Security management

No-Hassle Way to Kill ActiveX Controls

ActiveX has always been a weak point in IE. The majority of browser plug-in vulnerabilities are ActiveX based. Microsoft realizes this and has a method to disable certain problematic ActiveX controls. But Microsoft’s method involves setting the kill bit by editing the registry and in order to discover the CLSID (Class ID) of the control you want to disable, you may have to uninstall others. In short, it’s a messy way to do things.

Errata Security to the rescue. They’ve created AxBan, a free tool to set the kill bit on known bad ActiveX controls. Errata promises that they’ll “be updating it as needed with new CLSIDs on an as needed basis.” AxBan is a single, small (45.5 KB), standalone executable that contains a list of known dangerous ActiveX controls. It highlights in red any you have installed on your system and gives you a button to set the kill bit. Be careful, though–there isn’t an “undo” button. Once you set the kill bit, if you find you’ve made a mistake, you’ll have to edit the registry to unset it.

Nevertheless, it’s a handy tool to have in your security arsenal

Does Encryption Have You Complacent About Physical Security?

There’s no question that data security is senior to physical security. The real value in a stolen laptop or PC isn’t in the hardware, it’s in the data. Sure, some druggie might steal your laptop and sell it for a fix, but the real danger lies in the thief who knows the value of the files that are stored on it. If it’s a personal laptop, the passwords to your online banking site, credit card numbers, Social Security number–probably everything about your identity–may be stored on it. If it’s a corporate laptop, depending on who you work for, there could be valuable customer information complete with credit card numbers or other proprietary information that a thief or corporate spy could capitalize on.

But physical security is only slightly less important. Don’t get complacent thinking that you’re OK just because your data is secure. It’s an expensive proposition to replace that data, so you must take steps to prevent theft of your hardware.

Encrypting your data is analogous to hiding it. So hide your laptop. Chain down your PC. Make it as difficult as possible for a thief to steal it. I keep my PC in a locked room when I’m not nearby and I maintain the attitude that someone’s waiting around the next corner to steal my laptop. So, it’s always either in a secure area or with me–and I mean within a couple of feet of me. I rarely leave it in my car and if for some reason I must, I lock it up in the trunk. I never leave it overnight in the office. Out of sight, out of mind. There are other physical precautions you can take as this Security Focus article outlines.

And let’s not forget about removable and external storage devices; hide them, too. I’ll cover that in a future article. For now, I leave you with Maxim #8:

Physical security is almost as important as data security. Make it as difficult as possible through any physical means for a thief to steal your hardware. Rules of thumb: Lock it up and lock it down; out of sight, out of mind.

Your Wallet is the Best Password Manager

Although I use them for sites that don’t require much security, password managers are something I generally stay away from. Why? Because they store the information on my hard drive or a website, both of which could be compromised by a determined hacker. Even a relatively unsophisticated hacker could exploit an unpatched vulnerability leaving my passwords open to inspection. My personal security policy is to make it as hard as possible for someone to get to my passwords.

I write them down and keep them in my wallet.

Yes, that is the most secure “password manager” there is. No one can get to your wallet from the Internet or your PC. Passwords written on a piece of paper and stored in your wallet are nearly impossible to compromise–someone would have to steal your wallet (or you’d have to lose it) to get at them. How likely is that? I’m 55 years old and have never lost my wallet or had one stolen. Just be sure not to write down your username with the passwords.

Are You a Security “No” Man or a Security “Yes” Man?

We security wonks always seem to be put into a position of having to say “no.” That makes us unpopular with the I’m-not-hurting-anything crowd who insist on checking their webmail, IMing their friends, and running assorted and sundry downloaded and web-based applications (but only on their time, of course). Maybe they’re right on some level; many of those things are benign and don’t represent security threats. But there are also potentially dangerous applications such as peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing that can expose your network to hackers via an open P2P connection (See P2P Leads to Major Leak at Citigroup Unit and Pfizer Falls Victim to P2P Hack).  What’s one to do?

Start saying “Yes.” You read that right. Look at it from the user’s standpoint: A blanket prohibition against anything and everything usually foments rebellion on the part of some and they’ll do whatever they want to do with wild abandon. Your network is less secure as a result. But, if you develop policies that allow webmail, online shopping, and IM instead of blocking them at the gateway, while prohibiting the potentially dangerous stuff, you just might find the users starting to ask you if it’s OK to do certain things.

And they just might listen to you if you say “No.”