Security researchers have found a way to seize control of a laptop computer by manipulating
buggy code in the system’s wireless device driver. The hack will be demonstrated at the upcoming Black Hat USA 2006 conference during a presentation by David Maynor, a research engineer with Internet Security Systems and Jon Ellch, a student at the U.S. Naval postgraduate school in Monterey, California.
Device driver hacking is technically challenging, but the field has become more appealing in recent years, thanks in part to new software tools that make it easier for less technically savvy hackers, known as script kiddies, to attack wireless cards, Maynor said in an interview.
The two researchers used an open-source 802.11 hacking tool called LORCON (Loss of Radio Connectivity) to throw an extremely large number of wireless packets at different wireless cards. Hackers use this technique, called fuzzing, to see if they can cause programs to fail, or perhaps even run unauthorized software when they are bombarded with unexpected data. Researchers hack Wi-Fi driver to breach laptop | InfoWorld | News | 2006-06-21 | By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
From around the Web
- Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Latest Release Schedule
- Vista SP2: What is inside?
- NetWitness releases free version of security software
- Three Reasons Why Users Won’t Buy Into Security
- Automated security testing & its limitations
- Google Wants to Preinstall Chrome Browser on PCs
- Mozilla warns of Firefox China add on
- Firefox No Longer an Automatic Defense Against Browser Drive Bys
- Google patches Chrome file stealing bug
- Apple plays catch up, adds anti fraud safeguard to Safari
- Researchers find vulnerability in Windows Vista
- How to Use Network Behavior Analysis Tools
- The insider security threat in IT and financial services
- Windows 7 security: An overall improvement?
- Windows 7 UAC could be less of a nag