Second Google Desktop attack reported
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(InfoWorld) - Google's PC search software is vulnerable to a variation on a little-known Web-based attack called anti-DNSÂ pinning that could give an attacker access to any data indexed by Google Desktop, security researchers said this week. This is the second security problem reported this week for the software. On Wednesday, researchers at Watchfire saidÂ they'd found a flaw that could allow attackers to read files or run unauthorized softwareÂ on systems running Google Desktop. As with Watchfire's bug, attackers would first need to exploit a cross-site scripting flaw in the Google.com Web site for this latest attack to work, but the consequences could be serious, according to Robert Hansen, the independent security researcher who first reported the attack. "All of the data on a Google desktop can now be siphoned off to an attacker's machine," he said. Cross-site scripting flaws are common Web server vulnerabilities that can be exploited to run unauthorized code within the victim's browser. Hansen, who is CEO of Sectheory.com, did not post proof of concept code for his attack, but he said that he has "tested every component of it, and it works." He has posted some details of how Google Desktop data could be compromised on his blog. Google said it was investigating Hansen's findings. "In addition, we recently added another layer of security checks to the latest version of Google Desktop to protect users from vulnerabilities related to Web search integration in the future," the company said in a prepared statement. Anti-DNS pinning is an emerging area of security research, understood by just a handful of researchers, said Jeremiah Grossman, CTO at WhiteHat Security. The variation of this attack described by Hansen manipulates the way the browser works with the Internet's DNS in order to trick the browser into sending information to an attacker's computer. "Once you can re-point Google to another IP address, instead of Google getting the traffic, the bad guy does," he said. Because this type of attack is so difficult to pull off and is poorly understood, it is unlikely to be used by the criminals any time soon, Grossman said. But anti-DNS pinning shouldn't be ignored, he added. "We should keep our eyes on it in case the bad guys shift gears." News of the attack comes as Google is trying to enter the desktop productivity market. On Thursday, Google launched a suite of Web-based collaboration software, called the Google Apps Premier Edition, that analysts sayÂ could become a competitor to Microsoft Office. The troubling thing about the attack Hanson identified, which he calls anti-anti-anti-DNS pinning, is that there is very little that can be done to avoid it short of eliminating cross-site scripting vulnerabilities on the Web. "This is really just fundamentally about how browsers work," he said. "If you allow a Web site to have access to your drive -- to modify, to change things, to integrate, or whatever -- you're relying on that Web site to be secure." Hansen and Grossman say that Google is not the only company vulnerable to a growing category of Web-based attacks. For instance, MySpace.com was hit when a fast-moving worm spread through the MySpace community in early December, stealing MySpace log-in credentials and promoting adware Web sites. "A lot of these new attack techniques are going to require the browsers to improve," Grossman said. "The users really have very little ability to protect themselves against these attacks" he said. "It's very bad. Even the experts are afraid to click on each other's links anymore." Â
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A handful of researchers at Rice University uncovered a security flaw in Google&#39;s Desktop Search offering that could allow attackers to view small portions of personal search results.
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Search engine leader Google has been forced to respond to a security vulnerability in its Google Desktop Search software, which reportedly made it possible for computer intruders to view desktop search results via the Web.
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Danish security research firm Secunia has reported a vulnerability that occurs in most browsers that can be exploited by hackers looking to spoof the content of Web sites.
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If you use shared or public computers, you have a new privacy risk to consider: Google Desktop Search.
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A Rice University computer scientist and two of his students have discovered a potentially serious security flaw in the desktop search tool for personal computers that was recently distributed by Google.
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A serious flaw in Google's desktop software could be used to wreak havoc on a victim's PC.
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Another version of attack code that targets Yahoo Messenger has been published on the Internet, a security researcher warned.
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(Article Central) A glitch was discovered in Google Desktop that could allow an attacker to access the contents of a PC from the Internet, according to a report in The New York Times.
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A flaw in Google&#39;s desktop search program was revealed on Monday by a team of computer researchers. They showed it could be used to capture valuable personal information from a remote user&#39;s computer.
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Ziff Davis - Holes in KOffice and RealPlayer allow attackers to take over a user's system.
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Security researchers have discovered another vulnerability in Windows XP Service Pack 2, but it doesn&#39;t appear to be an immediate threat.
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New PC indexing tools such as Google Desktop Search pose security risks to businesses that useÂ SSL remote access because the tools copy material accessed during SSL sessions and make it available to unauthorized people who later use the same PC.