Undocumented backdoor that covertly takes snapshots found in kids’ smartwatch
A popular smartwatch designed exclusively for children contains an undocumented backdoor that makes it possible for someone to remotely capture camera snapshots, wiretap voice calls, and track locations in real time, a researcher said.
The X4 smartwatch is marketed by Xplora, a Norway-based seller of children’s watches. The device, which sells for about $200, runs on Android and offers a range of capabilities, including the ability to make and receive voice calls to parent-approved numbers and to send an SOS broadcast that alerts emergency contacts to the location of the watch. A separate app that runs on the smartphones of parents allows them to control how the watches are used and receive warnings when a child has strayed beyond a present geographic boundary.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/10/a-watch-designed-exclusively-for-kids-has-an-undocumented-spying-backdoor
https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/12/xplora_4_smartwatches
#xplora #smartwatch #kids #backdoor
A popular smartwatch designed exclusively for children contains an undocumented backdoor that makes it possible for someone to remotely capture camera snapshots, wiretap voice calls, and track locations in real time, a researcher said.
The X4 smartwatch is marketed by Xplora, a Norway-based seller of children’s watches. The device, which sells for about $200, runs on Android and offers a range of capabilities, including the ability to make and receive voice calls to parent-approved numbers and to send an SOS broadcast that alerts emergency contacts to the location of the watch. A separate app that runs on the smartphones of parents allows them to control how the watches are used and receive warnings when a child has strayed beyond a present geographic boundary.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/10/a-watch-designed-exclusively-for-kids-has-an-undocumented-spying-backdoor
https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/12/xplora_4_smartwatches
#xplora #smartwatch #kids #backdoor
Ars Technica
Undocumented backdoor that covertly takes snapshots found in kids’ smartwatch
The X4, made and jointly developed in China, raises concerns.
Walmart router, others on Amazon, eBay have hidden backdoors to control devices
Article, Comments
#router #walmart #backdoor #china
Article, Comments
#router #walmart #backdoor #china
Cybernews
Walmart-exclusive router and others sold on Amazon & eBay contain hidden backdoors to control devices
Walmart-exclusive Jetstream routers and Wavlink routers contain hidden backdoors. The routers are actively being exploited by Mirai malware
Backdoor found in 2G mobile data encryption standard
Cryptanalysis of GPRS Encryption Algorithms GEA-1 suggest intentional weakness
GPRS is the mobile data standard for GSM mobile phones. It's from the 2G era, and is old and slow. GEA-1 is an encryption algorithm used with GPRS.
Excerpt from the abstract:
"This paper presents the first publicly available cryptanalytic attacks on the GEA-1 and GEA-2 algorithms."
[..]
"This unusual pattern indicates that the weakness is intentionally hidden to limit the security level to 40 bit by design."
So in other words: GPRS was intentionally backdoored.
https://eprint.iacr.org/2021/819
Comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27686422
https://apnews.com/article/europe-technology-business-3bddc473856a9af259feb511f58a51d3
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-77886-6_6
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/handy-gprs-verschluesselung-1.5323228
#backdoor #2g #gprs #encryption
Cryptanalysis of GPRS Encryption Algorithms GEA-1 suggest intentional weakness
GPRS is the mobile data standard for GSM mobile phones. It's from the 2G era, and is old and slow. GEA-1 is an encryption algorithm used with GPRS.
Excerpt from the abstract:
"This paper presents the first publicly available cryptanalytic attacks on the GEA-1 and GEA-2 algorithms."
[..]
"This unusual pattern indicates that the weakness is intentionally hidden to limit the security level to 40 bit by design."
So in other words: GPRS was intentionally backdoored.
https://eprint.iacr.org/2021/819
Comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27686422
https://apnews.com/article/europe-technology-business-3bddc473856a9af259feb511f58a51d3
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-77886-6_6
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/handy-gprs-verschluesselung-1.5323228
#backdoor #2g #gprs #encryption
AP NEWS
Security flaw found in 2G mobile data encryption standard
BERLIN (AP) — Cybersecurity researchers in Europe say they have discovered a flaw in an encryption algorithm used by cellphones that may have allowed attackers to eavesdrop on some data traffic for more than two decades.
Bombshell Report Finds Phone Network Encryption Was Deliberately Weakened
Comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27686422
via www.vice.com
#backdoor #2g #gprs #encryption
Comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27686422
via www.vice.com
#backdoor #2g #gprs #encryption
Telegraph
Bombshell Report Finds Phone Network Encryption Was Deliberately Weakened
Hacking. Disinformation. Surveillance. CYBER is Motherboard's podcast and reporting on the dark underbelly of the internet. See More → A weakness in the algorithm used to encrypt cellphone data in the 1990s and 2000s allowed hackers to spy on some internet…
#SysJoker #Backdoor for Windows, macOS, and Linux went undetected until now
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/backdoor-for-windows-macos-and-linux-went-undetected-until-now/
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/backdoor-for-windows-macos-and-linux-went-undetected-until-now/
Ars Technica
Backdoor RAT for Windows, macOS, and Linux went undetected until now
Never-before-seen, cross-platform SysJoker came from an "advanced threat actor."
The Bvp47 - a Top-tier #Linux #Backdoor of US #NSA Equation Group hidden for 10 years
https://www.pangulab.cn/en/post/the_bvp47_a_top-tier_backdoor_of_us_nsa_equation_group/
https://www.pangulab.cn/en/post/the_bvp47_a_top-tier_backdoor_of_us_nsa_equation_group/
www.pangulab.cn
The Bvp47 - a Top-tier Backdoor of US NSA Equation Group
Forwarded from Pegasus NSO & other spyware
Stealth Soldier Backdoor Used in Targeted Espionage Attacks in North Africa - Check Point Research – June 2023
Phishing attacks using third-party applications against Egyptian civil society organizations - Amnesty International – 2019
#StealthSoldier #EyeOnTheNile
#Backdoor #espionage #malware #Egypt #Libya
Check Point Research observed a wave of highly-targeted espionage attacks in Libya that utilize a new custom modular backdoor.
Stealth Soldier malware is an undocumented backdoor that primarily operates surveillance functions such as file exfiltration, screen and microphone recording, keystroke logging and stealing browser information.
The Stealth Soldier infrastructure has some overlaps with infrastructure the The Eye on the Nile which operated against Egyptian civilian society in 2019. This is the first possible re-appearance of this threat actor since then.
Phishing attacks using third-party applications against Egyptian civil society organizations - Amnesty International – 2019
#StealthSoldier #EyeOnTheNile
#Backdoor #espionage #malware #Egypt #Libya
China identifies the culprits behind cyberattack on Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center; a secretive US global reconnaissance system to be exposed - Global Times –
Investigation into a cyberattack incident targeting the Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center affiliated to the city's Emergency Management Bureau, after a joint investigation team formed by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) and Chinese cybersecurity company 360 discovered malicious backdoor software that exhibits characteristics of US intelligence agencies, the Global Times learned on Monday. Chinese authorities will publicly disclose a highly secretive global reconnaissance system of the US government, which poses a serious security threat to China's national security and world peace.
#China #Wuhan #NSA #USA #Spyware #backdoor
Investigation into a cyberattack incident targeting the Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center affiliated to the city's Emergency Management Bureau, after a joint investigation team formed by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) and Chinese cybersecurity company 360 discovered malicious backdoor software that exhibits characteristics of US intelligence agencies, the Global Times learned on Monday. Chinese authorities will publicly disclose a highly secretive global reconnaissance system of the US government, which poses a serious security threat to China's national security and world peace.
#China #Wuhan #NSA #USA #Spyware #backdoor
Forwarded from Pegasus NSO & other spyware
Sponsor with batch-filed whiskers: Ballistic Bobcat’s scan and strike backdoor | welivesecurity
#APT #BallisticBobcat #backdoor #Israel #Iran #UAE
ESET Research uncovers the Sponsoring Access campaign, which utilizes an undocumented Ballistic Bobcat backdoor we have named Sponsor
ESET researchers discovered a Ballistic Bobcat campaign targeting various entities in Brazil, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, using a novel backdoor we have named Sponsor.
We discovered Sponsor after we analyzed an interesting sample we detected on a victim’s system in Israel in May 2022 and scoped the victim-set by country. Upon examination, it became evident to us that the sample was a novel backdoor deployed by the Ballistic Bobcat APT group
#APT #BallisticBobcat #backdoor #Israel #Iran #UAE
4-year campaign backdoored iPhones using possibly the most advanced exploit ever
"Triangulation" infected dozens of iPhones belonging to employees of Moscow-based Kaspersky.
Researchers on Wednesday presented intriguing new findings surrounding an attack that over four years backdoored dozens if not thousands of iPhones, many of which belonged to employees of Moscow-based security firm Kaspersky. Chief among the discoveries: the unknown attackers were able to achieve an unprecedented level of access by exploiting a vulnerability in an undocumented hardware feature that few if anyone outside of Apple and chip suppliers such as ARM Holdings knew of.
“The exploit's sophistication and the feature's obscurity suggest the attackers had advanced technical capabilities,” Kaspersky researcher Boris Larin wrote in an email. “Our analysis hasn't revealed how they became aware of this feature, but we're exploring all possibilities, including accidental disclosure in past firmware or source code releases. They may also have stumbled upon it through hardware reverse engineering.”
Four zero-days exploited for years
...
https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/12/exploit-used-in-mass-iphone-infection-campaign-targeted-secret-hardware-feature/
#iphone #apple #backdoor
"Triangulation" infected dozens of iPhones belonging to employees of Moscow-based Kaspersky.
Researchers on Wednesday presented intriguing new findings surrounding an attack that over four years backdoored dozens if not thousands of iPhones, many of which belonged to employees of Moscow-based security firm Kaspersky. Chief among the discoveries: the unknown attackers were able to achieve an unprecedented level of access by exploiting a vulnerability in an undocumented hardware feature that few if anyone outside of Apple and chip suppliers such as ARM Holdings knew of.
“The exploit's sophistication and the feature's obscurity suggest the attackers had advanced technical capabilities,” Kaspersky researcher Boris Larin wrote in an email. “Our analysis hasn't revealed how they became aware of this feature, but we're exploring all possibilities, including accidental disclosure in past firmware or source code releases. They may also have stumbled upon it through hardware reverse engineering.”
Four zero-days exploited for years
...
https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/12/exploit-used-in-mass-iphone-infection-campaign-targeted-secret-hardware-feature/
#iphone #apple #backdoor
Ars Technica
4-year campaign backdoored iPhones using possibly the most advanced exploit ever
"Triangulation" infected dozens of iPhones belonging to employees of Moscow-based Kaspersky.
This is big: The US Govt has created a hardware #backdoor in the CPUs of #Apple devices. This cannot be patched with a software update. Every owner of an Apple device is affected. You have no security. US spy agencies will have done the same with other CPUs.
https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1772694668582453465
https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1772694668582453465