group also hacked a site maintained by Internet Security experts Kaspersky Lab.
I understand how NASA can get hacked, though I don’t know why the government puts up with it. However when it comes to the US Army everything should be locked down tight. These sources indicate that the hack was carried out through an SQL Injection attack exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft’s SQL Server. Why would anyone use a Windows Server on purpose?
Rant, rant, yes I rant and I should not. I just guess I sort of expect that the US Army (and other government agencies) shouldn’t be getting hacked – even every 2 years.
Hacking NASA
Nov 21st
Its scary that in April 2005 NASA was hacked and still no one is really sure exactly who did the hacking. If they do know, they are not saying. The usual suspects include Russia and China but no formal accusations have been made.
Apparently NASA’s computers are a weak link in the DoD information chain. According to BusinessWeek online:
America’s military and scientific institutions—along with the defense industry that serves them—are being robbed of secret information on satellites, rocket engines, launch systems, and even the Space Shuttle. The thieves operate via the Internet from Asia and Europe, penetrating U.S. computer networks. Some of the intruders are suspected of having ties to the governments of China and Russia, interviews and documents show. Of all the arms of the U.S. government, few are more vulnerable than NASA, the civilian space agency, which also works closely with the Pentagon and American intelligence services.
For about 10 years now NASA has been aware of these intrusions and have not been able to stop them, and its costing actual dollars in terms of hardware, not just data and research. Another quote from this BusinessWeek online article says:
In 1998 a U.S.-German satellite known as ROSAT, used for peering into deep space, was rendered useless after it turned suddenly toward the sun. NASA investigators later determined that the accident was linked to a cyber-intrusion at the Goddard Space Flight Center in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. The interloper sent information to computers in Moscow, NASA documents show. U.S. investigators fear the data ended up in the hands of a Russian spy agency.
So in other words there was a hack incident where a satellite was turned toward our Sun and for all intents and purposes turned into a pile of orbiting junk. You would think in the 10+ years NASA would have secured funding for new software, hardware and manpower to protects its (and our) interests. Undoubtedly something has been done, but as this article seems to indicate, NASA is still a target being successfully penetrated by foreign interests.
