Cortana bypassed passwords to browse sites on locked PCs

Minimalist · Mar 7, 2018

AI-powered smart assistants have become the newest weapons tech companies have in the market. For some people, they are life-changing and habit-forming. For others, they are mere curiosities. But for a certain group of tech-savvy users, they are opportunities to hack into devices. Two Israeli security researchers have come across a way to download malware onto a Windows PC, even when it’s locked. All because Cortana might have been too helpful to give users, whether its own or others, a helping hand.
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https://www.slashgear.com/cortana-bypassed-passwords-to-browses-sites-on-locked-pcs-06522461/

Krusty · Mar 7, 2018

Good thing I lock my computers, lock my house and have disabled Cortana.

roger_m · Mar 7, 2018

I've never used Cortana, not even once.

zapjb · Mar 7, 2018

Surprising to everyone except Wilders members.

guest · Mar 7, 2018

Windows 10 Can Be Hacked with Voice Commands Despite Password Protection
Researchers find way to get around password locking
March 7, 2018
http://news.softpedia.com/news/wind...ands-despite-password-protection-520108.shtml

Digital assistant Cortana is now available from the Windows 10 lock screen as well even if the computer is locked, but the always-listening behavior opens the door to a series of vulnerabilities which the two researchers exploited to deploy malware.

[...] two experts explain that if physical access to the target system is available, hackers could connect a USB network adapter and then using voice commands they can have the digital assistant access non-HTTPS websites.

“So this attack is not only limited to the physical access scenario but also can be used by attackers to expand their access and jump from one computer to another,” [...]
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zapjb · Mar 7, 2018

Did M$ shut up everyone else who previously found out about this Cortana hack? And that these are the 1st to not be bought off? I don't know.

daman1 · Mar 7, 2018

Stupid Cortana I hate it, was the first thing I disabled when upgrading to W10.

Krusty · Mar 7, 2018

daman1 said: ↑

... the first thing I disabled when upgrading to W10.
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Same here.

I've also disabled the microphones on my laptops so voice commands will be useless.

Minimalist · Jun 18, 2018

Video: Watch Windows 10 Hack Steal Passwords And Photos By Abusing Cortana

Microsoft last week issued a patch to Windows 10 machines for a vulnerability that allowed hackers to use Cortana voice commands to sneak past the operating system's lock screen protections. But just what could hackers have done, and what could they still do to unpatched machines?

In videos put together for Forbes, Israeli researchers from the Technion Israeli Institute of Technology showed what was possible, whether it was executing a program or viewing a private document (such as a list of passwords) from behind the lockscreen, proving just how problematic Microsoft’s Cortana can be.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...steal-passwords-and-photos-by-abusing-cortana

zapjb · Jun 18, 2018

Video: Watch Windows 10 Hack Steal Passwords And Photos By Abusing Cortana

Poor abused Cortana.

guest · Jun 22, 2018

Cracking Cortana: The Dangers of Flawed Voice Assistants
Researchers at Black Hat USA will show how vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Cortana highlight the need to balance security with convenience.
June 22, 2018
https://www.darkreading.com/operati...ers-of-flawed-voice-assistants/d/d-id/1332126

[...] He says Cortana serves as a weak interface over the otherwise secure Windows operating system and has discovered multiple vulnerabilities to support this.

"Cortana takes a stable environment, reasonably secured, and adds this new type of interface on top of it," Shulman explains. He and Be'ery will present their findings on Cortana flaws in August at Black Hat USA in a session entitled "Open Sesame: Picking Locks with Cortana."
A Conversation on Convenience
The reason behind these vulnerabilities is twofold, Shulman says. For starters, Microsoft tried to pitch a new interface, built on accessibility and comfort, onto a secured multi-purpose computing environment. "When you do that, there are glitches," he points out.

The team will demonstrate the Open Sesame vulnerability at Black Hat There are three more Cortana vulnerabilities Shulman hopes to discuss in their presentation but they are waiting on confirmation before they can publicly share more details.
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guest · Aug 15, 2018

Microsoft Cortana Flaw Allows Web Browsing on Locked PCs
The tricky Cortana flaw, CVE-2018-8253, was addressed by Microsoft during Patch Tuesday.
August 15, 2018
https://threatpost.com/microsoft-cortana-flaw-allows-web-browsing-on-locked-pcs/136558/

A locked PC with Cortana enabled on the lock screen allows an attacker with physical access to the device to launch two kinds of unauthorized exploits simply by querying her, researchers at McAfee said Tuesday.

“In the first case, the attacker can force Microsoft Edge to navigate to an attacker-controlled URL; in the second, the attacker can use a limited version of Internet Explorer 11 using the saved credentials of the victim,” the researchers said in a post.

“It is surprising that links are offered and clickable when the device is locked,” researchers said. “If you start your favorite network sniffer or man-in-the-middle proxy, you will see that the links are visited as soon as the user clicks on them, irrespective of the device’s locked status.”
Voice Assistant Privacy Concerns
As voice assistants gain traction, so to do worries about privacy that they bring along with them. And this is not Cortana’s first time in the spotlight.
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EASTER · Aug 15, 2018

daman1 said: ↑

Stupid Cortana I hate it, was the first thing I disabled when upgrading to W10.
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Just one more reason this user returned home to 8.1.

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