GNUCITIZEN

This is not necessarily news anymore since it was discussed on the Websecurify official blog but we are so excited about it that we could not hold ourselves from posting it here too.

The testing engine used in this particular version of Websecurify is optimized to run with the least possible amount of memory. The results of the scanner are as good as those produced by all other Websecurify variants although in some cases it may miss some statistically unlikely types of issues. [...]

I have been avoiding the topic about Stuxnet for quite some time, mainly because there were many others who spent the time to take the virus apart. However, here is a video, which I find rather amusing:

Wether this is the real deal or simply fear mongering, I simply don’t know. It is all speculations at the moment. [...]

What is the best way to spend a quiet, weekend afternoon? – Jump off a perfectly working plane while 10,000 feet in the air.

On 5th of July 2009, the GNUCITIZEN team and friends came together to perform a skydiving gig. It has been two months since that day but memories are still as clear as yesterday.

Automated Web Application Security Testing tools are in the core of modern penetration testing practices. You cannot rely 100% on the results they produce, without considering seriously their limitations. However, because these tools are so good at picking the low-hanging fruit by employing force and repetition, they still have a place in our arsenal of penetrating testing equipment.

These tools are not unfamiliar to modern day penetration testers. [...]

This is going to be one of these quick posts which just makes you think what the information security landscape will be like in 5 years. Before I move on with my commentary, here is a video which is essential for you to watch.

Got the idea? No? Let me explain. What you see in the video above is an application for the iPhone which gives you detailed characteristics of properties (houses) in USA. [...]

Oh yes, the digital battlefield is taking unusual shapes. The latest manifestation of cyber warfare is a conflict between the Adblock Plus and the NoScript extensions. The story goes that NoScript used some JavaScript tactics and, of course, some obfuscations in order to cripple the Adblock Plus functionalities. This attack was a response to Adblock Plus blocking NoScript ads which you see when you upgrade the extension, which as you know happens quite regularly, don’t know why. [...]

When I was playing/introducing the partial disclosure practice an year and something ago, I did get contacted by numerous dodgy characters willing to buy yet undisclosed vulnerabilities for substantial amount of money. Of course, requests of that nature were kindly ignored. I couldn’t believe that someone was willing to give me so much money for something I virtually spent 2-3 hours maximum to produce. [...]

Jeriko moved in its own source code repository which you will be able to find here. There is also a discussion group here, if you feel like using it.

The version inside the new code repository is very different from the version you’ve seen before. The main difference is that while the old version is basically a collection of scripts, the new version implements its own shell (wrapper around bash) which does the heavily lifting and also introduces some funky programming mechanisms. [...]

Perl, Ruby Python: use the language that suits your character. However, one of the things that differentiate python from the rest is its philosophy, which is: there should be one– and preferably only one –obvious way to do it (where it is a problem). This philosophy gives python some interesting advantages over other similar languages. That will be explained later on. [...]

This morning I spotted several blog posts mentioning that Twitter has been hit by yet another XSS worm.

There is no merit in discussing how this has been done and for what purposes but this incident is yet another proof that the attack landscape is rapidly changing and moving towards web enabled infrastructures and the client-side. [...]