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In cooperation with the university Paderborn and Münster University of Applied Sciences, we discovered a new flaw in the specification of TLS. The vulnerability is called ALPACA and exploits a weakness in the authentication of TLS for cross-protocol attacks. The attack allows an attacker to steal cookies or perform cross-site-scripting (XSS) if the specific conditions for the attack are met.

TLS is an internet standard to secure the communication between servers and clients on the internet, for example that of web servers, FTP servers, and Email servers. This is possible because TLS was designed to be application layer independent, which allows its use in many diverse communication protocols.

ALPACA is an application layer protocol content confusion attack, exploiting TLS servers implementing different protocols but using compatible certificates, such as multi-domain or wildcard certificates. Attackers can redirect traffic from one subdomain to another, resulting in a valid TLS session. This breaks the authentication of TLS and cross-protocol attacks may be possible where the behavior of one protocol service may compromise the other at the application layer.

We investigate cross-protocol attacks on TLS in general and conducted a systematic case study on web servers, redirecting HTTPS requests from a victim's web browser to SMTP, IMAP, POP3, and FTP servers. We show that in realistic scenarios, the attacker can extract session cookies and other private user data or execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the vulnerable web server, therefore bypassing TLS and web application security.

We evaluated the real-world attack surface of web browsers and widely-deployed Email and FTP servers in lab experiments and with internet-wide scans. We find that 1.4M web servers are generally vulnerable to cross-protocol attacks, i.e., TLS application data confusion is possible. Of these, 114k web servers can be attacked using an exploitable application server. As a countermeasure, we propose the use of the Application Layer Protocol Negotiation (ALPN) and Server Name Indication (SNI) extensions in TLS to prevent these and other cross-protocol attacks.

Although this vulnerability is very situational and can be challenging to exploit, there are some configurations that are exploitable even by a pure web attacker. Furthermore, we could only analyze a limited number of protocols, and other attack scenarios may exist. Thus, we advise that administrators review their deployments and that application developers (client and server) implement countermeasures proactively for all protocols.

More information on ALPACA can be found on the website https://alpaca-attack.com/.

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Over $60 Million Worth of Bitcoins Hacked from NiceHash Exchange. Bitcoin mining platform and exchange NiceHash has been hacked, leaving investors short of close to $68 million in BTC.

As the price of Bitcoin continues to rocket, surging past the $14,500 mark at the time of writing, cyberattackers have once again begun hunting for a fresh target to cash in on in this lucrative industry.

Banks and financial institutions have long cautioned that the volatility of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency makes it a risky investment, but for successful attackers, the industry potentially provides a quick method to get rich — much to the frustration of investors.

Unfortunately, it seems that one such criminal has gone down this path, compromising NiceHash servers and clearing the company out.

In a press release posted on Reddit, on Wednesday, NiceHash said that all operations will stop for the next 24 hours after their "payment system was compromised and the contents of the NiceHash Bitcoin wallet have been stolen."

NiceHash said it was working to "verify" the precise amount of BTC stolen, but according to a wallet which allegedly belongs to the attacker — traceable through the blockchain — 4,736.42 BTC was stolen, which at current pricing equates to $67,867,781.

"Clearly, this is a matter of deep concern and we are working hard to rectify the matter in the coming days," NiceHash says. "In addition to undertaking our own investigation, the incident has been reported to the relevant authorities and law enforcement and we are co-operating with them as a matter of urgency."

"We are fully committed to restoring the NiceHash service with the highest security measures at the earliest opportunity," the trading platform added.

The company has also asked users to change their online passwords as a precaution. NiceHash says the "full scope" of the incident is unknown.

"We are truly sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused and are committing every resource towards solving this issue as soon as possible," the company added.

Inconvenience is an understatement — especially as so much was left in a single wallet — but the moment those coins shift, we may know more about the fate of the stolen investor funds.

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In android there is lots of personal data that can be accessed by any unauthorized apps that were installed on the device. This is just because your Android data is openly saved in your file explorer that is not encrypted or protected by encryption method, so, even normal app can also hijack your data very easily as the media access permissions are granted when you click on accept button while installing the apps. And this may be endangering the private data that you might not want to share with anyone. So here we have a cool way that will help you to make your data private by disallowing the apps to access your media files without your permission. So have a look on complete guide discussed below to proceed.

How To Protect Your Private Data From Android Apps

The method is quite simple and just need a rooted android device that will allow the Xposed installer to run on the device. And after having the Xposed installer you will be using an Xposed module to disallow the apps to have access to your personal or say private data. For this follow the guide below.

Steps To Protect Your Private Data From Android Apps:

Step 1. First of all, you need a rooted android as Xposed installer can only be installed on a rooted android, so Root your android to proceed for having superuser access on your android.

Step 2. After rooting your Android device you have to install the Xposed installer on your android and thats quite lengthy process and for that, you can proceed with our Guide to Install Xposed Installer On Android.

Step 3. Now after having an Xposed framework on your Android the only thing you need is the Xposed module that is DonkeyGuard – Security Management the app that will allow you to manage the media access for apps installed on your device.

Step 4. Now install the app on your device and after that, you need to activate the module in the Xposed installer. Now you need to reboot your device to make the module work perfectly on your device.

Step 5. Now launch the app and you will see all the apps that are currently installed on your device.

Step 6. Now edit the media permission for the apps that you don't want to have access to your media with private data.

That's it, you are done! now the app will disallow the media access to that apps.

Manually Checking App Permission

Well, our Android operating system offers a nice feature in which we can manage a single app's permission. However, you need to have Android 6.0 Marshmallow or a newer version to get the option.

Step 1. First of all, open Settings and then tap on 'Apps'.

Manually Checking App Permission

Step 2. Now you will see the list of apps that are currently installed on your Android smartphone. Now you need to select the app, and then you will see 'Permissions.'

Manually Checking App Permission

Step 3. Now it will open a new window, which will show you all permissions that you have granted to the app like Camera access, contacts, Location, microphone, etc. You can revoke any permissions as per your wish.

Manually Checking App Permission

Well, the same thing you need to perform if you feel that you have installed some suspicious app on your Android. By this way, you can protect your private data from Android apps.