Skip to contentSkip to conversation

Verbatim's crypto NAS - News Article

dm-crypt Jorge Fábregas 4 participants 4 messages Sep 12, 2011 – Sep 13, 2011

lore
Share & tools
lore
#2 lore raw
Quoted 6 lines · Milan Broz
Quoted 5 lines · Jorge F?bregas

I'd like to share this article that came up about a month ago regarding Verbatim's NAS that uses LUKS:

"Backdoor suspected in Verbatim's crypto NAS"

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 1 line

http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Backdoor-suspected-in-Verbatim-s-crypto-NAS-1315921.html

*shrug*

Not the first time, similar (even worse) issue, different vendor,
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-3200

Milan

As I am a reader of c't, I have been on the lookout for a followup. I am not aware of any.

I agree with Milan that this is not shocking or unexpected, commecial vendors often get security wrong or make unacceptable trade-offs in the name of simplifying customer support or product design.

The CVE is a very good example.

The bottom-line is that for secure storage the implementor has to know really what they are doing and must be honest. This typically means you have to find out and do it yourself. Even if you have the money and can buy consulting, you still need to find people that have these qualities. Unfortunately that is not easy.

Arno

Signature · 7 lines
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: [email protected] 
GnuPG:  ID: 1E25338F  FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C  0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans

If it's in the news, don't worry about it.  The very definition of 
"news" is "something that hardly ever happens." -- Bruce Schneier
#3 lore raw

Just another brick in the wall of tech vendors not being able to design any single working product.

Honestly, hardly any product I purchased in the last years ever lived up to it's specifications. While in most cases the ASICs or SoCs were adequate esp. SEA-Vendors tend to completely screw up firmwares/firmware design, no matter if it's MP3-Players, DVD-Players, Cell Phones and what not.

So, this comes as no surprise at all (imho); but if we agree on this being a 'backdoor' for recovery, what can be expected as quality of the entropy used for this backdoor? And then take a look at the article - as little as 50,000 something iterations for PBKDF2. I would never accept such a low value on a productive system.

-Sven

Quoted 50 lines · Arno Wagner
Quoted 7 lines · Milan Broz
Quoted 1 line · Jorge F?bregas

I'd like to share this article that came up about a month ago

regarding

Quoted 4 lines

Verbatim's NAS that uses LUKS:

"Backdoor suspected in Verbatim's crypto NAS"

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 1 line

http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Backdoor-suspected-in-Verbatim-s-crypto-NAS-1315921.html

*shrug*

Not the first time, similar (even worse) issue, different vendor,
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-3200

Milan

As I am a reader of c't, I have been on the lookout for a followup. I am not aware of any.

I agree with Milan that this is not shocking or unexpected, commecial vendors often get security wrong or make unacceptable trade-offs in the name of simplifying customer support or product design.

The CVE is a very good example.

The bottom-line is that for secure storage the implementor has to know really what they are doing and must be honest. This typically means you have to find out and do it yourself. Even if you have the money and can buy consulting, you still need to find people that have these qualities. Unfortunately that is not easy.

Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email:
[email protected]
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans

If it's in the news, don't worry about it. The very definition of "news" is "something that hardly ever happens." -- Bruce Schneier
_______________________________________________
dm-crypt mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.saout.de/mailman/listinfo/dm-crypt