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 ...
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5answers
981 views
Secure mount options + partitioning on Ubuntu
What is the best solution for mount options/partitioning when having e.g.: an Ubuntu minimal install (11.04) for Desktop use? e.g.: put /tmp on different partition to give it mount options like: ...
3
votes
2answers
266 views
Security Risks Involved in Deploying Win Server 2008 on a Linux host
The Question:
Are there any major security risks I should be concerned about, caused by installing Windows Server 2008 R2 onto a Linux Host in VirtualBox?
I run an Ubuntu box, with a fully-secured ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Where can I download vulnerable Windows OS images to practice penetration testing?
My objective is to learn and practice all the vulnerabilities and their exploitation on vulnerable OS.
3
votes
2answers
224 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
439 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 ...
3
votes
2answers
339 views
Security logs on Linux, Solaris and Windows
As the company's security department, our system administrators ask us what they need to log for SIEM (Security Incident and Event Management). We don't have any prepared documents and are seeking ...
3
votes
3answers
186 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
219 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
78 views
How can one gain additional privileges from being able to read kernel memory?
Given the ability to read (but not write) arbitrary kernel memory as an unprivileged user, what approaches might one take to gain additional privileges on the system? Ignoring the 'trivial' method of ...
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?
3
votes
1answer
204 views
OpenBSD-based LiveCD / LiveDVD - is it secure? is it offical?
http://jggimi.homeip.net/livecd/downloads.html
Does it get deeply audited like the original OpenBSD?
Is it an offical "port"?
Experiences with it?
Thank you!
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 ...
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?
2
votes
1answer
129 views
Whitelisting applications in Windows7
Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 come with a security tool called Applocker. This allows admins to restrict applications to a specific white list which can be as granular as the individual application ...
2
votes
5answers
163 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 ...
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
140 views
OBSD X11 as non-root?
If running X11 as root is not a very good idea, then can anyone mention a method/solution, how to still use a GUI, and not having X11 as root?
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, ...
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.
2
votes
2answers
407 views
Can a virtual machine program view a host machine's connections?
I don't really know anything about computers. I need to run a virtual Windows machine inside an Ubuntu system. My current setup uses a stripped down version of Windows XP on VirtualBox. I intend to ...
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
383 views
Is 2008 Server Core installation the most secure deployment?
In a Windows environment where security is more important than flexibility is Windows 2008 R2 Core Server installation the best option? How much more difficult is it to setup an environment with ...
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 ...
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 ...
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?
...
1
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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 ...
1
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2answers
2k views
How can I recover encrypted files after system reinstallation
I had a file which contains images and videos, I was using the windows 7 ultimate and I had encrypted the file. Now I have copied that file to my hard disk and format that operating system and again. ...
1
vote
1answer
360 views
Firefox Desktop Shortcut Being Renamed
On my Vista PC the Firefox shortcut icon is being randomly renamed. The name changes to some variation of a recently visited URL. This unwanted action has survived several version updates. Of course I ...
1
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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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
1
vote
2answers
343 views
Sun ILOM / Out of band management security concerns
I would like to get some outside opinion on this if possible, although I do not know what to ask.
Sun ILOM is an Out-of-band management system. I understand it is a separate OS on the box that is ...
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 ...
0
votes
3answers
191 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 ...
0
votes
2answers
111 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
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 ...
-1
votes
1answer
67 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 ...
-3
votes
0answers
69 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 ...
-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 ...
