Weekly Infosec News Brief: 24-30 Nov

Dell Laptops Shipped with Unsecure Certificate Authority Installed

Dell laptops shipped since this August included, pre-installed, a root certificate authority from Dell called "eDellRoot" that also included the authority's own private key. Even deleting the root certificate does not solve the problem, as the "Dell Foundation Services" Windows service will re-install the certificate if it is deleted. The Dell System Detect service has also been found to install its own root certificate, including the private key. Because these certificates include their own private keys and are installed as root certificate authorities in the OS, an attacker could create their own certificates signed by these and the relevant computers would see them as legitimate signed certificates for websites, drivers, and other software. Lenovo was found last year to similarly install their own root certificates for pre-installed software. Because of the difficulty of avoiding these types of issues with vendor-supplied Windows installations, Anchor recommends that organizations install their own operating system build on all PCs rather than using a default install provided by a PC vendor.
http://www.csoonline.com/article/3008719/data-protection/what-you-need-to-know-about-dells-root-certificate-security-debacle.html
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/11/security-bug-in-dell-pcs-shipped-since-815/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3008478/security/and-then-there-were-two-another-dangerous-dell-root-certificate-discovered.html


 Microsoft Adds Detection for "Potentially Unwanted Applications" to Anti-Malware Products

"Potentially Unwanted Applications" (PUAs) are programs that are not necessarily overtly malicious, but that are often installed unintentionally and contain functionality that is often undesirable, especially in a corporate environment. The include many "search toolbars" and other browser add-ons that modify search settings or inject advertisements, and many games and other programs that might install spyware-like functionality along with their primary functions. The question of whether such programs should be detected by anti-malware programs has long been controversial. Microsoft has recently added detection of these as an option in their System Center Endpoint Protection (SCEP) and Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) products. Does your organization have a policy that covers programs of this type? Does your anti-malware solution detect them?
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3008995/security/microsoft-offers-unwanted-software-detection-for-the-enterprise.html


Lenovo Patches a Serious Vulnerability in their System Update Tool

A serious vulnerability was revealed in Lenovo's "Lenovo System Update" tool that might allow attackers to elevate account privileges to gain local administrator privileges. This is another in a series of serious vulnerabilities in Lenovo's support software and other built-in tools on their pre-installed laptop builds. Along with last week's problem with Dell's "eDellRoot" certificate, this issue is a reminder of why it is generally best for organizations to install a fresh operating system on systems rather than using a default pre-installed OS from the PC vendor
http://www.csoonline.com/article/3008869/security/lenovo-patches-serious-vulnerabilities-in-pc-system-update-tool.html


SAFECode Releases Recommendations for Ensuring the Security of Third-Party Applications

SAFECode (Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code" released last week a set of recommendations for assessing the secure development processes of commercial entities from which an organization might be purchasing software. Microsoft, SAP, Symantec, Adobe, Intel, EMC2 and other major vendors are charter members. These recommendations are a good place to start if your organization has questions about the security of an business-critical application that is developed for you by an external third party.
http://www.scmagazine.com/safecode-recommendations-way-to-assess-software-security/article/456404/
http://www.safecode.org/publication/SAFECode_Principles_for_Software_Assurance_Assessment.pdf

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