239
votes
Accepted
Why is the OS obfuscation defense against "It's a Unix system!" not widely implemented?
Before I tear your idea apart, let me say that it's a really interesting idea and it was super fun to think about.
Please continue to think outside the box and ask interesting questions!
Alright, let'...
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154
votes
Can you hide your OS from programs? Can you trick a program into thinking you are on a different OS?
Cheeky answer: I think you are about to invent a Virtual Machine.
In order to spoof the hardware to look like a 2003 motherboard you'll need to deal with things like writing a CPU instruction ...
- 58.8k
123
votes
Accepted
Can a virus destroy the BIOS of a modern computer?
Modern computers don't have a BIOS, they have a UEFI. Updating the UEFI firmware from the running operating system is a standard procedure, so any malware which manages to get executed on the ...
- 49.3k
103
votes
Old OS memory space protection - was it really that bad?
Memory isolation
Your example wouldn't work on Windows 95, but it did work on DOS and Windows up to 3.11 (not Windows NT).
The PC architecture, and the Microsoft series of operating systems, started ...
91
votes
Why is the OS obfuscation defense against "It's a Unix system!" not widely implemented?
Mike's answer says basically everything I have to offer about why this is a bad idea from a development perspective (and, as Ghedipunk's comment says, an unusable security feature provides no security)...
- 46.3k
81
votes
Why don't OS's make keystrokes available to only the current app?
Because it wouldn't help.
Most keyloggers are installed at the operating-system level, and the operating system needs to have access to the keystrokes. Alt-Tab program switching, using Ctrl-Alt-Del ...
- 34.6k
79
votes
Accepted
Is an up-to-date browser secure on an out-of-date OS?
Do not use an outdated OS, even with a modern browser.
Assuming that after that day I still use an updated browser, is it true that I'm still safe?
No, you cannot avoid browser-based security ...
- 66.5k
72
votes
Accepted
What is protection ring -1?
The "rings" nomenclature (0-3) you usually see these days started with the requested privilege level field in segment selectors as part of the design of x86 protected mode.
Back in the day, it was ...
- 2,084
66
votes
Accepted
Can you create a fake (malicious) Ubuntu iso
If an OS is open source or not is not the important factor if someone could build a malicious installer image.
Recent versions of Windows use a technique that bases on WIM images which can be ...
- 1,423
61
votes
Accepted
Why is there a need to modify system call tables in Linux?
You can check if they are read-only by looking up the kernel symbols. The "R" means read-only.*
$ grep sys_call_table /proc/kallsyms
0000000000000000 R sys_call_table
0000000000000000 R ...
- 66.5k
57
votes
Would it be more secure or not if all computers in the network use the same operating system?
In 2003, Dan Geer from @Stake published a seminal paper on this very topic - CyberInsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly. Surprisingly (given that he was employed by Microsoft at the time) he comes ...
- 72.7k
47
votes
Accepted
Are there any OSes that verify program signatures before executing them?
iOS and Android both validates the signature of every single piece of code before loading them into memory.
Windows UWP apps are also all checked for signature before being loaded as well.
Package ...
- 18.7k
47
votes
Can a virus destroy the BIOS of a modern computer?
Yes, it is definitely possible.
Nowadays, with UEFI becoming widespread, it is even more of a concern: UEFI has a much larger attack surface than traditional BIOS and a (potential) flaw in UEFI ...
- 18.7k
46
votes
Accepted
Download an OS image via torrent
file piece ("chunk") hashing is actually an essential, core feature of BitTorrent (the downloaded pieces are immediately and automatically verified), and a part of the BT protocol - the .torrent file ...
46
votes
Accepted
What are the risks of desktop personalization on Windows?
Changing them to other Windows defaults would pose no security risk.
Allowing people to install fonts or screensavers from third parties poses a HUGE security risk.
However, it's most likely these ...
- 7,692
32
votes
Would it be more secure or not if all computers in the network use the same operating system?
If all the systems are the same, then there is predictability of what could go wrong and how to fix and patch. It becomes a lot easier to mitigate problems that you know about. For instance, if the ...
- 128k
31
votes
Why don't OS's make keystrokes available to only the current app?
The keyboard to application interface goes through several phases, some of which the OS has little control, and some that is provides explicit hooks into for additional functionality. The basic design ...
- 5,734
31
votes
Can you create a fake (malicious) Ubuntu iso
First of all:
This would require a faked checksum as well, but that is somewhat besides the point because it can be faked too.
What do you mean by faked? If the user checks the checksum against the ...
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30
votes
Why is the OS obfuscation defense against "It's a Unix system!" not widely implemented?
If your objective is to deprive an attacker of ls and cat, there's an even better alternative to obfuscation: just don't install those utilities.
While I wouldn't say this is a widely implement ...
- 725
30
votes
What is the frequency of open security bugs in an operating system with increasing age?
Interesting theory but...
Even in open-source code, serious bugs can go unnoticed for a very long time (think Log4j), because nobody had the time or inclination to analyze the code. Probably, a three-...
- 7,847
28
votes
Are there any OSes that verify program signatures before executing them?
Why do not all OS verify signature of programs? Simply because in the early times, most programs were written and compiled locally, and still nowadays, some business applications are specifically ...
- 26.5k
27
votes
Accepted
Should I worry about compromised firmware when reinstalling an OS?
Basically yes, you're right to worry. However, it's not the garden variety adversary that has that kind of capabilities... Also more and more update mechanisms are protected by a signature check, and —...
- 5,487
26
votes
Accepted
How do I hide the OS I am using from internet sites?
It is not currently possible to hide the type of OS from a website
A solution against general fingerprinting and obtaining more specific information about your system is to use Tor Browser with the ...
- 436
25
votes
Can you hide your OS from programs? Can you trick a program into thinking you are on a different OS?
Depending on the level of "trick" you want, you might be able to do this with built-in compatibility features. Windows supports running programs in special modes that emulate older versions and/or ...
- 46.3k
24
votes
Why don't OS's make keystrokes available to only the current app?
The reason this isn't done by default is because the previous-generation operating system design didn't have a huge focus on sandboxing and the like, so right now it would require big architectural ...
- 1,349
24
votes
Accepted
Is Qubes OS more secure than running a set of activity related VMs?
Joanna Rutkowska, leader of the Qubes project, does a great job into documenting the concepts on which Qubes is relying. I therefore strongly suggest you to get the information at the source, and in ...
- 19.2k
23
votes
Why is there a need to modify system call tables in Linux?
As noted by forest, modern Linux does not allow this, but it's easy to override.
However, historically it was useful (and maybe still is) for security purposes: hot-patching against vulnerabilities. ...
22
votes
What are the risks of desktop personalization on Windows?
Sometimes blocking desktop personalisation can be a HR issue rather than a security one. For example, if you allow people to set their own backgrounds, sooner or later someone is going to set ...
- 9,277
21
votes
Accepted
What are the criteria to choose a secure operating system?
There are many criteria you can use for choosing a secure operating system. This includes everything from the features explicitly supported to the overall goal of the system itself. Although this ...
- 66.5k
20
votes
Accepted
Why is Linux considered more secure than Windows?
Linux isn't really more secure than Windows. It's really more a matter of scope than anything. No matter what malware, exploits, and bad users exist EVERYWHERE. One being more secure than the other is ...
- 7,006
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible