Rose & Marinaldo

Rose

TL;DR: Don't build a burner device. Probably this is not the risk you are looking for.

Introduction

Every year before DEF CON people starts to give advice to attendees to bring "burner devices" to DEF CON. Some people also start to create long lists on how to build burner devices, especially laptops. But the deeper we look into the topic, the more confusing it gets. Why are we doing this? Why are we recommending this? Are we focusing on the right things?

What is a "burner device" used for?

For starters, the whole "burner device" concept is totally misunderstood, even within the ITSEC community. A "burner device" is used for non-attribution. You know, for example, you are a spy and you don't want the country where you live to know that you are communicating with someone else. I believe this is not the situation for most attendees at DEF CON. More info about the meaning of "burner" https://twitter.com/Viss/status/877400669669306369

Burner phone means it has a throwaway SIM card with a throwaway phone, used for one specific operation only. You don't use the "burner device" to log in to your e-mail account or to VPN to your work or home.

But let's forget this word misuse issue for a moment, and focus on the real problem.

The bad advice

The Internet is full of articles focusing on the wrong things, especially when it comes to "burner devices". Like how to build a burner laptop, without explaining why you need it or how to use it.

The problem with this approach is that people end up "burning" (lame wordplay, sorry) significant resources for building a secure "burner device". But people are not educated about how they should use these devices.

The threats

I believe the followings are some real threats which are higher when you travel:

1. The laptop getting lost or stolen.

2. The laptop getting inspected/copied at the border.

These two risks have nothing to do with DEF CON, this is true for every travel.

Some other risks which are usually mentioned when it comes to "burner devices" and DEF CON:

3. Device getting owned via physical access while in a hotel room.

4. Network traffic Man-in-the-middle attacked. Your password displayed on a Wall of Sheep. Or having fun with Shellshock with DHCP. Information leak of NTLM hashes or similar.

5. Pwning the device via some nasty things like WiFi/TCP/Bluetooth/LTE/3G/GSM stack. These are unicorn attacks.

6. Pwning your device by pwning a service on your device. Like leaving your upload.php file in the root folder you use at CTFs and Nginx is set to autostart. The author of this article cannot comment on this incident whether it happened in real life or is just an imaginary example.

How to mitigate these risks?

Laptop getting stolen/lost/inspected at the border?

1. Bring a cheap, empty device with you. Or set up a fake OS/fake account to log in if you really need your day-to-day laptop. This dummy account should not decrypt the real files in the real account.

Device getting owned while in a hotel room with physical access

1. Don't bring any device with you.

2. If you bring any, make it tamper-resistant. How to do that depends on your enemy, but you can start by using nail glitter and Full Disk Encryption. Tools like Do Not Disturb help. It also helps if your OS supports suspending DMA devices before the user logs in.

3. If you can't make the device tamper-resistant, use a device that has a good defense against physical attackers, like iOS.

4. Probably you are not that important anyway that anyone will spend time and resources on you. If they do, probably you will only make your life miserable with all the hardening, but still, get pwned.

Network traffic Man-in-the-middle attacked

1. Don't bring any device with you.

2. Use services that are protected against MiTM. Like TLS.

3. Update your OS to the latest and greatest versions. Not everyone at DEF CON has a 0dayz worth of 100K USD, and even the ones who have won't waste it on you.

4. Use fail-safe VPN. Unfortunately, not many people talk about this or have proper solutions for the most popular operating systems.

5. For specific attacks like Responder, disable LLMNR, NBT-NS, WPAD, and IPv6 and use a non-work account on the machine. If you don't have the privileges to do so on your machine, you probably should not bring this device with you. Or ask your local IT to disable these services and set up a new account for you.

Pwning the device via some nasty thing like WiFi/TCP/Bluetooth/LTE/3G/GSM stack

1. Don't bring any device with you.

2. If you bring any, do not use this device to log in to work, personal email, social media, etc.

3. Don't worry, these things don't happen very often.

Pwning your device by pwning a service on your device

Just set up a firewall profile where all services are hidden from the outside. You rarely need any service accessible on your device at a hacker conference.

Conclusion

If you are still so afraid to go there, just don't go there. Watch the talks at home. But how is the hotel WiFi at a random place different from a hacker conference? Turns out, it is not much different, so you better spend time and resources on hardening your daily work devices for 365 days, instead of building a "burner device".

You probably need a "burner device" if you are a spy for a foreign government. Or you are the head of a criminal organization. Otherwise, you don't need a burner device. Maybe you need to bring a cheap replacement device.

More info

Rose

Most of the people don't go with videos and read books for learning. Book reading is a really effective way to learn and understand how things work. There are plenty of books about computers, security, penetration testing and hacking. Every book shows a different angle how things work and how to make system secure and how it can be penetrated by hackers. So, here I have gathered a few of the best hacking books of 2018 available on the market.

BEST HACKING BOOKS OF 2018

There are hundreds of books about hacking, but I have streamlined few of best hacking books of 2018.

1. THE HACKER'S PLAYBOOK PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PENETRATION

This handbook is about experting yourself with the hacking techniques in the hacker's way. This is about penetration testing that how hackers play their techniques and how we can counter them.

Introduction
Pregame – The Setup
Setting Up a Penetration Testing Box
Before the Snap – Scanning the Network
The Drive – Exploiting Scanner Findings
The Throw – Manual Web Application Findings
The Lateral Pass – Moving Through the Network
The Screen – Social Engineering
The Onside Kick – Attacks that Require Physical Access
The Quarterback Sneak – Evading AV
Special Teams – Cracking, Exploits, Tricks
Post Game Analysis – Reporting

Download the Hacker's Playbook Practical Guide to Penetration.

2. ANDROID HACKER'S HANDBOOK

The Android Hacker's Handbook is about how the android devices can be hacked. Authors chose to write this book because the field of mobile security research is so "sparsely charted" with disparate and conflicted information (in the form of resources and techniques).

Chapter 1 Looking at the Ecosystem
Chapter 2 Android Security Design and Architecture
Chapter 3 Rooting Your Device
Chapter 4 Reviewing Application Security
Chapter 5 Understanding Android's Attack Surface
Chapter 6 Finding Vulnerabilities with Fuzz Testing
Chapter 7 Debugging and Analyzing Vulnerabilities
Chapter 8 Exploiting User Space Software
Chapter 9 Return Oriented Programming
Chapter 10 Hacking and Attacking the Kernel
Chapter 11 Attacking the Radio Interface Layer
Chapter 12 Exploit Mitigations
Chapter 13 Hardware Attacks

Download Android Hacker's Handbook.

3. PENETRATION TESTING: A HANDS-ON INTRODUCTION TO HACKING

This book is an effective practical guide to penetration testing tools and techniques. How to penetrate and hack into systems. This book covers beginner level to highly advanced penetration and hacking techniques.

Chapter 1: Setting Up Your Virtual Lab
Chapter 2: Using Kali Linux
Chapter 3: Programming
Chapter 4: Using the Metasploit Framework
Chapter 5: Information Gathering
Chapter 6: Finding Vulnerabilities
Chapter 7: Capturing Traffic
Chapter 8: Exploitation
Chapter 9: Password Attacks
Chapter 10: Client-Side Exploitation
Chapter 11: Social Engineering
Chapter 12: Bypassing Antivirus Applications
Chapter 13: Post Exploitation
Chapter 14: Web Application Testing
Chapter 15: Wireless Attacks
Chapter 16: A Stack-Based Buffer Overflow in Linux
Chapter 17: A Stack-Based Buffer Overflow in Windows
Chapter 18: Structured Exception Handler Overwrites
Chapter 19: Fuzzing, Porting Exploits, and Metasploit Modules
Chapter 20: Using the Smartphone Pentesting Framework

Download Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction To Hacking.

4. THE SHELLCODER'S HANDBOOK

This book is about learning shellcode's of the OS and how OS can be exploited. This book is all about discovering and exploiting security holes in devices to take over.

Authors: Chris Anley, John Heasman, Felix "FX" Linder, Gerardo Richarte.

Stack Overflows
Shellcode
Introduction to Format String Bugs
Windows Shellcode
Windows Overflows
Overcoming Filters
Introduction to Solaris Exploitation
OS X Shellcode
Cisco IOS Exploitation
Protection Mechanisms
Establishing a Working Environment
Fault Injection
The Art of Fuzzing
Beyond Recognition: A Real Vulnerability versus a Bug
Instrumented Investigation: A Manual Approach
Tracing for Vulnerabilities
Binary Auditing: Hacking Closed Source Software
Alternative Payload Strategies
Writing Exploits that Work in the Wild
Attacking Database Software
Unix Kernel Overflows
Exploiting Unix Kernel Vulnerabilities
Hacking the Windows Kernel

Download The ShellCoder's HandBook.

5. THE HACKER'S HANDBOOK WEB APPLICATION SECURITY FLAWS

This handbook is about finding and exploiting the web applications.

Authors: Dafydd Stuttard, Marcus Pinto.

Chapter 1 Web Application (In)security
Chapter 2 Core Defense Mechanisms
Chapter 3 Web Application Technologies
Chapter 4 Mapping the Application
Chapter 5 Bypassing Client-Side Controls
Chapter 6 Attacking Authentication
Chapter 7 Attacking Session Management
Chapter 8 Attacking Access Controls
Chapter 9 Attacking Data Stores
Chapter 10 Attacking Back-End Components
Chapter 11 Attacking Application Logic
Chapter 12 Attacking Users: Cross-Site Scripting
Chapter 13 Attacking Users: Other Techniques
Chapter 14 Automating Customized Attacks
Chapter 15 Exploiting Information Disclosure
Chapter 16 Attacking Native Compiled Applications
Chapter 17 Attacking Application Architecture
Chapter 18 Attacking the Application Server
Chapter 19 Finding Vulnerabilities in Source Code
Chapter 20 A Web Application Hacker's Toolkit
Chapter 21 A Web Application Hacker's Methodology

Download The Hacker's Handbook Web Application Security Flaws.

So, these are the top 5 best hacking books on the market. There may be more fascinating books in the future that make take place in the top list. But for now, these are the best hacking books. Read and share your experience with these books.

Related posts

Rose

What is Bug Bounty ?

A bug bounty program, also called a vulnerability rewards program (VRP), is a crowdsourcing initiative that rewards individuals for discovering and reporting software bugs. Bug bounty programs are often initiated to supplement internal code audits and penetration tests as part of an organization's vulnerability management strategy.

Many software vendors and websites run bug bounty programs, paying out cash rewards to software security researchers and white hat hackers who report software vulnerabilities that have the potential to be exploited. Bug reports must document enough information for for the organization offering the bounty to be able to reproduce the vulnerability. Typically, payment amounts are commensurate with the size of the organization, the difficulty in hacking the system and how much impact on users a bug might have.

Mozilla paid out a $3,000 flat rate bounty for bugs that fit its criteria, while Facebook has given out as much as $20,000 for a single bug report. Google paid Chrome operating system bug reporters a combined $700,000 in 2012 and Microsoft paid UK researcher James Forshaw $100,000 for an attack vulnerability in Windows 8.1. In 2016, Apple announced rewards that max out at $200,000 for a flaw in the iOS secure boot firmware components and up to $50,000 for execution of arbitrary code with kernel privileges or unauthorized iCloud access.

While the use of ethical hackers to find bugs can be very effective, such programs can also be controversial. To limit potential risk, some organizations are offering closed bug bounty programs that require an invitation. Apple, for example, has limited bug bounty participation to few dozen researchers.

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Rose