Can your aadhaar card be hacked / misused?

Yes, Your aadhaar card can be hacked and it can result in data theft, monetary loss, identity theft / cybercrime. So, hold your breath and count to ten, no swearing / no bad words here... ;)

Aadhaar - One Nation, One Card :D
It is well known now that Aadhaar has become synonymous with a person's identity in India. Thank You, Narendra Modi (PMO). I liked him better when he opposed aadhaar as Gujarat's CM, when Congress Party was ruling the country.

Constitutional Validity of Aadhaar
The face of Narendra Modi, post-2015 where he openly defied Supreme Court verdict to link Aadhaar to more than 100 schemes, both public and private, while passing off the Aadhaar Act, 2016 as a money bill in Lok Sabha, where BJP had majority, I started disliking him further when his government and cabinet of ministers, made the Aadhaar card mandatory for both public and private services instead of its original purpose as envisioned. (viz a viz, DBT, govt subsidy and tracking leakages / tracking corruption)

Contempt of Court
When any act outlives its original purpose, becomes draconian and violates constitutional principles like fundamental rights and right to live a dignified life (Article 21, which also includes right to privacy as interpreted by Supreme Court of India) it must be scrapped or repealed as nobody is above the constitution. The Supreme Court is considered to be the apex court, in charge of interpretation of law and they (supreme court judges) are ALSO bound by the constitution.

Where's the Security?
The question is NOT something pertaining to an individual's opinion or my right to privacy, it concerns every *single* citizen of India. If they can't provide maximum security in terms of physical, electronic and digital security, they should at least have the decency to admit that their security is NOT up to the mark. Security won't "magically" happen, when UIDAI  / Modi govt says aadhaar database is secure. Something has to be shown like improvement to the aadhaar public database, aadhaar verification, e-hospital portal? (which was used to hack aadhaar once), recently disclosed details through verity infosol, hyderabad... What are these people doing to "really" improve security, by implementing safeguards / security standards??

Where's the transparency?
All too frequently, people lament about transparency and corruption (transparency in THIS product / THAT service); let me ask you, what is the level of security for UIDAI / aadhaar cards as a database?? Where's the transparency? You expect me to file a RTI?? 

Aadhaar Card - Not So Secure 
And all this ranting about Aadhaar card is for naught, if I can NOT make you understand the implication of losing your privacy, right? Here are the problems with Aadhaar Card,

1) I can NOT change my fingerprint, or iris (if it is lost)
- Like a credit card, debit card, sim card

2) Single point of failure
-Some judge and some panelist on some TV channel said, Government already has all of this information about you. Why are you uncomfortable sharing this data??
- Goes to show how uninformed the judge / panelist is about "disaster management / disaster recovery"
- aadhaar is a centralized database - which can lead to single point of failure

3) OTP is issued by Aadhaar's Website, hmmm, OK!
- So we are in 2018?? And you're telling me OTP is fool proof :P
- physical attacks / social engineering works

4) Aadhaar's android app called mAadhaar is an APK file
- There's a whole hours' worth of demonstration I can make on android security
- And conduct a full course on how to security test mobile devices / mobile OS
- Android OS, android API, apk and device permissions / settings / the works...

Disclaimer - I do NOT have to perform ANY of the above mentioned attacks...

A valid Aadhaar number is a key that opens multiple locks. Dialing *99*99# connects you to NPCI’s query service on Aadhaar mapper (QSAM), which cheerfully tells you which bank the Aadhaar holder is receiving subsidy deposits in. Indane’s website will tell you the name of the Aadhaar holder and their LPG connection ID, and the history of banks they have received subsidies in. Keep probing services like this, and soon enough one builds a comprehensive profile of an individual containing information that is most certainly not known to Google and Facebook, the Aadhaar ecosystem’s preferred bogeymen. Forget state-level actors, this is now available to common scamsters. Everyone from housemaids to members of Parliament have fallen prey to targeted phishing scams that use private information to convince the victim that they genuinely represent the service provider, only to find that money has been stolen from their bank accounts soon after.

Quoting from LiveMint's Article - http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/iUYT70CSTkEIuu2BDbCCsM/The-Aadhaar-ecosystem-leaks-too-much-data.html

Disclaimer - I do NOT have to perform ANY of the above mentioned attacks... It has all been done before, and it will be done again unless, UIDAI and the Govt of India take concrete steps to "regularly" and I emphasize, "regularly" audit the Aadhaar infrastructure, gain the public's trust and make aadhaar genuinely useful for the public.

(Despite having a bunch of "interesting" and "useful" individual identity cards, essential commodities act, motor vehicles act, passport act - separate means to identify and access govt schemes and services, people are coerced to enroll with UIDAI/Aadhaar, produce the same for public and private services in violation of Supreme Court's August 2017 - verdict. In legal jargon, it is called contempt of court...)

Hacking aadhaar is NOT new / newsworthy
It happens regularly... It is well known to people working in the security industry that Aadhaar database has been breached about half a dozen times, in the last 2 to 3 years, by various eminent individuals... ;))

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/uidai-suspends-airtel-airtel-payments-banks-ekyc-licence/article9995428.ece
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/uidai-suspends-airtel-airtel-payments-banks-ekyc-licence/article9995428.ece
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/rs-500-10-minutes-and-you-have-access-to-billion-aadhaar-details/523361.html
 https://www.thequint.com/news/india/exclusive-aadhaar-dirty-secret-out-add-anyone-as-data-admin
 https://thewire.in/210954/uidai-aadhaar-security-breach/

Bone of contention?
Unfortunately, Aadhaar card as of now,  serves no additional purpose, that your other identity cards, bank accounts and social welfare schemes fail to provide. Why do we need Aadhaar? For state surveillance on Citizens of India or, to catch a Nirav Modi, a Vijay Mallya (Kingfisher) and/or a Lalit Modi (IPL Scam)??

3 Point Conclusion
1) At present there is no data protection / privacy law in India, we need these laws... ( IT Act does NOT count as a full-fledged privacy law - read up on laws / legalese please!)

2) The Indian govt must have a framework for citizen's identity to be safely accessed via Aadhaar, limit the level of data available to third parties, conduct periodic security assessments / checks, comply with laws of the land, provide an opt-out clause, allow the citizens access to essential services such as direct benefit transfer, food subsidy, bank accounts and mobile phones without coercion to provide aadhaar card.

3) So when Aadhaar becomes congruent with its original vision of distributing benefits, subsidy and leakage / corruption tracking, I will be the first person and the best proponent of aadhar. I will encourage people to enroll and sensitize them about the benefits of aadhaar. Let's safely say, that's 5 to 10 years away... :D

Currently, Aadhaar's constitutional validity is being hotly debated in the Supreme Court of India...

I'll leave it at that... Peace Out!

- Kish

Why I hate security "experts" (and "trainers")

Why I hate security "experts" (and "trainers")

Disclaimer: This is a pure rant, with no proper grammar, editing & politically (IN)correct logic... I am known to be politically incorrect, but 110% technically astute. I did NOT write this post to please you... You acknowledge that by reading this you will NOT judge the author of this post and Lucideus reputation as a security / service provider :D

Okay, this post was never meant to be written, but hey, every now and then you get a random love letter (e-mail spam) from _some_ company (read: lucideus)

I never wanted to see this page, being a semi-retired professional, hxxp://www.lucideus.com/security_technology_training.html

Then again when you claim to provide security training using funny jargon words like ATOM (Awareness, Technology, Operations, Management?) - you need to integrate that in to your website and company's security model. You should always practice what you preach, or stop preaching (read: selling snake oil), or be like Bill Clinton, [Telling people] "I am full of shit, I sell snake oil and bullshit" but be honest about it!

Your site is plagued with open ports, ranging from ssh to ftp, and what not! Your site has multiple network, web application (vulns like XSS, CSRF and SQL Injection) and server vulnerabilities, yet you claim to teach Web Application Security, IT Infrastructure Security and Cyber Security, apart from Incident Response which I very much doubt you'd be capable of performing; having a badly developed website which can be pwned by anyone with basic skills in under 40 minutes.

The worst part about this whole training page is "so-called" trainers using the words VA (Vulnerability Assessment) and PT (Pen Testing) in the same line / like a single word. This is the last time, I'll put up with this bullshit. If you can't differentiate between two different process maps in a security assessment, how the hell do you expect people to trust you? Take up your course? Are people so badly educated that they fall for a badly coded website running Apache?

The least you can do as a security trainer, you have to put your money where your mouth is?! Or atleast don't claim to be a security "expert" / "trainer" who trains people on a regular basis. I won't be surprised, if those 60,000 students from 200 plus organizations, come looking for a refund... haha! ;))

 

Secure your organization first, then start providing security services and training, be orderly in your business operations. So here's another organization, that can NOT secure themselves, but claim to provide security education, sound like a classic case of Catch-22? Fuel for your brain, haha! :D

Reminds of one meme where vijay kant asks manmohan singh for his "bonafide cetripicate signature" for his "practical ejam dumaaro", ofcourse, he said "bleaaase sir" hahaha! :))

And please spam wisely next time, okay?

Cheers!

Hacking...

I identify myself as a hacker... not as an ethical hacker. Hacking is an art, just like martial arts or painting. Hacking is about making a device or system do some thing the designer did not originally have in mind. When you exercise your creativity you can hack anything.

So just like a mechanic, painter or a martial artist... the term hacker is right. There can be a good martial artist and a bad martial artist, you don't call those people with one word or have multiple words mixed up in a haze. Similarly there can be a good hacker and a bad hacker. Like I explained earlier, the decision to adhere to ethics is up to each and every individual. When I became a hacker, I learned that I have to protect the word and clarify our stance to the world. The media has created a bad image about hackers and bad news / press sells faster and better than "normal" news.

As far as learning goes, You can learn the basics and then work on your own - for a few years to achieve good competency. Hacking your own XBox for example to store movies and stream it - on to your LCD Television is legal, provided you paid for the movies and the gaming console... ;) If you don't pay for the movies, but download them from the internet... then it is illegal.

The society / media that waves the "Ethical Hacker" tag must understand - The term is an oxymoron at best and incorrect. I am no lawyer, so I can't comment on Ethics of hacking or any deed. Mahabharata says there is no good or bad deed. Western culture also agrees with the same in multiple scripts that: all deeds are situational, whether good or bad depends on each individual's own judgement and justification. People mix things up badly and have a perception of smoke and mirrors created by the media about hackers.

We're simple people and we like breaking stuff for a living, just like software engineers build stuff for a living. Hacking can therefore be termed as creative destruction of a given system or program.

I'm taking a break from work soon, summer's here yipppeeeee :)

Cheers,
Kish

And you thought WhatsApp was safe?

All you friends, relatives and well-wishers telling me to install whatsapp... Howzzzhaaat? ;)

Decompilation of Android APK

In case you people don't understand, MOST, if not all mobile applications require 'nearly' GOD level access to your phone. OK, I'll be kind this one time... because, I see  you frown... :D

Get the picture? ;))

Your so-called "smart"phone has SMS/MMS, Phonebook, Contacts, Camera (with photos / videos and god knows what else)... Email, notes, oh whatsapp!

Same goes for viber, truecaller and other junk called 'apps'. A good application should be 'free' without spying or screwing with your Android or iOS. The companies are NOT paying to get your information (privacy) and they are NOT paying for you to sign up and get screwed... Does it hurt? Bitch!

This is a RANT, if you haven't figured it out by now

Think twice about installing an application, next time... And you better listen to me when I talk!

Peace Out!

Firemon - Security Intelligence Platform (For Networks)

Disclaimer: Normally, I don't write about products or promote anything. This is NOT an endorsement or a promotion for Firemon and/or VMTurbo. The opinions and views scribbled herein must be taken with a grain of salt. My company is strictly vendor neutral !

Firemon - Company Overview

Consider this to be my notes from the session I attended at JW Marriott, Bangalore. 

Product: Appliance
Based on Cent OS 64-bit
DB Used: Postgres 64-bit
Licensing: Depends on Application Server and Number of Devices Required
Enables continual monitoring and understanding of Network Devices for Change, Risk and Compliance

Swag / Product information on Firemon

I had the opportunity to attend a session presented by James Frost, of Firemon EMEA team. Obviously he answered a few of my sensible questions. They gave away some cool swag. You (you as a reseller) are in business because you can do something better and more efficiently than your customer can do it. And you keep your customers because you can prove it. So, when it comes to managing firewalls, don’t just tell your customers that their firewalls are managed correctly. Show them with firemon!

Perks of being strong :D

The limitation of Firemon vs. a traditional SIM / SIEM is the scope of log aggregation and correlation that can be done (limited to Firewalls / Network Devices). Also, Firemon does NOT push policies or modify policies back to the firewall because, most vendors have no API support or Closed API. They plan to integrate Firemon with VMWare vShield which is opening up the debate of SDN (Software Defined Networks), which requires a separate post. With that said, its only fair to mention this product has a considerable edge over other firewall management products taking in to note the client's network context and covering change (in accordance with ITIL), risks and pre-emptive measures for managing change in an enterprise!

Check out their article on Enterprise Monitoring

One would relate this to VMTurbo (For VMWare - Virtualization) as vmturbo shows similar traits in pro-active monitoring and automating a lot of significant datacenter tasks. Not an apple to apple comparison per se, but NEW Products like Firemon and VMTurbo deserve a place in the enterprise where speed, automation and scalability need to be balanced by the IT Manager, productively using his costly IT resources to do other tasks at hand instead of closing tickets on a daily basis for Virtualization / Security.

Check out Firemon @ http://www.firemon.com
Check out VMTurbo @ http://www.vmturbo.com

Cheers,
Kish

ICICI Bank - Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Source: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/your-icici-statement-can-be-accessed-online-by-anyone-510296

Consider this my opinion on the latest vulnerability discovered in ICICI's Internet Banking portal that allows anybody to read your bank statement without logging in to your account. Yeah, you read that right, "without" logging in...

OK, A friend of mine pointed out this vulnerability to me... Initially my impression was well it must be another SQL injection as I have always been skeptical about the level of security on the Internet provided by private & public banks.

Bug: Authentication Bypass + Direct Insecure Object Reference

Discovered by: Ayush Ghosh, BookMyShow

Disclosed by NDTV to ICICI Bank because the bank didn't bother checking that researcher's email as usual. So much for having those abuse / info e-mail addresses on their website. The banks must start to consider working on a middle-ground with security researchers.

Initially the vulnerability seems innocuous but, when you factor in that a vulnerability like this could lead to money being stolen or could lead to internet fraud. Imagine 20 lakhs get stolen from your bank account straight up by a guy who cons you with an internet scam. Then try to look at this vulnerability in this new light with your money on the table... Scary? Yeah I thought so! ;)

New Delhi-based cyber-security consultant Dominic K. spoke to NDTV Gadgets and discussed the multiple layers of security that banks have in place, which include multi-factor authentication, encryption, secure connectivity - SSL and HTTPS and identity management systems. He added, "We have not heard of any serious attacks that were successful. These are industry practices that meet global standards."

SSL - Broken many times
HTTPS - Broken - Can be stripped and/or hijacked
Certificates can be spoofed and/or stolen

How multi-factor authentication or secure connectivity will help when there's no user logged in? Authentication is the mechanism where a user logs-in to confirm the his / her identity on the bank's website. This is usually achieved with parameters such as Debit card no, Account no, Debit card PIN or Username / Password issued for Internet banking. The authentication mechanism is NOT part of this vulnerability so, all those global standards don't matter in this case.

Our high school teachers have spoiled us by with an example for every damn thing in the world.

Example: A Grifter with very little computer knowledge can write an e-mail with your name (first name, last name), bank account information, your bank balance and a 'mistake' he noticed (a reason to click). Since the dawn of graphical user computing we have always been clicking, you can't get anything done without clicking. You click more than you type and that is a fact, you clicked on this damn page... fact... :D

Mr.Grifter can then systematically make you execute javascript and steal your cookies, pun intended! Cookies here equate to money, but that's just for people who care. If that grifter is savvy and smart, he just might hack your browser and make your life hell. The people who want to sit at home feeling safe, well... good luck, security has always been an illusion.

The original article can be found here

Cheers!

OpenSSL Heartbleed Vulnerability

Myself and Digi from Crimemachine have whipped up a document to educate the public about this recent vulnerability. With all the information and buzz surrounding this vulnerability, comes a lot of confusion too... We provide this information with the standard disclaimer, this information is for educational purposes only.

Download the Heartbleed - Information Packet (Google Drive)

 You will be responsible for your own actions. Use the information sensibly.

Official Website: http://www.heartbleed.com 
OpenSSL Advisory: http://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20140407.txt

Update: A simple shell script for those of you who are dabbling with the code,

root@crimemachine:~# while true;do ./heartbleed.py 192.168.220.133 -p 443;sleep2;done >> /tmp/heartbleed.log

You can iterate the loop and record login credentials when a user logs in to the site/server.

Cheers,
Kish

ZKSoftware ZEM500 Authentication Bypass

############################################
# ZKSoftware ZEM500 RFID Card Reader
# Date: 22.11.2013
# Vuln: Authentication bypass / Abuse of Access
###########################################

In a world which relies on technology heavily, the use of software and/or hardware to track people at office / work isn't new. It is actually quite old and a lot of systems are vulnerable. This is just my observation of ZEM500 hardware on a limited scope of attack.

Typical connectivity diagram from the ZEM500 Hardware to the network...

ZEM500 by ZKSoftware (Sold by ESSL India) is a biometric fingerprint cum smart card system to authenticate and maintain user attendance in corporate offices. The authentication (employee name, employee password) is encoded in a smart card like any other system. The ZEM500 runs a Linux kernel 2.4x. The device runs busybox linux and its based on fingerprinting.

Port Scan of the ZEM 500,

Telnet to ZEM 500,

Malformed packet for ZEM500 using Scapy,

Observing the traffic with Wireshark was not amusing and revealed employee login / log out details... For obvious reasons of confidentiality and safety, I won't post it online!

eSSL Time Track - Hardcoded Password,

Apart from the above mentioned authentication bypass, you can download a copy at www.esslindia.com/install/eTimeTrack.zip  to manage the software like a normal administrator would. eSSL resells the hardware in India. The management software has a hardcoded password for Windows and SQL Authentication. Weak Encryption, anyone?

Default install includes SQL Express for the management software. The software can be used to manage, maintain and fetch reports from the system.

The ZEM500 has WiFi capability and I never hooked my system to the firewire... Food for thought? ;))

Cheers,
Kish

Survey - Selling Security

Following is a survey conducted by me on 3 simple questions which a lot of security professionals may have seen, heard and answered in the course of their career. These three questions are simple, but cover the basic questions any client may ask frequently,

Question1: How much would you charge for a pen-test for a 500 user base? (involving Desktops & Servers). Scope of work is to conduct VA, PT and a Social Engineering exercise. Is Rs.20,000 a realistic number for the said scope?

A) Auditor X - Done generally to reduce price or show their objection (price/budget). There's all kinds of people who do these tests, For example, I've heard about people pricing a 50 server assessment for Rs.10,000 (with PoC Exploits). I have seen reports being copy / pasted from the scanner without any change for a lot of engagements.

B) Sec Consultant - The price has to be more, but preferably in double digits, not in lakhs!

C) Big4 Consultant - Practically not possible to price a pen-test of this magnitude at the client's budget

(Minimum 10 lakhs for the engagement would be my quote)

D) Customer X - 1.5 to 2 lakhs will be a realistic budget, Unrealistic to ask for 20K

E) Trainer X - Approximate number would be upwards of 1 lakh, I don't know what would be a realistic number.

F) Former Dev X - Definitely wouldn't do it for 20,000. Regardless of the tools used the skill set I've learnt over years, that's what demands pay.

Question2: Is it fair to compare a consultant's time, skill and experience with tool(s) license cost?

A) Auditor X - Obviously the tool's cost is cheaper, why do they need the consultant in this case?

B) Sec Consultant - Need for a mix of both things (tools and consultant's skillset)

C) Big4 Consultant - 10 lakhs minimum - 20,000 is not possible, manual effort, interpretation of vulns and skill involved is the differentiator.

D) Customer X - Based on the frequency, I will choose whether or not to hire... IF Quarterly or frequent tests (say 12) are warranted then I'll train in house personnel for the requirement.

E) Trainer X - Anybody can run a tool, but without properly understanding the vulns and what happens behind the scenes, the test results can't be interpreted properly.

F) Former Dev X - No it doesn't justify the argument, I wouldn't just rely on a guy who doesn't know security. 

Question3: Do Certification(s) like CEH, CPTS and a couple more enable you to carry out a penetration test?

A) Auditor X - People can't run tools properly, let alone conduct a proper test. You'll be shocked by the things I've heard about CEH and how it (CEH Training/Cert) can be procured for 15K inclusive of exam voucher.

B) Sec Consultant - Yes... but depends more on the foundation and creative ability...

C) Big4 Consultant - Certifications are theoretical, cover only basics of tools, do not impart practical knowledge.

D) Customer X - Real time experience and fundamentals are necessary... just certifications won't help in conducting a penetration test.

E) Trainer X - Absolutely not possible to perform a test in live environment.

Content provided in certification is theoretical and not a real indicator of skill.

MNCs may buy the argument, but even they conduct interviews to assess the credibility and skill set of a candidate.

F) Former Dev X - Honestly certifications are to "basically convince prospective employers and yourself" that you know something that you don't. Haha! The certification's content just scratches the surface of what's possible.

Participants of the Survey:

Auditor X - Infosec Auditor with over 5 years of experience, which includes areas such as VA, PT, Auditing, Operational Risk, Business Continuity

Sec consultant - Over 10 years of experience in GRC, Vulnerability Assessment, Pen-Testing

Big4 Consultant - Security analyst with 3 years experience in Web - Vulnerability Assessment, Pen-Testing

Customer X - Works as a manager for a manufacturing giant, over 8 years of experience.

Trainer X - Works as a trainer on mostly Windows, Networking and Security based topics.

Former Dev X - A former developer working for an MNC, With exposure towards Programming.

Former Dev X is also an experienced hacker, who currently performs all kinds of pen-tests and source code reviews (which he finds boring) ;)

The opinions are interesting when you read each person's - background, point of view, experience and current work profile. Based on general consensus, we have opted to make your identities anonymous; we respect your privacy... Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions politely...

Personal thanks to all the participants, interacting with y’all was fun!

Cheers,

Kish

Update: Found an > old bookmark < certainly worth a laugh... ;)