The operating system is the software component that provides abstraction of physical hardware, and provides a generalized model for application software to execute without the need for specific hardware knowledge. Questions on the topic of operating system security should use this tag; you may also ...
3
votes
3answers
193 views
Designing a Sandbox for Windows
I am thinking about the design for a sandbox, which is able to execute arbitrary unmodified, untrusted binaries. The goal is to implement an application
Unlike something like e.g. Google Chrome's ...
4
votes
2answers
115 views
Security test lab setup [closed]
I want to setup a testing lab in my basement for penetration/vulnerability testing & offensive/defensive security skills. I believe I have all the equipment that I need, and if I'll need something ...
2
votes
5answers
175 views
How secure are iPhone/Android/Windows 8 “PIN”/Pattern Lock features?
Most modern (and tablet-oriented) operating systems now offer alternative ways of logging on other than a strong password. For example, iPhones offer a 4-digit PIN, Android devices offer this and a ...
-3
votes
0answers
70 views
Questions about Remote Access Trojans [closed]
I'm trying to learn penetration testing and IT security. And i have som questions about remote access trojans.
If you are trying to control a rat server from another network, you'll have to use the ...
2
votes
4answers
287 views
If someone steals my laptop while I'm logged in, how can I protect my browser?
My question has its roots in an xkcd from this week:
http://xkcd.com/1200/
Isn't this true and ironic? We place so much emphasis on browser security and OS security -- and rightly so -- yet if I ...
14
votes
8answers
602 views
Should the requirement of admin privileges be extended?
Seeing this comic from xkcd.com made me thinking:
Is extending the requirement of admin privileges to things such as connecting to the internet, running the web browser, reading browser and other ...
2
votes
1answer
75 views
Force all user processes to be ptraced
I'm implementing a ptrace based tool for logging system call use. It is much more simple than strace, but I'm doing this so I can learn how these tools work. I'd like to trace all user processes since ...
5
votes
2answers
212 views
Secure OS deployment
I want to deploy operating system images on quite a lot of clients. I know that the images must contain the latest security patches, as well as hotfixes (assuming they are tested and approved for the ...
0
votes
2answers
112 views
How can i get a different IP address for wireless connection [closed]
I always get same IP address for my wireless adapter.
so far i have tried
ipconfig /dnsflush followed by ipconfig /renew
net stop dnscache
but it still keeps getting me the same ip address.
...
-1
votes
1answer
68 views
Possible ways to test security for Windows Phone 7 or iOS devices [closed]
I'm trying to test the security features of different types of OSs available, and I decided to narrow this down to the Windows Phone 7 and iOS operating systems. I will be testing both my Nokia 800 ...
1
vote
3answers
202 views
Are file permissions set in Unix/Linux effective in Windows or Any other OS?
Consider some files and folder in Unix/Linux OS which are configured for only read access by root, if the hard drive stolen, and used in Windows Environment, are these permissions are still effective?
...
4
votes
4answers
320 views
Is online banking more secure on iOS than a desktop computer?
Does Apple's iOS provide a more secure environment for online commerce (banking or shopping) than Windows or Mac OS X? Since the only software that can run on iOS must be vetted by Apple, the ...
0
votes
3answers
192 views
Debugging and DLL-Injection
Hi I currently reading Gray Hat Python to learn about Debugging and various interesting techniques for binary analysis.
So far I have learned an amazing amount of stuff (just read about ...
3
votes
2answers
225 views
ASLR and how a program can actually call its functions
I'm studying protection techniques and I've got a doubt about how ASLR works for a program in a Windows environment.
As far as I know ASLR works by randomizing part of the imagebase address when ...
4
votes
2answers
188 views
How is hibernation supported, on machines with UEFI Secure Boot?
I've been learning about UEFI Secure Boot, which attempts to prevent "bootkits" by locking down the boot process so that only signed bootloaders and kernels can be loaded.
Hibernation seems like a ...
3
votes
1answer
220 views
How does UEFI Secure Boot prevent “evil twin” spoofing attacks?
I've been learning about UEFI Secure Boot. It is designed to prevent malware from infecting the boot process and overwriting the bootloader. It has hardware-level protections to ensure that only a ...
168
votes
13answers
27k views
Are passwords stored in memory safe?
I just realized that, in any language, when you save a password in a variable, it is stored as plain text in the memory.
I think the OS does its job and forbids processes from accessing each other's ...
0
votes
3answers
71 views
Is there a way to make changes to a virtual machine, test it out, and automatically make same changes to normal machine?
Is there a way to install programs and make changes to a virtual machine and if they work ok have them applied to the "actual" machine? For example in this question when fiasco_averted says "...only ...
5
votes
6answers
187 views
Is it useful to determine the name of the server software while doing a penetration test?
Getting the name of the server software through netcat or curl or any other method, is really useful?
I mean, OS fingerprinting is useful in order to tailor an attack. For example with regard to OS ...
-5
votes
2answers
136 views
What technologies are recommended for E-banking? [closed]
If a Linux user need use his bank account from Internet, then what technologies and procedures should use?
Is better to use the Guest Account (if exist) of the OS, or an Administrator Account?
What ...
4
votes
1answer
135 views
iPad as a secure access terminal
I administer a number of linux servers (hosted on EC2 and linode) which provide VPN termination for thirty-odd users. I'm considering ditching my Macbook running OSX / Ubuntu in favour of setting up a ...
5
votes
3answers
426 views
Can you extract memory contents from a hibernated Windows machine?
In a recent discussion about hardware hacks, attacks surrounding Windows hibernate popped up. I am not entirely convinced that it would be viable to get stuff out of the memory saved to disk.
When ...
1
vote
1answer
191 views
Different Security Issues Depending on OS? [closed]
I'm interested in learning more about OS specific security issues if there are any. I'm very new to this topic but I want to learn more about if there are specific security vulnerabilities associated ...
76
votes
13answers
6k views
Why do we lock our computers?
It's common knowledge that if somebody has physical access to your machine they can do whatever they want with it1.
So why do we always lock our computers? If somebody has physical access to my ...
5
votes
1answer
82 views
OpenBSD, fbtab and X Window [closed]
The afterboot(8) man page of OpenBSD advises "You might wish to tighten up security more by editing /etc/fbtab as when installing X. "
I would like to know what entries in /etc/fbtab would
make sense ...
3
votes
1answer
231 views
Does setting a firmware password add security if FileVault 2 is enabled?
On an up-to-date OS X computer with FileVault 2 (whole-disk encryption, minus the recovery partition), is any security gained by setting a firmware password, as well?
1
vote
1answer
238 views
What kind of hashing is generally used in log-in modules?
Do operating systems hash the log-in password?
What hash function is used in Windows XP, 7, 8,Linux Ubuntu, Debian, MAC Lion OS X ,...?
Where should I look to know these security considerations of an ...
2
votes
2answers
177 views
Security model for datacenters
I have several datacentres and now I want to plan security for it, so it's resilient to external attacks.
I need to make a security model which will cover my web servers, auth servers, log servers, ...
1
vote
2answers
483 views
SUN Remote Procedure Call Port 111 [closed]
I have found on my machine port 111 is open. This is listed as RPC.
I understand there are possible attacks on this port. How can my machine be attacked if port 111 is open?
How can I secure this ...
14
votes
5answers
2k views
Why does the government/military not use special operating systems?
Why does military and government not use special operating systems? I mean, if they do not use generic operating system based on Windows, Linux and Mac and create their own operating system, they will ...
3
votes
3answers
810 views
Is dual-booting an OS more or less secure than running a virtual machine?
I run two operating systems on two separate disk partitions on the same physical machine (a modern MacBook Pro). In order to isolate them from each other, I've taken the following steps:
Configured ...
-1
votes
1answer
204 views
Top Ten Security Weaknesses of a Networked Computer [closed]
I'm looking for a list of what you would consider to be the Top Ten Security Weaknesses of a Networked Computer, can be Windows or Linux specific but ones that apply to both are better.
I'm not as ...
39
votes
9answers
4k views
Risks of giving developers admin rights to their own PCs
I need to convince my internal IT department to give my new team of developers admin rights to our own PCs. They seem to think this will create some security risk to the network. Can anyone explain ...
9
votes
5answers
5k views
Is my computer at risk of being hacked when using public Wi-Fi?
I'm sitting at a cafe, using their public Wi-Fi. I don't go on sensitive sites; I basically go to a music site and listen to a live stream, for which there's no login. I don't check my email or visit ...
15
votes
1answer
2k views
Mac OS X from an IT Security Practitioners' Perspective?
What does the Mac OS X offer that it has been recently attracting users with IT security focus?
There are sites that specifically focus on "hacking" with OSX, such as machacking.net. Defcon has an ...
2
votes
6answers
183 views
What are possible approaches and arguments for securing corporate IT systems with most computers being portable?
I was employed as the only system administrator by a company where half of computers are portable ones being taken away for work at home, business trips, visits to clients, etc. having access to ...
4
votes
2answers
312 views
Added value of Windows Server 2008 over 2003 in terms of security
What is the added value of a Windows 2008 Server over Windows 2003 in terms of security?
Does Windows Server 2008 has enhanced/new security features compared to 2003?
1
vote
1answer
205 views
If password is changed on Active Directory, can I ensure that PC must be restarted before logon with new password
Basically, if I have a Windows computer connected to a domain, how can I ensure that if the password is changed on Active Directory that the computer must be restarted before the new password takes ...
4
votes
1answer
482 views
Why does Windows 7 require a password hint during setup?
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think Windows 7 is the only operating system out there that requires a hint for the first user created on the system (have not had a chance to check out Windows 8 ...
3
votes
1answer
441 views
How does OS detection work in practice?
I was wondering how OS detection really works on Nmap. I know it is about to send different tcp probes to see how the target machine responds to them.
But what kind of probes would distinguish a ...
4
votes
2answers
240 views
Securing data on laptop's hdd
I was wondering which is the best way to secure/encrypt data in the hard disk on a laptop that runs Ubuntu Oneiric? Setting LVM encryption?
I am mostly concerned about having my laptop lost or what ...
7
votes
3answers
379 views
How to gain a shell?
I'm doing an exercise (exploit-exercises.com) that requires me to gain access to a shell running as another user.
My question is this: I can create application that is guaranteed to be run by the ...
3
votes
2answers
593 views
Backtrack Footprints
I have been hired to to penetration assessment (scanning,testing and so on) ( I am new to the industry and learned through Offsec pentration training.)
While training, I have been doing most of my ...
2
votes
2answers
261 views
Apple Mac Security - What do I need to know?
As I've been working on Windows machines most of my life I know most of the best practices and apps to keep them secure.
When it comes to security on Apple macs I'm clueless as to where to start.
4
votes
2answers
2k views
How expensive is it to guess a 15 character password, and should I be worried?
I'm currently using AES encryption (at home) on GNU/Linux (one of LUKS AES-256 variants with xts) and on Windows 7 (Truecrypt) with a 15 characters password (alphanumeric lowercase only plus _).
...
6
votes
5answers
954 views
How can I remotely wipe the contents of a Linux Laptop if its been stolen?
I am currently investigating using Linux Laptops for my development team. We currently run Windows. The one advantage that keeps coming up for Windows over Linux from a system administration / ...
4
votes
2answers
493 views
Blackberry QNX / Playbook encryption details
Now that Blackberry received FIPS 140-2 certification for one of it's QNX devices, does anyone have technical specifics on how data is encrypted on both mobile phones or the Playbook tablet?
I'm ...
2
votes
1answer
169 views
Can UNIX Domain Sockets be locked by user ID?
If I created a folder /tmp/me with permissions 700, and started a process under me that starts a listen socket under /tmp/me/socket.
I currently assume that a connection to that socket originated ...
1
vote
3answers
490 views
How to find the OS of the target machine
I am new to this field. Currently I am using Linux OS and
my question is how can I find the OS of another machine to
which I do not have a direct access.
I am interested in any possibilities which ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views
Are auto-mounting hard drives a security issue?
Why are hard drives mounted by default in Windows OS, while they aren't in Linux OS? Is that a security issue?
If your computer was hacked, can unmounted drives be considered clean?
