Vista "Hacked" at Black Hat Conference
Saw a post on CNET about Windows Vista being “hacked” at the recent Black Hat conference. What’s interesting is that the “hack” actually depends on a user to do an explict action – and bypass a warning. Here’s the relevant quote:
As one of the security measures in Vista, Microsoft is adding a mechanism to block unsigned driver software to run on the 64-bit version of the operating system. However, Rutkowska found a way to bypass the shield and get her code to run. Malicious drivers could pose a serious threat because they run at a low level in the operating system, security experts have said.
<snip>
To stage the attack, however, Vista needs to be running in administrator mode, Rutkowska acknowledged. That means her attack would be foiled by Microsoft’s User Account Control, a Vista feature that runs a PC with fewer user privileges. UAC is a key Microsoft effort to prevent malicious code from being able to do as much damage as on a PC running in administrator mode, a typical setting on Windows XP.
“I just hit accept,” Rutkowska replied to a question from the audience about how she bypassed UAC. Because of the many security pop-ups in Windows, many users will do the same without realizing what they are allowing, she said.
I’ve been running betas of Vista for a few months now, and have to admit I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the User Account Control functionality. On the plus side, it works as advertised. A user is no longer an administrator by default, so many potential attacks on the OS are just blocked. The problem is that when installing applications you get a security warning asking you whether or not you want the installation action to continue – and no matter how you spin it, it’s a distraction from whatever you’re currently trying to do. This means you tend to train yourself to quickly approve the prompt and although I try to read the prompts knowing full-well the value of the warning, I have found myself accidentally approving something without fully giving myself the time to comprehend what I actually just allowed.
It’ll be interesting to watch as the Vista team tunes this functionality. I have to say it’s become infinitely better than earlier builds when I felt as though I had to approve every little action on the PC. Now it’s a mild annoyance, but one that’s well worth having. I just hope people learn to read those security warnings when they do appear. Otherwise, these sorts of “shoulda been blocked hacks” may become more common.
The good news? The OS did block the hack attempt. No OS is 100% secure, but I’m personally feeling super-positive about the steps Vista has taken in that direction.
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