A recent paper presented at Black hat 2012 by Peter Hannay has demonstrated a vulnerability in how iOS and Android deal with certificates whilst operating with an Exchange Server. The good news in this report is that Peter was unable to trick Windows Phone 7.5 devices using the same methods.
Using a man in the middle attack combined with a generic fake certificate, they were able to gain some traction in sending a command to iOS and Android devices to commence a device wipe. When devices are connected via Active Sync they commit to accepting certain responsibilities, one of the most important and sensitive of which is the wipe command. They tested off two sets of Exchange 2010 servers. One running with a self-signed certificate, a very common configuration for small business and another using a certificate from a trusted certificate signing authority.
Android devices accepted the fake certificate and wiped with no user interaction or warning on the Exchange server that was operating using a self-signed certificate. The Android device would not wipe whilst connected to the trusted certificate-holding server.
On both the self-signed and trusted certificate servers, iOS rolled over and wiped the device in both instances, only displaying a new certificate warning white flag whilst doing so. In both cases, a normal user would likely accept the certificate warning. You know, users do that kind of thing to get on with their lives.
Windows Phone on the other hand would not accept the new certificate in either case and would need to have one manually installed for such an attack to be possible. Hopefully these papers will lead to a strengthening of security on Android and iOS devices. In the meantime, we hope that more companies would wake up to the benefits of Windows Phones. Whilst we certainly do not wish to see any ill come of this, we can at least gloat about our platform being a little more savvy when it comes to accepting gifts from strangers over Wi-Fi pineapples?
Want to read more about Wi-Fi Pineapples? Need a place to vent some steam at the injustice of certificate signing authorities? The comments are open for business; we look forward to your contribution!
Source: Blackhat 2012; via WP Sauce

This Fallout: New Vegas mod is basically a whole new game
After seven years of development, a team of modders has finally finished and released Fallout: The Frontier, a full game-sized project that takes the series to Portland, Oregon. Here's a look at what it has to offer.

Here are all the Xbox and PC games delayed through 2021
Thanks to the good old pandemic, 2021 could be the year known for game delays. Here's every major game delayed to 2021 and beyond so far.

Best Destiny 2 Exotic weapons and armor in 2021
Destiny 2's sandbox is filled with plenty of unique and powerful Exotic weapons and armor pieces. Here's a breakdown of which Exotics are the most effective in 2021.

These are the best GPUs for playing Escape from Tarkov
Looking for a new GPU to play Escape from Tarkov? Here are our top picks for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, from both NVIDIA and AMD.