Archive for September 16, 2024

Horizon3.ai Publishes Details On An Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance Vulnerability

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

Horizon3.ai Chief Attack Engineer Zach Hanley has just published “CVE-2024-8190: Investigating CISA KEV Ivanti Cloud Service Appliance Command Injection Vulnerability” 

Ivanti’s advisory reads: Ivanti has released a security update for Ivanti CSA 4.6 which addresses a high severity vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to the device running the CSA. Dual-homed CSA configurations with ETH-0 as an internal network, as recommended by Ivanti, are at a significantly reduced risk of exploitation.

An OS command injection vulnerability in Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance versions 4.6 Patch 518 and before allows a remote authenticated attacker to obtain remote code execution. The attacker must have admin level privileges to exploit this vulnerability.

Zach said: “The description definitely sounds like it may have the opportunity for accidental exposure given the details around misconfigurations of the external versus internal interfaces.”

His investigation details how, putting together the pieces, Zach and team achieved a command injection exploit, and looks at Ivanti’s configuration guidance for insight into how some of their clients were being exploited in the wild. Zach’s post also includes indicators of compromise.

Links:

CVE-2024-8190: Investigating CISA KEV Ivanti Cloud Service Appliance Command Injection Vulnerability: https://www.horizon3.ai/attack-research/cisa-kev-cve-2024-8190-ivanti-csa-command-injection/

Security Advisory Ivanti Cloud Service Appliance (CSA) (CVE-2024-8190): https://forums.ivanti.com/s/article/Security-Advisory-Ivanti-Cloud-Service-Appliance-CSA-CVE-2024-8190?language=en_US

CISA KEV – Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance OS Command Injection Vulnerability: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/09/13/cisa-adds-one-known-exploited-vulnerability-catalog

Leave a comment »

Salesforce Enhances Team Productivity With New Slack Innovations

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

To answer the need for a better, more efficient way for teams to work together, Slack is releasing new AI enhancements set to improve team collaboration and data integration.

These enhancements follow a recent report from Salesforce which highlighted that Slack AI integrations saved50,000 hours of work in just one quarter. With the innovations announced today, customers can centralize everything they need to get work done more efficiently.

Key innovations include:

  • Agentforce in Slack: With a new user interface (UI) for agents, teams can now talk to their data, surface insights, and take action on tasks in Slack with Salesforce’s Agentforce Agents.
  • Third-party AI agents: AI agents and assistants from partners like Adobe, Anthropic, Cohere, Perplexity, and more can be deployed in the same trusted, secure environment in Slack.
  • Salesforce channels: A new type of channel that connects Salesforce CRM records to channel-based conversations in Slack gives teams a comprehensive space to collaborate on every account and opportunity, increasing alignment to move work forward. Coming soon, Salesforce channels will be embedded in the Salesforce user interface.

New enhancements in Slack also include purpose-built AI functionality across search and automation as well as new solutions-based templates to unlock productivity for every use case and line of business. 

  • New Slack AI features: Enhanced capabilities like huddle notes, simplified automation, and improved search allow teams to work smarter, faster, and with greater focus.
  • Slack templates: Collections of ready-to-use templated channels, canvases, lists, and automated workflows make work in any department and for any task faster and more productive.
  • AI Workflow Builder: Generates workflows with simple conversational prompts so users can easily automate their tasks.

Availability: 

  • Third-party agents are available now in the Slack Marketplace, with more coming soon.
  • Agentforce (formerly Einstein Copilot) in Slack will be available in beta in October 2024.
  • Slack AI is available now as a paid add-on for all paid Slack plans.
  • Salesforce channels are available to Slack Sales Elevate customers now and will be included in Salesforce Starter Suite in the coming months.
  • Slack templates will be available in October 2024.

Explore more:

Leave a comment »

IDs, Driver Licenses & More Exposed By Fuel Industry Software Provider 

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

A data breach involving FleetPanda (FuelPanda), a software and technology company providing services and support for the petroleum and fuel industry, was discovered and reported to WebsitePlanet by cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler. 

What happened: 

A non-password-protected database containing 780,000 records, including invoices, driver applications, images of driver licenses, and background checks with PII, was exposed. 

Why it matters: 

The exposure of internal documents poses a significant risk for invoice fraud, where criminals could trick organizations into paying fraudulent invoices by posing as legitimate vendors or suppliers. Additionally, personal data and documents could be exploited for identity theft, financial fraud, social engineering phishing attacks and more cyber threats. 

If you want to understand what was at stake and the risks of leaving such information exposed, you can find their report with more details here: https://www.websiteplanet.com/news/fleetpanda-breach-report/

Leave a comment »

How You Can Prepare Your iPhone For iOS 18

Posted in Tips with tags on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

At 1PM EST on Monday, Apple will release iOS 18 to the public. As long as you have a supported device, it will bring you new features and improvements to your iDevice experience. One thing that will be an exception is Apple Intelligence. Unless you buy an iPhone 16, the only existing iPhones that will get Apple Intelligence are the 15 Pro and the 15 Pro Max.

If you want to see a full feature set, click here.

Speaking of supported devices, here’s what iOS 18 will run on:

  • iPhone 15
  • iPhone 15 Plus
  • iPhone 15 Pro
  • iPhone 15 Pro Max
  • iPhone 14
  • iPhone 14 Plus
  • iPhone 14 Pro
  • iPhone 14 Pro Max
  • iPhone 13
  • iPhone 13 mini
  • iPhone 13 Pro
  • iPhone 13 Pro Max
  • iPhone 12
  • iPhone 12 Pro
  • iPhone 12 Pro Max
  • iPhone 12 Mini
  • iPhone 11
  • iPhone 11 Pro
  • iPhone 11 Pro Max
  • iPhone XS
  • iPhone XS Max
  • iPhone XR
  • iPhone SE (Second Generation Or Later)

If your phone isn’t on this list, then it’s not supported. And the following phones will come with iOS 18 out of the box:

  • iPhone 16
  • iPhone 16 Plus
  • iPhone 16 Pro
  • iPhone 16 Pro Max

If you are wondering why there are no iPads on the list, that’s because Apple has spun off the iPads into a separate OS called iPadOS which is due out at the same time. Having said that, this advice applies to iPads as well. 

Now, since this is a major upgrade there is always a chance, no matter how remote that something can go sideways. To make sure that you’re not caught out by something unexpected, here’s what you can do:

1. Update your Apps: Make sure that all your apps are up to date before upgrading by opening the App Store app and seeing if any updates are required. This is important because it is possible that the changes that Apple has made on areas like privacy and performance could break an app that you rely on. Thus I find that it is always a good idea to check for updates and install them before a new version of iOS hits the streets.

2. Dump any uneeded photos, videos or apps: iOS updates tend to need a fair amount of free space to allow for a successful installation. Thus if you have anything less than 8GB of free space, consider deleting unused apps or photos/videos. In terms of the photos and videos you want to keep, you can move them to the cloud or a computer so that they’re safely stored without taking up space on your iPhone. I personally use iCloud myself, but Google Photos is another option.

3. Backup your iDevice: If you value the data on your iDevice, backing it up is a must. You have two options for backing up your iDevice: iCloud or iTunes. Follow this guide to backing up your iPhone using iCloud or iTunes.

At this point you should be good to go to upgrade to iOS 18. Key word being SHOULD. Upgrading an operating system isn’t a trivial process. But if you take these steps beforehand, you should reduce the risk of any issues that you might encounter.

One other thing before I go, you may want to consider not upgrading to iOS 18 and instead wait for iOS 18.1 to hit the streets before you upgrade as that’s likely to have additional bug fixes and also fix issues that hit the streets when iOS 18 comes out. Plus that’s the version that is going to bring Apple Intelligence to the table. I’ll be upgrading later today and I will let you know how it goes.

Leave a comment »

What You Should Do Before Upgrading To macOS Sequoia ….. And Why You Shouldn’t Upgrade Just Yet

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

Apple is expected to release their latest OS which is macOS Sequoia today. Before we go on, here’s a list of what macOS Sequoia will run on:

  • iMac 2019 and later
  • Mac Pro 2019 and later
  • iMac Pro 2017
  • Mac Studio 2022 and later
  • MacBook Air 2018 and later
  • Mac mini 2018 and later
  • MacBook Pro 2018 and later

You should note that some features won’t work on Intel Macs. Apple Intelligence is one of those features as that feature will only work on an Apple Silicon Mac. I am also sure that this is a backhanded way for Apple to “encourage” you to replace your Intel Mac with an Apple Silicon Mac. Which to be frank you should consider as Intel Macs are on their last legs from a support standpoint. In any case, here’s list of features that Sequoia includes.

If your Mac isn’t on this list, you’re out of luck. But assuming that it is, here’s some tips on what you might want to do before you pull that trigger and upgrade. And a couple reasons why you shouldn’t.

  1. Don’t Upgrade… At least not yet. Part 1 : The reason why you shouldn’t upgrade is that Apple’s initial releases tend to be buggy. But they get better after they release an update or two. So you may want to wait until at least the .1 update hits the streets before making the jump. Or better yet, wait until the .2 release to be extra safe. 
  2. Don’t Upgrade… At least not yet. Part 2: Your apps that you depend upon may not be ready for Sequoia. Thus out may be a better strategy to confirm whether they are ready or not. And if they’re not, wait for them to be compatible with Sequoia before you upgrade.
  3. If you Must Upgrade, Make A Backup: Needless to say, making a backup of your current setup is vital before upgrading. That way you have a way to go back to where you were if things don’t work out. There’s plenty of backup solutions out there from Apple’s own Time Machine to third party utilities such as Carbon Copy Cloner that can be used for this purpose.
  4. Upgrade Your Software BEFORE You Upgrade: Assuming your apps are going to be compatible with Sequoia, you should ensure that all your apps are up to date before you pull the trigger on upgrading. That will reduce the risk that something might go sideways during the upgrade.
  5. Run Disk Utility BEFORE You Upgrade: The last thing I would do is boot of the Recovery Partition and run Disk Utility to verify the volume that you plan to install the upgrade on. It likely wouldn’t hurt to do a permission repair as well.

At this point you should be good to go. Key word being SHOULD. Upgrading an operating system isn’t a trivial process. But if you take these steps beforehand, you should reduce the risk of any issues. Or you can take my first couple of suggestions which is to wait for a bit before upgrading. Then follow the rest of my advice. In my case, I need to do a few upgrades of software before making the jump to Sequoia. As a result, I will not be upgrading this afternoon. But I will be in the coming weeks.

Leave a comment »

23andMe Pays Up To Make Their Legal Problems Go Away…. Maybe

Posted in Commentary on September 16, 2024 by itnerd

You might recall that DNA testing service 23andMe got pwned in epic fashion. And that was only the beginning. That led to them quietly trying to alter their terms of service to avoid getting sued. But when that didn’t work, they blamed their users for getting pwned. Now the latest twist in this story is the fact that the company has decided to pay up:

23andMe will pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit over a data breach that affected more than 6.9 million customers. As part of the proposed settlement, the genetic testing site will compensate affected customers and provide them with access to a security monitoring program for three years.

A judge still needs to sign off on this. But if that happens, it will put an end to litigation against the company who has been on life support even before this pwnage happened. And if it doesn’t happen, 23andMe is done like dinner.

Stay tuned to find out which outcome it will be.

Leave a comment »