Like most other people, I have a few dozen online accounts now and have spent the last few days evaluating the security and recovery options for each one of them. In response, I have taken a few extra steps, listed below, that I think may help improve the overall security of these accounts. If you find anything useful in the list, do try implementing it in your own workflow for better piece of mind.

A Security Checklist for Online Accounts

#1. I have enabled the “Always use HTTPS” setting for Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Google and all the other online services that support secure HTTP. This is especially important when accessing Internet over a Wi-Fi network because without HTTPS, anyone (and not just skilled hackers) can capture your login details using some free Firefox extensions.

#2. I have a  Google Account and it use 2-step verification now. That means if someone tries to log into my Google account from a different computer, they’ll have to type an additional code that is sent directly to my mobile phone as an SMS text message or generated by Google Authenticator app on my phone.

#3. The 2-step verification can also alert you to potential hacking activity. If I ever get an SMS (or a voice call) from Google with the verification code but without requesting one, it is an immediate hint that someone knows my password though they won’t be able to get in without entering the verification code.

#4. I have connected my mobile number with my Facebook account. This is extremely important because I get an instant SMS and an email alert whenever my Facebook account is accessed from a different computer or another mobile phone.

#5. I carefully reviewed third-party sites that have access to my online accounts and revoked access to all the unwanted apps that I no longer use. In case you wish to do the same for your accounts, here are the direct links for Facebook, Google and Twitter.

#6. I maintain two email addresses – one is public that is displayed on the blog while the other email address is known to a select few. Why?

6a. The public email address is associated with services like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous, Skype and a couple of other social sites where I want people to find me if they have my email address in their address book.

6b. I use the other “secret” email address with services like Dropbox, Amazon, Google Apps, my bank, my hosting service, Apple iTunes, PayPal and few other places where account security is even more critical and where I am not looking to get social.

#7. If I am testing a new online service, I almost always use a disposable email address to create a test account with that service. Some online services reject disposable addresses to prevent fake registrations but the one I use goes through as it is only an alias (or nickname) of my main email address.

#8. I prefer using a virtual credit card with shopping sites that I am either using for the first time or where the fine print is too long and there’s a risk that I could be billed again if I don’t cancel the account. This also helps keep my credit card safe from relatively unknown sites.

#9. Once in a while, I do mock drill with my most important online accounts to test the various recovery options I would have in case I forget my password or if I lose access to my secondary email address or misplace my mobile phone.

#10. The last point – how do I remember and manage so many different passwords?

Some people prefer to use password managers which are very convenient I also have a simple 1-page document to store information of all my online accounts and the corresponding passwords. This file is password-protected and I put it on my Google Drive so the information is available on all my computers.

Nothing online is perfectly secure. Determined hackers can get into anything if they really put their minds to it, but a few simple steps would my the hacking process much more difficult. The steps I’m suggesting isn’t hard to do. You should do it now.

• Requires Automator application (comes with Mac OS X version 10.5 and later
• Snow Leopard & Lion) and
• Microosft Outlook 2011

What does this Automator Workflow do?  Saves selected email messages as files

How do I make this Automator Action?  Follow these steps (See Figure 1):
Open the Automator application (Double-click Automator.app in the Applications folder)
When Automator opens, a dialog displays “Choose a template for your workflow” with “workflow” selected by default. “Workflow” is what we want, so all you have to do is click the Choose button.
In the list of Actions in the left column, in the Library category choose Mail.
Drag the action, “Get Selected Outlook Items” to the empty pane on the right. It might take a couple tries before this works. Drag slowly.
Also from the Mail actions in the left column, drag the action “Save Outlook Items as Files” to the pane on the right as shown here.
In the Save Outlook Items as Files action, you can choose:
Where: Click this pop-up to choose the default folder in which to save the messages when the action runs
Save: Choose whether to automatically use the message subect as the file name or be prompted to enter a file name.
Options
Show this action when the workflow runs (recommended)
Show only the selected items (try this both ways and see how you like it)
You can test this action right in the Automator application. Switch to Outlook, and select one or more (hold the command key down and click on subjects to select them, or you can even use Command-a to select them all). The switch back to Automator application and click the Run button. The workflow runs and saves each selected message as a file.

You can save This Automator workflow so you can open and edit it again in Automator:
In Automator, choose File > Save As.
In the Save As field, give the action a name, such as SaveOutlookMessagesAsFiles.workflow
Use the default file format, “workflow” and then click the Save button.
To save this Automator Action as an application that Microsoft Outlook can use:
In Automator, choose File > Save As.
Change the file format pop-up to Application
In the Save As field, give the action a name, such as SaveOutlookMessages.app
Navigate to Documents > Microsoft User Data > Outlook Script Menu Items folder, then click the Save button.
All done! You can quit Automator application now.

How do I use a workflow that was saved as application?
In Microsoft Outlook 2011:
In a mailbox, elect the messages you want to save as files
Hold the Command key down to select more than one message
Hold the Shift key down to select a range of messages
Press Command-a to select all messages
Click on the Script Menu button (it looks like a scroll and is immediately to the right of Help in the Outlook Menu bar), and then choose the workflow application you saved as an application as described earlier.
Choose the options you want in the dialog box
Click the Continue button.
The selected mail messages have been saved to the folder you chose.

Source: Agentjim

it was showing the following message:

“VSD Mount Failed


You have entered the recovery shell. You can try booting in troubleshooting mode to attempt to fix the issue. If that fails, you should contact VMWare techsupport.

/bin/sh: can´t access tty: job control turned off.”

All I wanted to do was to transfer all the Virtual Machines (all VMDK files) out of that server but, because it was in recovery shell, I wasn’t able to mount an external disk or connect via SSH.

After a lot of googling and testing, I found a way of doing it.  This method is useful for disaster recovery as well as forensic analysis in case you have to image an ESX server.  Forensic software like Encase and FTK don’t support VMFS file system and when you add an image of an ESX server as evidence, they just show the VMFS partitions as Unknown.

These are the steps for mounting VMFS partitions under Linux / Unix:

1.  vmfs-tools is a tool which is “originally loosely based on the vmfs code from fluidOps” and allows read only access to VMFS file systems from non ESX/ESXi hosts.

2.  boot the ESX server with a live linux CD (I used Ubuntu 10 ) and when it asks if you want to install or just try it live, choose try.

3.  after the OS is booted and you can see the desktop, connect the OS to Internet and install vmfs-tools by running: sudo apt-get install vmfs-tools ( if it says it can’t find the package, go to software source setting and add universe by checking the box).  Alternatively, if you don’t have internet connection, you can download the vmfs-tools package from here and put it on a usb and install it manually using dpkg -i command (example dpkg -i vmfs-tools.deb).

4.  Now type  the following command: sudo fdisk –l this shows that the vmfs file system is located at /dev/sdb3 ( if it’s a server with SCSI raid unit, it will be under /dev/cciss/c0d0p#)

5.  The next command is to mount VMware VMFS partition:
create a folder as a mount point using this command mkdir /media/VMFS and use this command to mount the VMFS partition vmfs-fuse /dev/sdb3 /media/VMFS
6.  now go to that folder and check the content using cd /media/VMFS and then ls -hal

7.  you should be able to see all the VM folders.

 
8.  to export those VMs to an external disk, connect a USB disk and mount it. then use cp -r command to copy each VM folder to USB disk. (example cp -r /media/VMFS/VMname/ /Media/sdb1(usb disk partition mount point)/
 

 
I hope you have found this post useful.
 

 
Hadi Rahnama
Senior Digital Forensic Analyst
Vincents Forensic Technology

Based in Brisbane’s CBD, Vincents Forensic Technology are well placed to assist clients with all forms of data recovery and assistance.

Here are some quick tips from our forensic technology experts.

1. Do not attempt to turn on equipment which may have been damaged by water:

If water has infiltrated the hard drive or electrical components, applying electrical power can leave the hard drive unrecoverable and it can become dangerous to handle.

2. Do not attempt to open closed media such as laptops or external hard disks:

In some cases there may be voltage present within some power components, such as transformers, which may be dangerous.  Also, opening a previously closed case may also allow or even force water into previously unaffected areas of the device.

3. Do Not Dry the Hard Drive:

Whenever media is damaged by water, the first instinct to remedy the situation is to attempt to access the circuits and physically dry them out. However, the tiny particles and abrasives contained in water are often not visible to the human eye and will seriously damage the media.  Corrosion and any contaminants which may be left on the hard drive platters will need to be treated by professionals. If you’re not able to get to an engineer, sealing the unopened device in a container with a small amount of passive material, such as silica or even dry rice may assist until that time.

4. Never assume that data is unrecoverable

Depending on the level of damage to a digital device, data can sometimes still be recovered. Seek professional help in securing your data and you may be able to continue to enjoy the benefits of the digital world.

Please contact Vincents Forensic Technology on (07) 3228 4000 if we can assist with your computer and data recovery needs.

Get a Password Manager

Many options exist for the password conundrum, but the best is a solution we suggested back in February: a simple password manager. Tools like KeePass and LastPass let you generate new random passwords for every account you have. You can use these tools to create nearly unbreakable random strings of numbers, letters (both upper and lower case) and symbols, and stretch them to unimaginable lengths (although 20 characters should be more than enough). Furthermore, the programs keep your complex codes nice and tidy, so you’ll never lose track of which password goes where.

Lengthen Your Password

Alternatively, simply lengthening your password will protect your accounts for the immediate future. Though expanding to 12 characters will suffice, we suggest 14 characters as the sweet spot for truly secure phrases that are also short enough to be memorized. These phrases should also abide by the general rules of password variation: use at least one upper- and one lower-case letter, and at least one number. We also suggest working in a special character, like ‘$’ or a punctuation mark, if the site you’re using allows it. While we don’t have access to the array of graphics cards programmed by the Georgia Institute of Technology, we did check with How Secure Is My Password (a site we covered earlier this year), and it claims that a 14-character password using lower and uppercase letters, as well as numbers, would take 39 billion years to crack. That’s perhaps a little generous, but you get the point; it ain’t easy.

Switch Letters and Numbers

Changing letters to numbers is another quick and easy way to add complexity to a password. Turning your “e”s into “3″s and your “s”s in to “5″s introduces a layer of randomness that makes your password harder to guess. This is an especially handy way to obscure dictionary words (which most security experts suggest avoiding).

Use Full Phrases

Another password tip is to use full sentences and phrases. While many sites will not let you create a password long enough, famous quotes or personal mantras can work as incredibly secure passwords. For example, “ask not what your country can do for you” would take an almost immeasurable amount of time to crack with a desktop PC. Change the “o”s to “0″s, and the spaces to underscores (“_”), and you’ve got a password that might make a super computer choke.

Ideally, you should have a different, random password for every account, but we realize that a password manager is not for everyone (and might not even be an option for some). But, with a few tricks, it’s not impossible to keep your accounts at least somewhat safe from the newest and most powerful tech out there.

SOURCE: SWITCHED

Using copper cables to transfer data around a computer? Get your head out of the sand, Grandpa! Intel thinks that’s on the outs and is touting its recent accomplishments with Silicon Photonics and integrated lasers, using light pulses to move data at 50Gbps (last time we heard Intel tout the tech was when it hit 40Gbps speeds in 2007). The emphasis is on low-cost, high-speed fiber optics, the removal of cable clutter, and with the speed boost, the ability to try new system designs by being able to space chips and components farther apart from one another without as much hit on speed — all theoretical at this point, of course. Researchers hopes to hit terabit per second speeds further down the line. As for John Q. Consumer, enjoy the progress from afar but don’t count on seeing this technology hit Newegg anytime soon.

Via: Engadget

Wireless presentation controllers have changed corporate life forever. Instead of businessmen and women staying tethered to their keyboards while delivering boring PowerPoint presentations, they can wander about the room, gesticulating authoritatively with an ego-boosting gadget in-hand… while delivering that same boring presentation. Now a security researcher by the name of Nields Teusink is showing that those wild gesticulations open the door to crazy hacks, with most wireless presenters being recognized as full keyboards — some even as keyboards and mice. With no encryption provided it’s a (reasonably) simple task for an attacker to replicate the signal, escape the presentation, and completely compromise the machine.

Via: Engadget

The problem stems from a shortcoming in the way the Universal Serial Bus (USB) works. This allows almost all USB-connected devices, such as mice and printers, to be turned into tools for data theft, says a team that has exploited the flaw.

Welcome to the murky world of the “hardware trojan”. Until now, hardware trojans were considered to be modified circuits. For example, if hackers manage to get hold of a microchip when it is still in the factory, they could introduce subtle changes allowing them to crash the device that the chip gets built into (New Scientist, 1 July 2009, p 18).

Computer engineers John Clark, Sylvain Leblanc and Scott Knight at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, wondered if a hardware trojan attack could be carried out by other means. They calculated that the easiest way to introduce a hardware trojan might be via a computer’s USB ports.

The trio found they could exploit a weakness in USB’s plug-and-play functionality. The USB protocol trusts any device being plugged in to report its identity correctly. But find out the make and model of a target user’s keyboard, say, swap it with a compromised device that reports the same information – and that doesn’t even have to be a keyboard – and the computer won’t realise.
Swap a USB keyboard for a device that reports the same model number, and the computer won’t know

The team designed a USB keyboard containing a circuit that successfully stole data from the hard drive and transmitted it in two ways: by flashing an LED, Morse-code style, and by encoding data as a subtle warbling output from the sound card (Future Generation Computer Systems, DOI: 10.1016/j.future.2010.04.008). They could have chosen more efficient methods to transmit the data, such as email, but Leblanc says their main goal was to see if they could steal data without anyone noticing.

“We’ve shown any USB device could contain a hardware trojan,” he says. Security software, if it checks USB devices at all, tends to look only for malware on USB memory sticks.

“This work opens many cans of worms,” says Vasilios Katos, a computer scientist at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece. “A USB device cannot now be trusted – it may have hidden processing capabilities.”

He’s right, says Leblanc. “You could mount a hardware trojan attack with a USB coffee-cup warmer.”

Via: Engadget
Source: New Scientist

 Vincents Director of Forensic Technology Daniel Hains said information processed on digital copying machines roughly manufactured post-2000 can be retrieved after the machine has been sold or otherwise disposed of.

 Mr Hains said individuals or companies replacing photocopiers should ensure they remove data on the hard-drive’s of old machine’s or risk having their sensitive information retrieved by outside interests.

 ”Often tens of thousands of documents that have been photocopied are still available to be retrieved by forensic acquisition,” he said.

 ”The hard drive on a copier is just like the one on your personal computer and can and usually does store every document printed, copied, scanned or emailed by the machine.

 ”It’s a massive digital time bomb where items such as medical documents, bank statements and tax records can be retrieved by whoever gets their hands on the old machine.”

 Mr Hains said he had found that many companies were unaware of the potential dangers posed by digital copiers.

 ”Companies should take responsibility for ensuring images from the hard drive are erased before the copier is sold, leased out or disposed of,” he said.

 ”We have found that a lot of businesses and consumers simply have no idea that copiers store images on the hard drive.

 ”But there is potential here for serious breaches of privacy.”

 Mr Hains said all major photocopier manufacturers offered security or encryption packages on their products, but they can be expensive.

 ”Due to the cost of these packages, many businesses are unwilling to pay for such protection and this can result in thousands of copying machines retaining their secrets,” he said.

 ”The machine itself may have an inbuilt function to remove all data so check the operating instructions. In most cases the original supplier may provide a qualified technician to assist with this process.”

 Established more than 20 years ago, Vincents specialises in forensic accounting, forensic technology, insolvency and reconstruction, corporate advisory, taxation and business solutions, financial advisory and executive search and selection.

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