by sjvn
Security

Applications are your biggest Security Risks

It's your unpatched applications, not your operating system, that probably puts your PC into the most danger.

September 22, 2009, 10:16 AM — 

According to the SANS Institute, a prominent computer security company, it's your applications, not your operating system, that's probably putting you and your PC into the most danger from being attacked.

In its latest report, The Top Cyber Security Risks, based on data from over 9-million systems protected by TippingPoint intrusion prevention system, its your unpatched PC software that's most likely to give your computer a bad case of malware. The biggest targets aren't, as you might think, Web browsers or e-mail clients that work directly with the Internet. No, it's the applications like Adobe Flash and PDF Reader, Apple QuickTime, and Microsoft Office, that your Web browser or e-mail client call on to read or play media from the Web that's currently the real problem.

Here, says SANS writes, is how it works: "Waves of targeted email attacks, often called spear phishing [E-mail messages that look like they're real message from a trusted sender], are exploiting client-side vulnerabilities in commonly used programs. ... This is currently the primary initial infection vector used to compromise computers that have Internet access. Those same client-side vulnerabilities are exploited by attackers when users visit infected Web sites. Because the visitors feel safe downloading documents from the trusted sites, they are easily fooled into opening documents and music and video that exploit client-side vulnerabilities. Some exploits do not even require the user to open documents. Simply accessing an infected website is all that is needed to compromise the client software."

As usual, while the unpatched applications are the immediate problem, this is more of a Windows problem than it is for any other operating system. On Windows, it's simply much easier for an application that's been fed an infected file to spread the malware of the day to the rest of the PC.

That said, if you can stop the bug from hitting in the first place, whether you're running Windows, a Mac or Linux won't matter. The problem, as SANS points out is that even "On average, major organizations take at least twice as long to patch client-side vulnerabilities as they take to patch operating system vulnerabilities. In other words the highest priority risk is getting less attention than the lower priority risk."

In part that's because Microsoft, like everyone else, makes it easier to patch the operating system than the applications. That means that you need to stand up and make sure your applications are patched.

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

I like it!
Comments

Same application different OS

So what about vulnerability in Firefox for instance. In most cases the vulnerability is ONLY in the Windows version, not Linux nor Mac version. This is also true for many other apps available for more than one OS.
| reply

Users and usage is the biggest security risk

Though application vulnerabilities are problematic, the greatest and most likely cause of security issues arise from user behavior and general network use.

Software or design vulnerabilities are weaknesses that, when tweaked by user/usage antics, are only one element in the equation. Also considering that there are numerous undocumented flaws in the wild that have NOT been the cause of problems, the conclusion is pretty clear. Applications, flaws and all, all by themselves are harmless. It's when users apply their force and will that brings about all matters of security breaches, compliance problems and productivity issues if not managed proactively.

Have a peachy day.
| reply

Source of Pain

The article is talking about two sources of pain.

The first one is an injection attack using an overflow that runs machine code disguised as a picture. Those were popular for a while, but are now mostly patched up.

The second, as I have explained to some friends who don't understand computer, is actually the older technique. Visual Basic, ASP and .net all have automatic execution of code as a feature, and this feature is enabled by default in Windows and Office. Office won't run without it. (Sun came under fire a few years ago for doing something in Java that would have opened a similar hole. The Java sandbox was the fix.) So the system is set up for vulnerability by the manufacturer. Microsoft's architecture requires it for the updates to work. They spend a lot on avoiding any link to their name in industry reports on malware.

Most of the Apple viruses I have first hand knowledge of are on machines with MS Office installed. There were a few machines compromised by the code injection technique, but the fix was available within weeks. There are code development tools that look for the conditions that make code injection possible, so the publisher can fix it before it is ever released.
| reply
peer-to-peer

Esther Schindler
If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly

claird
SVG a graphics format for 21st century

pasmith
Take Chrome OS for a test spin

Sandra Henry-Stocker
Solaris Tip: Have Your Files Changed Since Installation?

sjvn
64-bits of protection?

jfruh
Android fragments vs. the iPhone monolith

mikelgan
What Gizmodo missed about the Pro WX Wireless USB disk drive

 

Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325

Join the conversation here

The Daily Tip

The Daily TipQuick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.

Hot tips:

Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.

Newsletters

Subscribe to ITWORLD TODAY and receive the latest IT news and analysis.

I would like to receive offers via email from ITworld partners.
By clicking submit you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in ITworld's privacy policy.
Featured Sponsor

AISO founders envisioned a Web hosting company that was environmentally friendly. While the company employed energy-efficient innovations like solar panels, its infrastructure produced unacceptable power and cooling requirements. Find out how AISO leveraged AMD technology to overcome their challenge in this case study white paper.

In this whitepaper, Scalar explores the opportunity to change the landscape with respect to mission critical databases built around Oracle. Leveraging technologies such as Linux, high-end commodity processing power and Oracle RAC technology to architect, design, build and maintain database infrastructure that delivers maximum availability, reliability and performance at a fraction of traditional cost.

On a typical day, weather.com, the Web site for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, serves up between 15 million and 20 million page views. But in September 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes ransacked Florida, the peak traffic on one day more than tripled: over 70 million page views by more than 7 million unique visitors. Read the full success story now.

Marketplace