The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) announces
the release of three related publications on trusted cloud and hardware-enabled
security. The foundation of any data center or edge computing security strategy
should be securing the platform on which data and workloads will be executed
and accessed. The physical platform represents the first layer for any layered
security approach and provides the initial protections to help ensure that
higher-layer security controls can be trusted.

Trusted Cloud: Security Practice Guide for VMware Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Environments (NIST SP 1800-19)	NIST Special Publication (SP) 1800-19 presents an example of a trusted hybrid cloud solution that demonstrates how trusted compute pools leveraging hardware roots of trust can provide the necessary security capabilities for cloud workloads in addition to protecting the virtualization and application layers. View the document.
Each of the reports below, NISTIR 8320B and NISTIR 8320C, are intended to be used as a blueprint or template that the general security community can use as example proof of concept implementations.
Hardware-Enabled Security: Policy-Based Governance in Trusted Container Platforms (NISTIR 8320B)	NISTIR 8320B explains an approach based on hardware-enabled security techniques and technologies for safeguarding container deployments in multi-tenant cloud environments. View the document.
Hardware-Enabled Security: Machine Identity Management and Protection (NISTIR 8320C)	Draft NISTIR 8320C presents an approach for overcoming security challenges associated with creating, managing, and protecting machine identities, such as cryptographic keys, throughout their lifecycle. View the document.

We Want to Hear from You!

Review the draft NISTIR 8320C and submit comments online on or before
June 6, 2022. You can also contact us at [email protected].
We value and welcome your input and look forward to your comments.

ESET researchers have discovered and analyzed three vulnerabilities affecting various Lenovo consumer laptop models. The first two of these vulnerabilities – CVE-2021-3971, CVE-2021-3972 – affect UEFI firmware drivers originally meant to be used only during the manufacturing process of Lenovo consumer notebooks. Unfortunately, they were mistakenly included also in the production BIOS images without being properly deactivated. These affected firmware drivers can be activated by attacker to directly disable SPI flash protections (BIOS Control Register bits and Protected Range registers) or the UEFI Secure Boot feature from a privileged user-mode process during OS runtime. It means that exploitation of these vulnerabilities would allow attackers to deploy and successfully execute SPI flash or ESP implants, like LoJax or our latest UEFI malware discovery ESPecter, on the affected devices.

To understand how we were able to find these vulnerabilities, consider the firmware drivers affected by CVE‑2021-3971. These drivers immediately caught our attention by their very unfortunate (but surprisingly honest) names: SecureBackDoor and SecureBackDoorPeim. After some initial analysis, we discovered other Lenovo drivers sharing a few common characteristics with the SecureBackDoor* drivers: ChgBootDxeHook and ChgBootSmm. As it turned out, their functionality was even more interesting and could be abused to disable UEFI Secure Boot (CVE-2021-3972).

In addition, while investigating above mentioned vulnerable drivers, we discovered the third vulnerability: SMM memory corruption inside the SW SMI handler function (CVE-2021-3970). This vulnerability allows arbitrary read/write from/into SMRAM, which can lead to the execution of malicious code with SMM privileges and potentially lead to the deployment of an SPI flash implant.

We reported all discovered vulnerabilities to Lenovo on October 11th, 2021. Altogether, the list of affected devices contains more than one hundred different consumer laptop models with millions of users worldwide, from affordable models like Ideapad-3 to more advanced ones like Legion 5 Pro-16ACH6 H or Yoga Slim 9-14ITL05. The full list of affected models with active development support is published in the Lenovo Advisory.

In addition to the models listed in the advisory, several other devices we reported to Lenovo are also affected, but won’t be fixed due to them reaching End Of Development Support (EODS). This includes devices where we spotted reported vulnerabilities for the first time: Ideapad 330-15IGM and Ideapad 110-15IGR. The list of such EODS devices that we have been able to identify will be available in ESET’s vulnerability disclosures repository.

Lenovo confirmed the vulnerabilities on November 17th, 2021, and assigned them the following CVEs:

• CVE-2021-3970 LenovoVariableSmm – SMM arbitrary read/write
• CVE-2021-3971 SecureBackDoor – disable SPI flash protections
• CVE-2021-3972 ChgBootDxeHook – disable UEFI Secure Boot

Highlights:

·       
Check Point Research discovered vulnerabilities in the ALAC
format that could have led an attacker to remotely get access to its media and
audio conversations

·       
MediaTek and Qualcomm, the two largest mobile chipset manufacturers
in the world, used the ALAC audio coding in their widely distributed mobile
handsets, putting millions of Android users’ privacy at risk

·       
Research, dubbed “ALHACK” finds Two thirds of
all smartphones sold in 2021 are vulnerable

·       
Qualcomm and MediaTek acknowledged the vulnerabilities flagged
by CPR, putting patches and fixes in response

Background

The
Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), also known as Apple Lossless, is an audio
coding format, developed by Apple Inc. and first introduced in 2004 for
lossless data compression of digital music.

In
late 2011 Apple made the codec open source. Since then, the ALAC format has
been embedded in many non-Apple audio playback devices and programs, including
Android-based smartphones, Linux and Windows media players and converters.

Since
then Apple has been updating the proprietary version of the decoder several
times, fixing and patching security issues, but the shared code has not been
patched since 2011. Many third-party vendors use the Apple-supplied code as the
basis for their own ALAC implementations, and it’s fair to assume that many of
them do not maintain the external code.

Check
Point Research has discovered that Qualcomm and MediaTek, two of the largest
mobile chipset makers in the world, ported the vulnerable ALAC code into their
audio decoders, which are used in more than half of all smartphones worldwide.
According to IDC, 48.1% of all Android phones sold in the
US are powered by MediaTek as of Q4 2021, while Qualcomm currently holds 47% of
the market.

What did we find and
what is the potential threat?

The
ALAC issues our researchers found could be used by an attacker for remote code
execution attack (RCE) on a mobile device through a malformed audio file. RCE
attacks allow an attacker to remotely execute malicious code on a computer. The
impact of an RCE vulnerability can range from malware execution to an attacker
gaining control over a user’s multimedia data, including streaming from a
compromised machine’s camera.

In
addition, an unprivileged Android app could use these vulnerabilities to
escalate its privileges and gain access to media data and user conversations.

Responsible disclosure

Check
Point Research responsibly disclosed the information to MediaTek and Qualcomm
and worked closely in collaboration with both vendors to make sure these
vulnerabilities were fixed.

MediaTek
assigned CVE-2021-0674 and CVE-2021-0675 to the ALAC issues. The
vulnerabilities were already fixed and published in the
December 2021 MediaTek Security Bulletin. Qualcomm released the patch for
CVE-2021-30351 in the December 2021 Qualcomm Security Bulletin.

 Source of the article found here

 Summary

 

This Multi-State Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) Advisory is being provided to assist agencies and organizations in guarding against the persistent malicious actions of cybercriminals. Even though the services provided by the MS-ISAC are only available to the public sector, all private sector organizations are encouraged to review this Advisory and implement appropriate mitigation measures.

 

Summary The MS-ISAC received notice from a trusted third-party regarding subdomains of ru[.]com using the names of US states. Although many of them are not currently active, these domains could be used for phishing campaigns or other malicious activity like malspam. The domains follow a consistent template with using standard state names (no acronyms, spacing, or hyphens) in the format <state>[.]ru[.]com. For example:

 

California[.]ru[.]com NewYork[.]ru[.]com NorthDakota[.]ru[.]com Ohio[.]ru[.]com

 

This information is being provided for situational awareness. The MS-ISAC recommends blocking the domain at your web filter, on any edge devices, and in your spam filtering solution. If your organization utilizes the MS-ISAC Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting (MDBR) Service, all of the domains have been added. While some of these domains are currently up for sale, the domain could become active at any time.

 

 

 New  FBI released their annual Cybercrime report, highlighting the top risks and threats impacting people and organizations across the U.S. The full PDF report from the FBI can be read here.

Students, kick-start your tech career with Microsoft Certification!

At Microsoft, our mission is to help you achieve more, so we’re making certifications, and the resources to learn, prepare, and get certified, free to all eligible students, starting with fundamentals certifications.

Technology is changing the future of work. In every industry, employers expect interns and recent graduates to have the digital capabilities they need to thrive in a modern—often hybrid or remote—working environment. While digital skills are a great start, students also need skills in data, AI, and cloud technologies to make the most of every opportunity. Earning a Microsoft Certification does more than just build technical skills; certifications can help you stand out, gain confidence, and even get paid more1. Microsoft Certifications also validate your skills and abilities, while proving your commitment to learning the latest technologies.

Five steps to kick-start your tech career

1. Sign into Microsoft Learn and create your
student profile

Microsoft Learn is
the place to start and customize your learning journey with up-to-date content
developed by experts and a variety of resources. Master new skills with a
comprehensive collection of training options that empower you to learn in a
style that fits you best. Sign into Microsoft Learn and
create your student profile to track your progress on learning activities,
create and share content collections, accrue points and achievements, use free
Azure resources, and get personalized recommendations.

2. Determine which certification is right for
you and start learning

Microsoft
Certifications are based on industry analysis of specific jobs and roles and
are continually updated to reflect the latest technologies. They enhance your
credibility, giving you the professional advantage of globally recognized,
industry-endorsed skills. Earning a Microsoft Certification enables employers
and peers to recognize your talent and experience—and can help you build the
technical skills you need to succeed in today’s fast-paced, digital world.

Microsoft
Certifications start with foundational skills and move into the deeper
technical skills you will need to perform industry roles. Microsoft
Certifications also cover technical topics from Azure to AI, to data analytics
and cybersecurity.

Learn the concepts included in the
certification exams

Exam	Self-paced online content	Exam cram
AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals	✔	✔
DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals	✔	✔
AI-900: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals	✔	✔
SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals	✔	✔
PL-900: Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals	✔	✔
MB-910: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (CRM)	✔	✘
MB-920: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (ERP)	✔	✘
MS-900: Microsoft 365 Fundamentals	✔	✘

3. Verify
your student status, claim your benefits, and practice

You’ve created a
Learn profile, selected a Microsoft fundamentals certification, and prepared
for the exam. Now, you’re ready to practice and get certified.

As part of this
initiative, Microsoft provides free exam vouchers and practice tests to
eligible students. You will just need to verify your enrollment at an
accredited academic institution to claim the benefits.

You’ll be guided
at every step to learn the required skills, prepare for the exam with a
practice test, and then get certified by passing the exam.

Sign up

 Note

This student
initiative is managed by Cloud Ready Ltd. on behalf of Microsoft. When you
access the Cloud Ready website using your Microsoft Account credentials, your
use of that website and any collection of personal data will be governed by
the Cloud Ready Privacy
Policy.

What’s
included:

Free
Microsoft Official Practice Tests: Taking a Microsoft Official Practice
Test can significantly boost your chances of passing the Microsoft certification
exam. Build your knowledge of exam objectives and see detailed explanations for
correct and distractor answers. Provided by MeasureUp, Microsoft Official
Practice Tests recreate the conditions you’ll find in the actual certification
exam. Work in Practice Mode, which includes explanations and references for
each question, or Exam Mode, which simulates the real exam with about 150
relevant questions.

Free
Microsoft Exams: Take
a Microsoft fundamentals certification exam with a free exam voucher. Fundamentals
certifications are a great way to start your certification journey. Validate
your foundational understanding with mixed concepts and apply what you learn
about Microsoft technologies—no area experience required. Fundamentals also
give you a springboard into deeper, role-based learning paths and
certifications.

4. Become certified—and earn college credit

Get even more
credit for your new skills. Students can now receive college credits for
passing Microsoft Exams and earning Microsoft Certifications. Read the story of
students Sam Jones and Jason
Powell, who saved money and completed their degrees faster with
college credits they earned as a result of their Microsoft Certifications.
Review the tools and resources they
used so you can do the same.

 Tip

We’re committed
to ensuring that every person who’s interested in taking Microsoft Certifications
can do so in a way that is fair and accurately reflects their skills and
abilities. Learn more about
requesting accomodations.

5. Share your certification achievements

Celebrate your
success! You worked hard to earn your certification. Now, be sure to share your
new achievement with the world via a digital badge.

Showcasing your
professional achievements may help you get noticed by potential employers. When
you share your digital badge on popular sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and
Twitter, or when you embed it into your resume, personal website, or email
signature, anyone who sees your badge will immediately recognize it as a
trusted Microsoft validation of your achievement.

Learn more about
how to claim your badge and showcase your skills and certifications.

#ProudToBeCertified

Follow the Microsoft Learn
Blog for stories of how Microsoft Certifications have changed
people’s career paths—even at the beginning of their professional lives or as
they start new careers. These personal stories highlight how getting certified
can demonstrate your expertise and capacity for continuous learning, right from
the start of your career in tech.

·       
Certifications can
spark confidence amidst unexpected changes

·       
Microsoft
Certifications boost IT careers from the start

·       
Why you should
celebrate your Microsoft skills and certifications

·       
How the Microsoft
Certification community can help you and your career

1.
Upon earning a certification, 28 percent of technical professionals say getting
certified led to salary or wage increases, and 91 percent reported greater
confidence in their abilities. Pearson VUE, “2021 Value of IT
Certification Report”, 2021.