Researcher: Security risks in Web services largely ignored

Robert McMillan   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Security Stories  

The Impact of Social Networks on Mobility Strategies The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications ProCurve Access Control Video Advanced Load Balancing: 8 Things You Need to Handle Today's Network Traffic Toward More Flexible, Next-Generation Collaboration Solutions Driving Business Success Through Workgroup Choice and Flexibility Mobility @ the Speed of Business Computerworld Executive Briefing: Automating Network Management SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management Sign up to receive Networking and Internet Resource Alerts

April 7, 2006 (IDG News Service) -- VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- In their rush to implement Web services, some companies may be exposing themselves to new security risks that they may not fully understand, a security researcher said yesterday.

During a presentation at the CanSecWest/core06 conference, researcher Alex Stamos outlined how a number of Web services technologies, including AJAX and the XQuery query language, could be exploited by hackers to dig up secret information and attack systems.

Web services is a catch-all expression used to describe a form of distributed computing that uses standards based on XML to simplify the job of programming software. One of its key tenets is that Web services applications are extremely portable and can easily interact with different types of software.

While this cross-platform capability can simplify programming, it can also create security risks by creating situations that may not have been anticipated by software developers, said Stamos, a founding partner of Information Security Partners LLC in San Francisco. During his talk, he described an attack whereby a user could enter malicious code into a Web form and then get that code to run by calling up the company's customer service number and tricking a representative into inadvertently executing it.

Stamos also showed how Web services requests could be used to conduct denial-of-service attacks, either by creating malicious XML queries that use massive amounts of memory or by bombarding databases applications with more requests than they can handle.

Web application vendors have created tools that work like "magic," hiding complexity and making it easy to create Web services. Unfortunately, these tools also make it easy for their users to ignore the security implications of the software they're building, Stamos said.

"Because of all that magic pixie dust, the people who write Web services don't necessarily understand how they work," he said. "We have a lot of customers who are hanging unbelievably crazy functionality ... just out on the Internet."

And hackers are catching on. Last month, security vendor Symantec Corp. issued its biannual Internet Security Threat report, noting that Web applications represent an increasingly attractive target for attackers. Of all vulnerabilities disclosed in the past six months of 2005, nearly 70% were associated with Web applications, Symantec said.

The trend is of particular concern to smaller companies that may not have the budgets to fully test the security of their software. But Stamos said that Web application vendors could help by adding input filtering capabilities to their products to make them better able to tell when their software is being asked to do something that it shouldn't.

Security researchers also should be paying more attention to the issue, Stamos said. "We want to get more security people looking at Web services stuff," he said. "Web application security is the red-headed stepchild of the security industry."

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2008 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"Yes, NASA has confirmed that some laptops taken to the International Space Station were infected with an online-gaming password stealing..." Read more... "Linux is more secure than most operating systems, but Not if you don't practice basic security measures..." Read more... Read more Security posts or See all Blogs

Cellular operators say they're ready for Gustav Psystar calls Apple a 'monopoly' in antitrust charges Doubt cast on Seinfeld as Windows TV ads near More top stories...

IT workers hit hardest by offshore outsourcing, survey finds Microsoft: No more Windows Live Mail crashes with IE8 Beta 2 Microsoft warns of IE8 lock-in with XP SP3

Telecommuting: 6 questions to ask before you say yes Telework can change office dynamics in ways you hadn't anticipated. Proceed cautiously. Wi-Fi tweaks for speed freaks Got a painfully slow connection or random dead spots? Our tips will help you get the most out of your wireless network. 5 ways to drive your best workers out the door Listen up, managers: Employees don't quit the job; they quit you. Ultraportable laptops: Their rise and possible fall Netbooks, ultraportables, mini-notebooks — whatever you call them, they've been grabbing headlines. Are they here for the long term or just a flash in the pan? Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone Identity & Security Management Zone See your link here

Advance your BlackBerry(R) solution management know-how this July Advance your BlackBerry(R) solution management know-how this July BlackBerry Technical Seminar, register today! Go to the webcast  Cut Data Center Energy Costs Get this white paper now! (Source: Liebert) Cooling accounts for 35% of data center energy consumption. Discover strategies that can reduce cooling energy costs by as much as 40%, including simple steps you can take to get more from your existing cooling system and emerging technologies that can increase cooling capacity and data center density. Download this white paper  Computerworld Executive Briefing: Automating Network Management Download this Executive Briefing now (a $195.00 value), compliments of ProCurve Networking by HP. (Source: Computerworld) This briefing looks at the basics of network management, which tend to get lost in the dizzying array of products and processes. It also examines new tools that are on the way to help IT executives deal with management in the new era of automation.Download this Executive Briefing now (a $195.00 value), compliments of ProCurve Networking by HP. Download this executive briefing  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Archiving Compliance with Sunbelt Exchange Archiver The Impact of Messaging and Web Threats Advanced Load Balancing: 8 Things You Need to Handle Today's Network Traffic View more whitepapers

• Cellular operators say they're ready for Gustav
• IT workers hit hardest by offshore outsourcing, survey finds
• Psystar calls Apple a 'monopoly' in antitrust charges
• More top stories 

Who needs Mrs. Doubtfire? When it comes to spot-on "advice," we've got Aunt Donna. Watch the video Send in your question

Accelerate your pursuit of perfection For almost 80 years, Kodak has been helping banks, insurance companies, healthcare providers, government agencies and other businesses produce billions of document images. So Kodak is uniquely positioned to know and deliver–what customers want: easy-to-use scanners that output the best possible image quality. Download this white paper now!

Networking Know-How For tips and best practices on building anything in the network, see Sandra Gittlen's regular column. Click here to read the latest column by Sandra Gittlen