Infosec Reading List – July 2017

On a monthly basis I will publish my reading recommendations which mainly focus on Information Security and Outdoor Sports – but you will also find other recommendations from time to time.

All InfoSec Reading Lists can be found here.

Best of Twitterverse

InfoSec

Pnyetya: Yet Another Ransomware Outbreak – link
If the focus of cybersecurity programs continues to be on designing better technologies to combat the growing menace of cyberattacks, we’ll continue to neglect the most important aspect of security — the person in the middle. – link
Some interesting aspects of bringing a device into China the secure way – Travel (Linux) laptop setup – link
The 5 Stages of Data Breach Grief – link
A curated list of amazingly awesome OSINT – link
The .io Error – Taking Control of All .io Domains With a Targeted Registration – hijacking (unregistered) nameservers for a TLD can end up very badly in case this is done by adversaries – automatic redirections to drive-by malware servers, phishing websites etc. would be possible. Additionally, it could have a privacy impact on people visiting .io domains. A mitigation could be to make sure that all nameservers in the delegation chain are properly registered – this could be checked automatically on a frequent basis – link
Beyond public key encryption – link
Rooting a Printer: From Security Bulletin to Remote Code Execution – link
Google’s Elite Hacker SWAT Team vs. Everyone – link

Layer 7

One Cloud-based Local File Inclusion = Many Companies affected – that’s the risk in case you use 3rd party software which source code you don’t own – link
Red Team Insights on HTTPS Domain Fronting Google Hosts Using Cobalt Strike – link
Hunting in the Dark – Blind XXE – link
Lifting the clouds from cloud investigations – investigating an Office 365 environment based on logfiles – link

IoT (with S for “Security”)

Victoria Police cancel hundreds of speeding fines after WannaCry virus attack – link
Now your nightlight can notify you of retweets and emails – obviously we have reached that level already – link

Malware/Phishing

NonPetya: no evidence it was a “smokescreen” – link
LeakerLocker: Mobile Ransomware Acts Without Encryption – the interesting part of this malware is that it threatens to share private content with people in the contact list – we have to expect more malware/ransomware like this which threatens to publish private information in the future – link
PayBreak – Generically recovering from ransomware including WannaCry/WannaCryptor – the weakness of these kind of approaches is the need to install yet another agent on the endpoints which should act as a preventative measure, similar to an AV – the solution can’t be to install an agent for whatever risk you face – link
Can files locked by WannaCry be decrypted: A technical analysis – link

Mobile Related

Two Ztorg Trojans Removed from Google Play Store Are Definitely Better – on the difficulty of finding malicious code updates of android apps – link
Google Play is fighting an uphill battle against Android adware – link

Outdoors

New Conquerors of The Useless — The Role Of Achieving Nothing in a World Obsessed with Doing Everything – link

MISC

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity – “We all understand the joys of our always-wired world – the connections, the validations, the laughs … the info. … But we are only beginning to get our minds around the costs.” – link
Ten Steps to Better Public Speaking – link
Documents expose how Hollywood promotes war on behalf of the Pentagon, CIA and NSA – link

Dominik Birk