On Tue, 14 May 2002, Jason Barkeloo wrote:

Hi,

How should this work ? The applications needs unencrypted ascii bytes.
Which software part decrypt the data ? Where are the keys ?

Andi

> Andi,
> 
> Of course a crypto-security co-processor inside the keyboard/reader or on the 
>motherboard which processes the PIN outside the OS would prevent a trojan from 
>capturing the keystrokes.
> 
> jb
> 
> jason barkeloo
> Director of Research
> ACEtek Research
> http://wavxtek.org
> 
> > 
> > From: andi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Date: 2002/05/14 Tue PM 12:38:03 EDT
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: Re: MUSCLE smartcard attacks
> > 
> > Hi everybody,
> > 
> > Why attack the smartcard. It is easier to get such
> > things like PIN, passwords, ... with cameras, recorder, ...
> > Is it worth to put out a microscope and tons of money
> > to crack the PIN or a cryptographic key ? 
> > 
> > Social engineering and the rubber horse attack are more
> > powerful than any other attack. An other way to get the
> > PIN or password is look at the fingers of the victim.
> > 
> > Another way to get the key from most people is:
> > 
> > Get access to the remote computer and get the key or
> > install a trojan which gets the keys or let the dumb
> > user mail the key to you. (Many users do not know anything
> > about private keys, public keys, ...).
> > 
> > Andi
> > 
> > 
> > PS: Sorry for my bad english :-)
> > On Tue, 14 May 2002, Arno Wilhelm wrote:
> > 
> > > > There have been a few articles about smartcard attacks recently.  I would
> > > > like to pose a few points in regard to.
> > > > 
> > > > 1) These attacks all require physical access to the card.  They cannot be
> > > >    done remotely.
> > > > 2) These attacks assume the user has not realizes they have lost their
> > > >    card and has therefore not notified their helpdesk to have the card
> > > >    revolked.
> > > > 3) These attacks require the user to very carefully remove layers from the
> > > >    outside of the chip to expose the card.  This is not easy - in most
> > > >    cases the chip is ruined.
> > > > 4) These are trial and error attacks - by changing the values of data
> > > >    stored in eeprom, the attacker hopes to change the behavior of the card
> > > >    and have it malfunction by returning data the attacker wants to know.
> > > >    Consider this like a game of minesweeper.  You have 262,144 bits in 32k
> > > >    The majority of those bits being changed will deem the card useless.
> > > >    In the other cases, unuseful data might be returned.  Even if the data
> > > >    was unciphered in the eeprom  (not likely), the user must know where to
> > > >    look for the data which in most cases isn't linear.
> > > > 5) These attacks are well known - changing the power, clock to get the
> > > >    card to malfunction.  Heat, Cold, whatever - most do not work and the
> > > >    attacker has to know alot about the card and data on it.  If I wanted
> > > >    to put this work to get free GSM service why not steal a credit card
> > > >    and buy a phone card - at least this is less trackable....
> > > > 
> > > > There are some clear things left out of the article.  First, those parts
> > > > are not $30 - I believe you would need some chemicals to expose the chip,
> > > > you would need a quality microcope, and I'm sure I couldn't pay the
> > > > Russian bomb specialist $30 to do this attack for me.
> > > > 
> > > > Point being that there is no perfect solution.  I can buy a $10 safe from
> > > > Walmart to protect my documents from fire up to 10 minutes at 1900
> > > > degrees, or I could buy a safe from Diebold for $30,000 which survives a
> > > > couple of hours at that temperature.  The confort of the smartcard is that
> > > > I know it is 100% safe as long as it is in my pocket .....
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > For me it seems that it must always be easier and cheaper to steal the 
> > > money *after* it has been taken from the bank than to steal the 
> > > smartcard, hack it and get the money from the bank myself.
> > > I guess that it must also much easier to get pin codes etc. from a 
> > > careless cardholder than hacking the card itself?
> > > What I want to say is that the card itself seems to be very secure, but 
> > > how is about the "card environment" like the storage of the codes, the 
> > > smartcard reader, the computer-net that is used in order to transfer the 
> > >   transactions, human beeings that are involved etc.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Greetings,
> > > 
> > > Arno
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > LISCON GmbH                                    http://www.liscon.com/
> > Kersche Andreas                                [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >  
> > Richard-Wagner-Strasse 7                       Tel: +43 699/11093881
> > A-9500 Villach                                 Fax: +43 4242 214 855 99
> > AUSTRIA / EUROPE
> > 
> > ***************************************************************
> > Unix Smart Card Developers - M.U.S.C.L.E.
> > (Movement for the Use of Smart Cards in a Linux Environment)
> > http://www.linuxnet.com/
> > To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
> > unsubscribe sclinux
> > ***************************************************************
> > 
> 
> 
> ***************************************************************
> Unix Smart Card Developers - M.U.S.C.L.E.
> (Movement for the Use of Smart Cards in a Linux Environment)
> http://www.linuxnet.com/
> To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
> unsubscribe sclinux
> ***************************************************************
> 

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
LISCON GmbH                                    http://www.liscon.com/
Kersche Andreas                                [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
Richard-Wagner-Strasse 7                       Tel: +43 699/11093881
A-9500 Villach                                 Fax: +43 4242 214 855 99
AUSTRIA / EUROPE

***************************************************************
Unix Smart Card Developers - M.U.S.C.L.E.
(Movement for the Use of Smart Cards in a Linux Environment)
http://www.linuxnet.com/
To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe sclinux
***************************************************************

Reply via email to