Tag Archives: Privacy on the Internetz

New Facebook Privacy Settings: For Better or For Worse?

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Posted by Tom on December 10, 2009 – 1:59 am
Filed under Privacy on the Internetz, Social Networks
Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

Everyone has probably already heard that Facebook rolled out new privacy settings today.  If you haven’t seen them or gotten the following pop-up box on login…you will soon:

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There are a great deal of articles already out about how this is such a great improvement and how these new settings give you more control over your privacy.  However, I would argue that these settings may possibly open up more issues then they are trying to prevent.  The best article on the new settings and the privacy implications is the one that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released today titled: Facebook’s New Privacy Changes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  I recommend everyone (no pun intended) read this article as it provides much more detail then I will provide in this post.

What I want to do is provide you with a summary of the good and the bad of the new privacy settings.  I also want to give a security professional’s point of view on these settings.  As a penetration tester I can tell you that my job just got way easier!  You may have read my series on Enterprise Open Source Intelligence Gathering in which I tell you how you can find information on social networks about your company and employees.  Well, searching for information on Facebook just got easier thanks to status updates being available using new technology like Google Real-time Search!  Ok, on to the better and the worse!

The Better?

  • The new way privacy settings are “managed” is a good thing.  It’s easier to find and navigate through the settings.
  • I like that they ask you for your password to change privacy settings.  It’s just another layer.  Now, this doesn’t help much if you have a keylogger installed but it seems they put this in to prevent bots that may have taken over your account access to your settings.  Again, not fool proof but another layer.
  • The ability to fully customize privacy settings on all the content you post.  So for example, you can specify if you want everyone on the Internet to view your status updates (more on that in a minute) or Friends, Friends of Friends and Custom.
  • Users are now somewhat “forced” to check out their privacy settings.  It’s more accessible that’s for sure.

The Worse?

  • Your Name, Profile Picture, Gender, Current City, Networks, Friend List, and Pages are all available to be viewed by EVERYONE on Facebook! You cannot change these settings at all.  Note, there is a way to remove your entire Friends List from your profile but it’s all or nothing!  Here is a screen shot of this. You have to set it in your profile page using the “edit” button and check the box.These changes are quite disturbing considering that you used to be able to restrict this type of information.  I really believe that Facebook has done this on purpose so *more* information is being shared about you while stating “enhanced” more granular privacy settings.  If you have been to one of my talks in the past I always mention that social networks need to find ways to make money.  The way they make money is off of the information you share!  If you don’t get a choice about the basic information anymore…that’s more money in their pocket at the expense of your privacy.
  • What about the security ramifications of this? It opens up a whole new world for cyberstalking, predators and other attackers.  If you were someone that didn’t feel comfortable sharing this information in the first place, your choice is gone.  Sure, you can lock down your profile so no one can search for you but if you do that…why are you on Facebook to begin with?  You *have* to let your real friends search for you at some point!
  • By default Facebook “suggests” that you set your status updates to “Everyone”.  Here is the thing with status updates….Everyone means everyone on the Internet!  This is where new technology like Google RTS comes into play.  Imagine how easy it will be to find the latest information on “Tiger Woods” or now everything YOU are saying on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.  Enter in some social engineering and things just got easier for attackers looking to use you or your information (which is easy to figure out now that I can see your friends, and things that interest you via the pages your a fan of).
  • Lastly, Facebook removed the ability to prevent Facebook applications your friends installed from pulling your “public” information.  That option is now gone and applications that your friends install can now view your “public” info.  Remember kids, “public” info is now: Your Name, Profile Picture, Gender, Current City, Networks, Friend List, and Pages.

One final note…be sure to double check all your privacy settings after you run the wizard.  I found a few settings that reverted back to settings I never had.  So what are your thoughts?  Will this make you lock your profile down more?  Do you care?  Is privacy dead anyway? Will Zombies destroy us all? :-)

Launching: SocialMediaSecurity.com

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Posted by Tom on July 29, 2009 – 4:45 pm
Filed under Social Networks
Tagged as , , , ,

skullI wanted to get this post up before I leave for DefCon since it will be hard to have time to blog in Vegas.  In a nutshell, I started a new web site called socialmediasecurity.com.  This was originally a project that I started to move my social media research over to a separate web site but has since evolved into something much larger.  What I have done is consolidated (with permission) research from other security researchers such as Aviv Raff, Joseph Bonneau, Kevin Johnson, Nathan Hamiel, Scott Wright, theharmonyguy and more.  Each article links back to the original author.  The purpose of this was to have an easy way to search on a specific topic or social network (for example: Twitter) and get the security information you are looking for.  You can subscribe to post updates via RSS, Email or through Twitter.

In addition, at the top of the page are links to downloadable guides, presentations, video’s and more.  All of this content is related to user education and awareness on social media security issues.  This is obviously a work in progress and I plan to have more content added to this very soon.  One thing I am working on that I wanted to get out before my talk at DefCon was a detailed walk-through video of the Facebook Privacy Settings (basically a walk-through of my guide).  I haven’t finished the video yet and I might have to redo it since Facebook will be releasing a new interface for privacy settings in the near future.  The plan is to do one for each of the major social networking sites as well as a downloadable guide like the Facebook one.

So…you can also concider this a call for volunteers! :)   If you would like to contribute anything (guides, videos, research, tools, blog on the site) or have feedback let me know by sending me an email (tom[aT]spylogic.net).  There are a few other researchers and volunteers working on some really cool stuff for the web site.  Far too many ignore the security and privacy issues of social media.  We welcome your participation to help make a difference!

JanusPA – Hardware Privacy Adapter

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Posted by Tom on December 23, 2008 – 11:45 am
Filed under Privacy on the Internetz
Tagged as , ,

This is really cool. The guys that brought you the JanusVM Internet Privacy Appliance are about to release instructions on how to make a hardware privacy adapter. What is a hardware privacy adapter you ask?

Via Hack a day:

“It’s a small two port router. You just plug it in-line between your computer’s switch and your internet connection. It will then anonymize all of your traffic via the Tor network. You can also use it with OpenVPN. The hardware appears to be a Gumstix computer mounted to a daughtercard with two ethernet ports. It will have a web configuration just like a standard router. This looks like a great plug-n-play privacy device.”

Once you buy all the parts you can build your own for about $250. Not too bad for an easy way to anonymize all of your traffic over the Tor network or a VPN. Tor and Privoxy can sometimes be a real pain to configure so something like this would be fantastic to just plug in and configure once. It’s also nice that is can use OpenVPN as well.

My only issue with Tor is that it can be *really* slow for web surfing depending on what relays you connect to and there are some warnings you should be aware of. Also, your Tor installation needs to be updated frequently as the development team is always making updates and improvements. However, Tor is better then nothing if you are concerned with online anonymity.

Kudos to the JanusPA team…looks like I might have a hardware project to work on next year once the instructions get released.

Exploiting trust in social networks

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Posted by Tom on October 6, 2008 – 9:05 am
Filed under Social Networks
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Over the weekend I posted my first article on Social Network/Media security over at Blogsecurify. You can check out the post here. My next article will talk about the security of third-party applications and widgets for social media applications.

New Ohio Identity Theft Law: Epic FAIL for Consumers

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Posted by Tom on September 2, 2008 – 11:50 pm
Filed under Identity Theft
Tagged as , ,

Freeze or Thaw?

I have to give the lawmakers in the state of Ohio some credit for attempting to take identity theft somewhat seriously. It’s actually about time since every other state in the US has had laws for a long time now. Unfortunately, they got it wrong. The problem is that they have made something that is fairly manageable for consumers into another way for the three credit agencies to make more money.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

“When a new Ohio law kicks in on Labor Day, you’ll be able to freeze your credit reports for $5 a pop. Security freezes let you “lock up” your credit report and scores, making it more difficult for an identity thief to open accounts in your name. New account fraud isn’t the most common type of identity theft, but it’s one of the more expensive and time-consuming varieties to clear up. A freeze is an important tool in combating this financial crime.

To get the best protection, you’ll need to freeze your files at all three credit bureaus, meaning you’ll shell out up to $15.”

and to “thaw” your “freeze”…

“You’ll need to temporarily thaw a freeze when you shop for credit, buy insurance or do anything else that requires a credit check. Each thaw costs $5. Ohio’s law lets you thaw for a specific party or, if you’re applying to multiple lenders, for a specific period of time. If you’re thawing for a specific lender, ask which bureau it plans to use so you can minimize the cost and thaw only at that bureau. Make sure you have the lender’s correct name so it can access your report.”

Confused yet? Let me explain….

So fork out your first $15 to get this baby started. Now when you are ready to buy something that requires a credit check…don’t forget to call the credit agencies to “thaw” your “freeze”. But wait! Which one do you call? Not sure? Call all three and fork out another $15. Oh? I need a PIN to thaw my account? Most consumers will forget what the PIN was so thats another $5 to get a PIN reset. Is the freeze a pain in the ass to manage? No problem…fork out another $15 to remove the freeze to permanently thaw your credit.

There are two solutions that provide similar protection:

1. Every 90 days call each of the three credit agency’s and put a fraud alert on your credit reports. This costs nothing and is pretty effective…but a pain to remember.

or better yet…

2. Get a monitoring service like Debix. They will freeze your credit and provide real time monitoring. You can’t beat the service for $24 a year. Between the $15 freeze and if you need to open up your credit one time with all three agency’s, Debix is a cheaper, more reliable and safer with less work. If you want some good information on Debix and how it works check out Rich Mogull’s blog post.

Oh. If you read the full news article…check out the following (funny) information required if you want to hook this up via snail mail:

“By certified mail: Send your full name, with middle initial and generation (for example, Jr. or II); Social Security number; date of birth (month, day and year); current address and previous addresses for the past two years; and $5 fee (not cash) to…”

Good thing identity thieves don’t steal mail these days….who really sends certified mail anyway right? :-)