Monthly Archives: November 2014

SS-Hell: the Devil is in the Details

Penetration test reports commonly contain mention of vulnerabilities in SSL/TLS (hereafter referred to as just SSL). In many cases, this is due to system administrators not understanding the details of these services’ configuration and assuming that simply using SSL provides security. The issues identified during penetration tests are usually low in severity, as an average attacker would find them difficult to exploit, but they should be taken seriously to ensure that data in transit is properly secured. If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. This whitepaper, co-written with Will Alexander, discusses how organisations can avoid SSL issues commonly found during penetration tests, ensure that data in transit is properly secured and ultimately instil in users a sense of confidence that their information is adequately protected.

Thoughts on Testing for POODLE

I recently did an internal presentation on POODLE – what the flaw is and how to test for it – and a version of the slides can be found here. Obviously much has been written about the vulnerability, its mitigations and what the future holds. What follows expands on the testing aspect of the presentation, with a few pointers on manual checks if you feel you need to verify or clarify – and possibly even add to – what the tools are telling you. Continue reading