cis 381: social & ethical issues of computingdkoop/cis381-2019sp/lectures/lecture18.pdfcis 381:...

CIS 381: Social & Ethical Issues of Computing

Security Dr. David Koop

D. Koop, CIS 381, Spring 2019

Privacy• Privacy related to notion of access • Access

- Physical proximity to a person - Knowledge about a person

• Privacy is a "zone of inaccessibility" • Privacy violations are an affront to human dignity • Too much individual privacy can harm society • Where to draw the line?

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[M. J. Quinn]D. Koop, CIS 381, Spring 2019

Solove’s Taxonomy of Privacy• Information collection: Activities that gather personal information • Information processing: Activities that store, manipulate, and use

personal information that has been collected • Information dissemination: Activities that spread personal

information • Invasion: Activities that intrude upon a person’s daily life, interrupt

someone’s solitude, or interfere with decision-making

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Data Mining by the Government• Data mining: Process of searching through one or more databases

looking for patterns or relationships among the data • Examples:

- IRS Audits: match information from different sources and find returns that appear likely to have errors resulting in underpayment

- Syndromic Surveillance Systems: search for patterns indicating the outbreak of an epidemic or bioterrorism

- NSA Telecommunications Records Database: analyze calling patterns to detect terrorist networks

- Predictive Profiling

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Code of Fair Information Practices• "Bill of Rights for the Information Age" (1970s) • Code

- No secret databases - People should have access to personal information in databases - Organizations cannot change how information is used without

consent - People should be able to correct or amend records - Database owners, users responsible for reliability of data and

preventing misuse

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Information Dissemination• Legislation to restrict information dissemination

- Family Education Rights and Privacy Act - Video Privacy Protection Act - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

• Examples of information dissemination - Freedom of Information Act - Toll booth records used in court


Invasion• Government actions to prevent invasion

- Do Not Call Registry: shielding people from telemarketers judged to be greater than harm caused by limiting telephone advertising

- CALM Act: ensure television commercials are played at same volume as programs they are interrupting

• Invasive government actions - Requiring identification for pseudoephedrine purchases

• used to make meth • require identification/signature and limit amount

- Advanced Imaging Technology scanners at airports • initially created revealing images • TSA develops new software to show generic outlines

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Term Paper Topic Selection• Topics have been assigned • 4-5 people per group • Term papers are individual • Topic presentations are done in groups, but each person should

speak for 3-4 minutes • As a group, rank your preferred presentation days

- April 17, April 19, April 22, April 24, April 29, May 1 • Individual term papers are due May 6 (assigned exam date) • Need to evaluate issues using ethical frameworks • Groups can choose to examine different issues related to a topic or

examine a similar issue using different frameworks


Why is Security Important?• Computers getting faster and less expensive • Utility of networked computers increasing

- Shopping and banking - Managing personal information - Controlling industrial processes

• Increasing use of computers → growing importance of computer security

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Hackers, Past and Present• Original meaning of hacker:

explorer, risk taker, system innovator (e.g. MIT’s Tech Model Railroad Club in 1950s)

• Change in meaning from electronics to computers and networks

• WarGames (1983): Hacking military supercomputer

• Modern meaning of hacker: someone who gains unauthorized access to computers and computer networks


[M. J. Quinn]

Obtaining Login Names & Passwords• Guessing • Eavesdropping: watching keystrokes • Dumpster diving: discarded manuals sometimes have passwords • Social engineering: manipulating persons to gain access to info • Brute-force searches • Dictionary attacks

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Password Advice• Do not use short passwords • Do not rely solely on words from the dictionary • Do not rely on substituting numbers for letters • Do not reuse passwords • Give ridiculous answers to security questions • Enable two-factor authentication if available • Have password recoveries sent to a secure email address

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Computer Fraud and Abuse Act• Criminalizes wide variety of hacker-related activities

- Transmitting code that damages a computer - Accessing any Internet-connected computer without authorization - Transmitting classified government information - Trafficking in computer passwords - Computer fraud - Computer extortion

• Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine

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Sidejacking• Sidejacking: hijacking an open Web session by capturing a user’s

cookie • Sidejacking possible on unencrypted wireless networks because

many sites send cookies “in the clear” • Internet security community complained about sidejacking

vulnerability for years, but ecommerce sites did not change practices

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Case Study: Firesheep• October 2010: Eric Butler released Firesheep extension to Firefox

browser • Firesheep made it possible for ordinary computer users to easily

sidejack Web sessions • More than 500,000 downloads in first week • Attracted great deal of media attention • Early 2011: Facebook and Twitter announced options to use their

sites securely

• Evaluate: Was this a good action?

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Act Utilitarian Analysis• Release of Firesheep led media to focus on security problem • Benefits were high: a few months later Facebook and Twitter made

their sites more secure • Harms were minimal: no evidence that release of Firesheep caused

big increase in identity theft or malicious pranks • Conclusion: Release of Firesheep was good

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Virtue Ethics Analysis• By releasing Firesheep, Butler helped public understand lack of

security on unencrypted wireless networks • Butler’s statements characteristic of someone interested in

protecting privacy • Butler demonstrated courage by taking responsibility for the

program • Butler demonstrated benevolence by making program freely

available • His actions and statements were characteristic of someone

interested in the public good

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Kantian Analysis• Accessing someone else’s user account is an invasion of their

privacy and is wrong • Butler provided a tool that made it much simpler for people to do

something that is wrong, so he has some moral accountability for their misdeeds

• Butler was willing to tolerate short-term increase in privacy violations in hope that media pressure would force Web retailers to add security

• He treated victims of Firesheep as a means to his end • It was wrong for Butler to release Firesheep

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Malware• Viruses • Worms • Cross-Site Scripting • Drive-by Downloads • Trojan Horses • Rootkits • Spyware & Adware • Botnets

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Viruses• Virus: Piece of self-replicating code

embedded within another program (host)

• Viruses associated with program files - Hard disks, floppy disks, CD-

ROMS - Email attachments

• How viruses spread - Diskettes or CDs - Email - Files downloaded from Internet

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How an Email Virus Spreads

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Antivirus Software Packages• Allow computer users to detect and destroy viruses • Must be kept up-to-date to be most effective • Many people do not keep their antivirus software packages up-to-

date • Consumers need to beware of fake antivirus applications

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Worm• Self-contained program • Spreads through a computer network • Exploits security holes in networked computers

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How a Worm Spreads

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7.3 Malware 329

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Figure 7.4 A worm spreads to other computers by exploiting security holes in computernetworks.

punk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, written by Katie Hafner and JohnMarkoff [25].

BACKGROUND OF ROBERT TAPPAN MORRIS JR.

Robert Tappan Morris Jr. began learning about the Unix operating system when he wasstill in junior high school. His father was a computer security researcher at Bell Labs, andyoung Morris was given an account on a Bell Labs computer that he could access froma teletype at home. It didn’t take him long to discover security holes in Unix. In a 1982interview with Gina Kolata, a writer for Smithsonian magazine, Morris admitted he hadbroken into networked computers and read other people’s email. “I never told myselfthat there was nothing wrong with what I was doing,” he said, but he acknowledgedthat he found breaking into systems challenging and exciting, and he admitted that hecontinued to do it.

As an undergraduate at Harvard, Morris majored in computer science. He quicklygained a reputation for being the computer lab’s Unix expert. After his freshman year,Morris worked at Bell Labs. The result of his work was a technical paper describing asecurity hole in Berkeley Unix.

While at Harvard, Morris was responsible for several computer pranks. In one ofthem, he installed a program that required people logging in to answer a question posedby “the Oracle” and then to ask the Oracle another question. (The Oracle programworked by passing questions and answers among people trying to log in.)


The Internet Worm• Robert Tappan Morris, Jr.

- Graduate student at Cornell - Released worm onto Internet from MIT computer

• Effect of worm - Spread to significant numbers of Unix computers - Infected computers kept crashing or became unresponsive - Took a day for fixes to be published

• Impact on Morris - Suspended from Cornell - 3 years’ probation + 400 hours community service - $150,000 in legal fees and fines

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Ethical Evaluation• Kantian evaluation: Morris used others by gaining access to their

computers without permission • Social contract theory evaluation: Morris violated property rights of

organizations • Utilitarian evaluation

- Benefits: Organizations learned of security flaws - Harms: Time spent by those fighting worm, unavailable computers,

disrupted network traffic, Morris’s punishments • Virtue ethics evaluation

- Morris selfishly used Internet as experimental lab - He deceitfully released worm from MIT instead of Cornell - He avoided taking responsibility for his actions

• Morris was wrong to have released the Internet worm

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Sasser Worm• Launched in April 2004, infected 18 million computers • Disrupted operations at Delta Airlines, European Commission,

Australian railroads, British Coast Guard • German juvenile Sven Jaschan confessed to crime • Sentenced to 30 hours of community service and 18 months’

probation

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Instant Messaging Worms• Choke and Hello (2001) • Kelvir (2005)

- Reuters had to remove 60,000 subscribers from its instant messaging service

• Palevo (2010) - Spread through Romania, Mongolia, Indonesia

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Conficker Worm• Conficker (a.k.a. Downadup) worm appeared 2008 on Windows

computers • Particularly difficult to eradicate • Uses pseudorandom domains to download from • Different variants released (type E installs malware) • Millions of copies of worm are circulating • Purpose of worm still unknown

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Cross-site Scripting• Another way malware may be downloaded without user’s

knowledge • Problem appears on Web sites that allow people to read what

others have posted • Attacker injects client-side script into a Web site • Victim’s browser executes script, which may steal cookies, track

user’s activity, or perform another malicious action

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Drive-by Downloads• Unintentional downloading of malware caused by visiting a

compromised Web site • Also happens when Web surfer sees pop-up window asking

permission to download software and clicks “Okay” • Google Anti-Malware Team says 1.3 percent of queries to Google’s

search engine return a malicious URL somewhere on results page

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Trojan Horses and Backdoor Trojans• Trojan horse:

- Program with benign capability that masks a sinister purpose - Performs expected task but also unknown, sinister actions

• Backdoor Trojan: Trojan horse that gives attack access to victim’s computer

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Rootkits• Rootkit: A set of programs that provides privileged access to a

computer • Activated every time computer is booted • Uses security privileges to mask its presence

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Spyware and Adware• Spyware: Program that communicates over an Internet connection

without user’s knowledge or consent - Monitor Web surfing - Log keystrokes - Take snapshots of computer screen - Send reports back to host computer

• Adware: Type of spyware that displays pop-up advertisements related to user’s activity

• Backdoor Trojans often used to deliver spyware and adware

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Bots• Bot: A kind of backdoor Trojan that responds to commands sent by

a command-and-control program on another computer • First bots supported legitimate activities

- Internet Relay Chat - Multiplayer Internet games

• Other bots support illegal activities - Distributing spam - Collecting person information for ID theft - Denial-of-service attacks

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Botnets and Bot Herders• Botnet: Collection of bot-infected computers controlled by the

same command-and-control program • Bot herder: Someone who controls a botnet • Some botnets have over a million computers in them

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Defensive Measures• Security patches: Code updates to remove security vulnerabilities • Anti-malware tools: Software to scan hard drives, detect files that

contain viruses or spyware, and delete these files • Firewall: A software application installed on a single computer that

can selectively block network traffic to and from that computer

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