Tag Archive for: Cyber-Sicherheit

Greenbone AG

Critical vulnerability in Citrix Netscaler: Greenbone provides tests.

On October 10th, Citrix officially informed about the vulnerability in the Netscaler software, CVE-2023-4966, which is categorized as “critical” according to CVSS with a score of 9.4 and allows unauthorized access to corporate networks.

Greenbone has reacted to these vulnerabilities and implemented vulnerability tests at an early stage. Greenbone customers using the Citrix Netscaler Gateway, or ADC, are therefore on the safe side.

Nevertheless, the vulnerability is serious, which is why the BSI issues an urgent warning:

“The vulnerability allows attackers to disclose sensitive information without authentication. This allows authenticated sessions to be hijacked and multifactor authentication (MFA) or other means of authentication to be bypassed”.

The vulnerability, which has been actively exploited since the end of August, has been reported in numerous media outlets. Users should install the patches provided by Citrix as soon as possible. Citrix’s NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway products, versions 13 and 14, and versions 12 and 13 of NetScaler ADC are affected. In addition to CVE-2023-4966, an advisory has been issued for CVE-2023-4967, which allows a Denial of Service (DoS).

Keep your IT networks secure!

Vulnerability management is a key tool in securing IT networks. It enables you to identify and eliminate potential risks in your systems. The Greenbone Enterprise Feed is updated daily to detect new vulnerabilities. Therefore, we recommend regular updates and scans for all your systems. Please also read this article about IT security and the timeline of common attack vectors.

The Greenbone Enterprise Appliances are offered as hardware, virtual appliances, or on premise (Greenbone Cloud Service). Greenbone works GDPR-compliant and offers an open-source solution. This means the best data protection compliance and is thus guaranteed to be completely free of backdoors.


Contact Free Trial Buy Here Back to Overview

/by
Markus Feilner

“Vulnerability management is becoming increasingly important” – Greenbone CEO Dr. Jan-Oliver Wagner at PITS Congress

Every year, IT and cyber security experts from public authorities, federal, state and local governments as well as the armed forces, police and intelligence services meet for the cyber security congress “Public IT Security” (PITS), initiated by Behoerdenspiegel. In 2023, the topic of vulnerabilities was once again at the top of the agenda.

This year, our CEO Dr. Jan-Oliver Wagner was invited as an expert to take part in the panel discussion “Putting a finger on a wound – managing or closing vulnerabilities?” Moderated by Katharina Sook Hee Koch from the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the panel included representatives from the German Informatics Society (Nikolas Becker, Head of Policy & Science), the Bundestag Committee on Digital Affairs (MdB Catarina dos Santos-Wintz, CDU/CSU), the BSI itself (Dr. Dirk Häger, Head of Department Operative Cyber Security) for an exchange of views. Dirk Kunze from the North Rhine-Westphalia State Criminal Police Office (Head of the Cybercrime/Cyber Investigations Department in the Research and Investigation Centre) was present on behalf of the executive.

from left: Catarina dos Santos-Wintz, Dirk Kunze, Katharina Sook Hee Koch, Dr. Dirk Häger, Dr. Jan Oliver Wagner, Nikolas Becker (Photo: Greenbone AG)

Should vulnerabilities be closed? By all means!

The debate quickly centered on the question of whether and how (quickly) vulnerabilities in software should be closed and/or whether this would impair the work of investigative authorities. There was great unanimity among those present that the security of citizens had the highest priority. Keeping vulnerabilities open, even for political reasons, is hardly an option, both for cost reasons (exploits are expensive) and in risk assessment.

On the contrary, open-source software should be strengthened and more rewards (bug bounties) should be offered to experts who actively search for vulnerabilities. The BSI is also firmly convinced: “Basically, vulnerabilities must be closed.” (Häger). In criminal practice, the topic apparently plays a subordinate role anyway: the police, according to the LKA in North Rhine-Westphalia, know of only a few cases where it could have helped to keep vulnerabilities open. However, open vulnerabilities are still seen as a possible element for investigations. But of course, the decision of the politicians will be followed.

Dr. Jan-Oliver Wagner: “Vulnerability management is becoming increasingly important!”

Greenbone CEO Wagner warns that the number of open vulnerabilities will increase rather than decrease in the coming years. This is despite the fact that good progress is being made with regard to security in software development. However, the regulations and thus the pressure on companies by the legislator are also becoming stricter – not necessarily a bad thing, but it does create a need for action: “The upcoming Common Security Advisory Framework (CSAF 2.0) and the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), will significantly increase the number of known vulnerabilities.”

The CSAF makes it easier for manufacturers to report vulnerabilities, while the Cyber Resilience Act also brings responsibility to the hoover manufacturer, i.e. to all parts of the economy. If you don’t want to lose track of this, you need vulnerability management like Greenbone’s, explains Wagner. “Upcoming regulations bring the issue of vulnerabilities into all parts of the economy, as now every manufacturer is responsible for the security of the devices and their software, including, for example, manufacturers for hoover robots or other smart household appliances – For the entire life of the product!”

Vulnerability management is risk management

Vulnerability management today is pure risk management for the professional user, as it is already practiced in insurance companies – decisions are made about which vulnerabilities need to be closed and which can or must wait (triage).

This is exactly where our vulnerability management products come in – as a hardware or virtual appliance or in the Greenbone Cloud Service. Greenbone develops an open source vulnerability management and allows users to detect vulnerabilities in their own network infrastructure within a few steps. Our products generate reports with concrete instructions for action that you can implement immediately.

We work strictly according GDPR Compliance and offer an open source solution. This means best data protection compliance and is thus guaranteed free of backdoors.


Contact Free Trial Buy Here Back to Overview

/by
Jan-Oliver Wagner

Cyber attacks are like earth quakes

Earth quakes and cyber attacks have much in common. First: The forces are outside of our control and we can not prevent them to happen.

Second: We are not helplessly at the mercy. We can install early warning, minimize destructive effect and recover quickly. But only if we act BEFORE it happens.

Sure, earth quakes are about human live and cyber attacks are so far usually not. Yet I think this comparison is important in order to make it easier to understand the significance of cyber attacks the the options for action.

Of course there are also differences and the most striking one to me is the average frequency of occurence. This vivid direct comparison shows the parallels:

We have no technology to prevent them to happen, but… Earth quake Cyber Attack
We have prognosis models where they happen most likely Tectonic models Vulnerability intelligence

We have sensors that provide early warnings shortly before it happens

(sometimes they fail though with false positive and false negatives)

 Seismographs Vulnerability scanning and threat intelligence
We have a scale to compare events about potential damage

Richter magnitude scale: Ranges from 1.0 to 9.9

  • Sometimes the effect is just shaking indoor objects and sometimes it is collapse of buildings

Severity Score: Ranges from 0.1 to 10.0

  • Sometimes you have some extra network load and sometimes a remote administrative exploit.
…you can do something to minimize negative impact:
Make you infrastructure stable against this type of force

Obligatory architecture designs

  • Overview and controlling of compliance

Obligatory security policies

  • detection and limitation of attack surface:
  • Vulnerability testing and remediation
  • Vulnerability management and compliance
Have trained teams ready to help recover quickly when it happens
  • Central command center and
  • distributed on-site medical and repair teams
  • Processes and and regular trainings thereof
  • Security operation center and distributed system administrator
  • Dev-ops or suppliers for operational support
  • Processes and and regular trainings thereof
Make all people aware on how to save their lives best when it happens
  • Understandable training materials and
  • regular awareness trainings
  • Understandable training materials and
  • regular awareness trainings


Contact Free Trial Buy Here Back to Overview

/by
Elmar Geese

Cyber Resilience Act makes vulnerability management mandatory

We live and work in the digital world. The issue of cybersecurity therefore affects us all – both companies and government administrations, as well as each and every one of us. This applies not only to our own direct use of digital systems, but also – sometimes even in particular – where others provide us with digitalized services that are sometimes desirable, but also irreplaceable. It becomes existential at the latest where we depend on critical infrastructure: Water, electricity, health, security and some more.

As technical networking increase, nearly every digital device becomes a potential gateway for cyberattacks. Cybersecurity is therefore a technical, social and consumer issue.

The German government sensibly relies on (quote from the coalition agreement of the SPD, Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and the FDP) “effective vulnerability management, with the aim of closing security gaps”. To establish a general resilience against cyber-attacks in Europe, the EU has launched the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)

Cyber Resilience Act makes vulnerability management mandatory

In the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the EU member states have agreed on a common position – this was announced by the Council of the EU in a press release at the end of July and reports optimistically:
“An agreement that advances EU’s commitment towards a safe and secure digital single market. IoT and other connected objects need to come with a baseline level of cybersecurity when they are sold in the EU, ensuring that businesses and consumers are effectively protected against cyber threats. This is an important milestone for the Spanish presidency, and we hope to bring forward negotiations with the Parliament as much as possible.”
(https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/07/19/cyber-resilience-act-member-states-agree-common-position-on-security-requirements-for-digital-products/)

The CRA is intended to anchor digital security sustainably in Europe through common cybersecurity standards for networked devices and services. Thus, the CRA not only has a high impact on the manufacturers of digital devices, the EU is also creating a new, norm-setting standard. As an IT security company, we have been supporting our customers in achieving the best possible security standard for 15 years. We see the new standardization by the CRA as an opportunity and are happy to help our customers to use it for even more security.

Continuously demonstrate safety

The new CRA regulations on vulnerability handling and detection, which are intended to “ensure the cybersecurity of digital products … and regulate obligations of economic operators such as importers or distributors with regard to these procedures”, pose challenges for many companies. Using tools such as Greenbone’s vulnerability management makes it much easier to comply with the new requirements. This also goes as far as checking whether suppliers, for example, meet the required and assured safety standards.

More responsibility

Companies are called upon by the CRA to carry out regular, permanent and sustainable vulnerability analyses and to have external audits carried out for products classified as “critical”. This can be especially difficult for older products. Greenbone also helps because we can examine such products, which are often imperfectly documented, even while they are in operation.

Where our customers already do this regularly, they are able to act quickly and gain valuable time to mitigate potential risks.

Become active now

The CRA introduces rules to protect digital products that were not previously covered by law, so companies face new and major challenges that affect the entire supply chain.

We can help you meet the requirements. the Greenbone Vulnerability Management product series, the Greenbone Enterprise Appliances enable compliance with the CRA – on premise or from the cloud. Our experts will be happy to advise you.


Contact Free Trial Buy Here Back to Overview

/by
Elmar Geese

OSB Alliance study on the use of open source software: What about security?

For this study commissioned by the OSB Alliance, Dr. Mark Ohm investigated how the security of open source and proprietary software can be evaluated and improved in perspective.

The development of information technology in the last decades is remarkable: The path begins with helpful support functions in computational and data-heavy processes and leads us to the dominant technology of the present and future, without which nothing works. In the process, attention is increasingly shifting from the devices we need to use this technology to the software we use to benefit from the devices and its risks.
Complex software systems that increasingly intervene in our society – that’s what we call digitalisation. Whether we are talking about industrial applications, social media or artificial intelligence, there is always software behind it. And this brings the security and trustworthiness of software systems, on which we are increasingly dependent, to the fore.

The role of security in software development

Well over 90% of all software contains open source – including proprietary products. The security of open source therefore concerns all software producers and users today. If we want security, we have to be able to check it. Software development is evolving, tools are integrating more and more protection mechanisms, and the ability to check for vulnerabilities is improving. At the same time, the number of vulnerabilities and attacks is also increasing.

New risks are emerging, and we have no choice but to face them. We have implemented many protective mechanisms for this at Greenbone, and integrated them into our certified security management. Also because, as a provider of security products, we deal with vulnerabilities more intensively than other companies, we have a special motivation and expertise in this area. We also know that not all risks can be discovered and eliminated during software development, but that software and systems must also be monitored and tested during operation. That is what we are here for with our products.

Our role in improving security

We want to make the IT world safer. We would like to contribute to this with our products, but also with the support of this study.

Please find the complete study here.


Contact Free Trial Buy Here Back to Overview

/by
Markus Feilner

Greenbone tests your web applications

Reduce the risk of an attack from the internet on your servers: Take advantage of Greenbone’s latest offer: With our Pentesting Web Applications, we help you to get the best possible security for your web applications.

The numbers speak for themselves: attacks on web applications are on the rise, have been for years, and there is no end in sight. The complexity of modern web presences and services requires a high level of security measures and cannot be managed without testing by experts.

The only thing that helps here is the technique of so-called “pentesting” of web applications, or more precisely “web application penetration testing”. With this attempt to penetrate protected systems from the outside (“penetration”), Greenbone’s experts create an active analysis of vulnerabilities and can thus evaluate the security of a web application. Although there are guidelines such as the highly recommended one from the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), which describes the procedure for testing, nothing can replace the expert who puts your system under the microscope himself. In this video you will get a first impression of the work of our security experts. 

Greenbone acts strictly according to the regulations of the DSGVO, is certified according to ISO 27001/9001. As with its vulnerability management products, with the web application pentests you also receive detailed reports on your security situation with clear instructions for action, which the Greenbone experts are happy to help you implement. The offer covers both the client and server side of your web applications and is based on the most modern and up-to-date guidelines, for example the OWASP Top 10 or the OWASP Risk Assessment Framework (RAF). Whether it is cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, information disclosure or command injection, whether there are gaps in the authentication mechanisms of your servers or websockets are the source of danger – Greenbone’s experts will find the vulnerabilities.

As the world’s leading provider of open source vulnerability management products, Greenbone always has the latest expertise in dealing with vulnerabilities and security risks, including here in “black box testing”, when our experts take a close look at your systems from the outside, just as an attacker would: with the perspective of a potential attacker, you will ideally find every existing vulnerability in your IT infrastructure and can take care of fixing them. Only those who know their vulnerabilities can implement security measures in a targeted manner. Find out more about Greenbone AG’s products and services here.

Contact Free Trial Buy Here Back to Overview

/by
Markus Feilner

BSI warns: Log4J remains a problem

Even more than two years after the first problems with Log4j became known, many scenarios are apparently still running unpatched versions of the logging library.

Greenbone’s products help – especially in detecting outdated software.

No one should take Log4j lightly as a done deal just because the vulnerability (CVE 2021-44228) has actually been fixed for a year and a half. That is the conclusion of an event at the end of March in which the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) issued an urgent warning. The vulnerability affected Log4j versions 2.0 to 2.14.1 and allowed attackers to execute their own programme code on target systems and compromise third-party servers. Greenbone’s products have detected the Log4j vulnerabilities since December 2021 and can therefore warn administrators.

Under the title “Log4j & Consequences” in the series “BuntesBugBounty“, the BSI spoke with Christian Grobmeier from the Log4j team and Brian Behlendorf from the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF). Shockingly, more than a third of the downloads on the Log4j website still add up to outdated versions that do not contain the important patch – it can be assumed that numerous systems in companies are still vulnerable.

This is mainly due to third-party software that Log4j embeds or integrates via software distribution – which is not at all surprising to Grobmeier, because that is how the supply chain works with open-source software. According to the Log4J developer, nothing can be changed in the near future.

This is also confirmed by the Open SSF: for Behlendorf, only stricter liability for software producers could be helpful, as is already being considered in the USA. Without fundamentally new approaches, the problems are unlikely to change.

Those who nevertheless want to protect themselves permanently against attacks on known vulnerabilities that have already been patched should take a look at Greenbone’s products. Only professional vulnerability management gives administrators an overview of outdated software versions and unpatched gaps in the company’s systems – and thus creates the basis for further security measures.

The development of vulnerability tests is a key activity at Greenbone and a continuous process that ensures the high quality of the products and thus the high benefit for customers. Security checks are carried out every day and vulnerability tests are developed and integrated into the products daily as well, prioritized by the security situation. In the case of critical security warnings, as with Log4j, Greenbone reports on the current status, the facts and how to deal with them, for example in the blog posts about Log4j.


Contact Free Trial Buy Here Back to Overview

/by