{"id":6905,"date":"2017-03-08T14:30:19","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T22:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/03\/08\/news-696\/"},"modified":"2017-03-08T14:30:19","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T22:30:19","slug":"news-696","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/03\/08\/news-696\/","title":{"rendered":"Security holes in Confide messaging app exposed user details"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Credit to Author: Michael Kan| Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2017 12:51:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n

Confide, a messaging app reportedly used by U.S. White House staff, apparently had several security holes that made it easier to hack. <\/p>\n

Security consultancy IOActive found the vulnerabilities in Confide, which promotes itself as an app that offers \u201cmilitary-grade\u201d end-to-end encryption. <\/p>\n

But despite its marketing, the app contained glaring problems with securing user account information, IOActive said in a Wednesday post<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The consultancy noticed it could access records for 7,000 Confide users by exploiting vulnerabilities in the app\u2019s account management system. Part of the problem resided with Confide\u2019s API, which could be used to reveal data on user\u2019s phone numbers and email addresses. <\/p>\n

The vulnerabilities are especially problematic, given that Confide is designed to promote privacy. Republican officials and White House staff have\u00a0reportedly<\/a> adopted the app due to\u00a0its ability to send \u201cself-destructing\u201d messages that delete after being read. <\/p>\n

However, the vulnerabilities found by IOActive suggest that the messaging app wasn\u2019t using the best security practices. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

For instance, the app permitted users to choose easy-to-guess passwords. It also failed to stop \u201cbrute-force\u201d attacks on user accounts, which can involve guessing user passwords through trial-and-error. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Data sent from the app wasn\u2019t always done securely, IOActive added. The software\u2019s notification system neglected using a valid SSL (Secure Sockets Layers) server certificate to communicate over the internet. That could expose the app to a man-in-the-middle attack<\/a>\u00a0and allow hackers to eavesdrop on the internet traffic. <\/p>\n

In addition, the app omitted using a system to authenticate encrypted messages, meaning that Confide itself could tamper any message sent in-transit. <\/p>\n

Confide has already patched the problems. On Wednesday, the company said: \u201cNot only have these issues been resolved, but we also have no detection of them being exploited by any other party.\u201d <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not the first time that Confide has faced concerns over the app\u2019s security. Last month, journalists noticed that the Confide app allowed them to look up<\/a> the phone numbers of White House staff, including press secretary Sean Spicer. <\/p>\n

In an email, Confide said its security team is always monitoring its systems to protect users. <\/p>\n

“As issues arise, we remain committed to addressing them quickly and efficiently, as we have done in this and every instance,” it said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Credit to Author: Michael Kan| Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2017 12:51:00 -0800<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Confide, a messaging app reportedly used by U.S. White House staff, apparently had several security holes that made it easier to hack.<\/p>\n

Security consultancy IOActive found the vulnerabilities in Confide, which promotes itself as an app that offers \u201cmilitary-grade\u201d end-to-end encryption.<\/p>\n

But despite its marketing, the app contained glaring problems with securing user account information, IOActive said in a Wednesday post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The consultancy noticed it could access records for 7,000 Confide users by exploiting vulnerabilities in the app\u2019s account management system. Part of the problem resided with Confide\u2019s API, which could be used to reveal data on user\u2019s phone numbers and email addresses.<\/p>\n

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[11062,10643],"tags":[11065,11066,714],"class_list":["post-6905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computerworld","category-independent","tag-mobile-wireless","tag-mobile-apps","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}