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Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

techcrunch.com

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Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#151

Post by jrm4 »

I have not read the article, but it's interesting to be at a point where the headline is so bad that it deserves commenting on its own; i.e. understanding that there is no way possible for the connotation (not denotation) of the headline to be "correct."

The connotation here being either "open source is dangerous" or "Microsoft's specific brand of open source is dangerous" -- which coincidentally provides good clickbait for both "pro-open source" and "anti open source" types.

Anyway, not reading. They should do better.

Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#152

Post by ashishb »

progx wrote: post #86
graemep wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody should do 'npm install' or 'pip install' on their machine. What alternative do you suggest? Do you mean not install outside a sandbox?

alias npm / bun / ... to run in a docker container, so npm install run automatically in the container.

That's exactly what I started with. It gets unwieldy quickly enough as you need to mount a lot of directories that these you uses as cache.

So, amazing-sandbox at its core is nothing but a glorified docker command generator (in default mode).

Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#153

Post by ashishb »

themafia wrote: post #63
graemep wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody should do 'npm install' or 'pip install' on their machine. What alternative do you suggest? Do you mean not install outside a sandbox?

Download source. Extract. Move files to correct node_modules folder. If your distribution requires more than this, then it's not really a module, or combines too many non-modular components, and should be distributed differently. The ability for npm to run scripts on any level should be removed. Then we can go back to worrying about namespacing issues.

> The ability for npm to run scripts on any level should be removed.

Even Python has that ability now. Also, `npm run dev` is running the script with full disk access.

Heck, Vscode/Cursor will auto-execute code if you open a project. And this has been actively used in the wild https://ashishb.net/security/contagious-interview/

Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#154

Post by ashishb »

themafia wrote: post #76
dist-epoch wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If an attacker can infect the post-install script of an npm package, they can also infect the package source code itself. So if you ever run the project outside the sandbox, you will still get compromised. It's like saying "I don't trust a software app with an installer, I just want a .zip with the binaries from the same source that I will run myself"

> they can also infect the package source code itself Which is where the concept of "safe levels" come in. I should be able to install this module in such a way where file operations and process operations are not available to it. That being said, presumably, this types of infiltration would seem to be _much_ easier to spot. "Why is this web framework calling 'spawn'?" > I just want a .zip with the binaries I want a…

> I should be able to install this module in such a way where file operations and process operations are not available to it.

That's the definition of a sandbox, isn't it?

Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#155

Post by rspijker »

yoyohello13 wrote: post #146

I had to reset my personal Microsoft account password yesterday because I got a two factor alert about a log in attempt from Romania. I can’t figure out how they got my password though because the only Microsoft product I own is an Xbox. Even before ai though Microsoft leaks like a sieve. I wish my company would move off them, but we are locked in.

It is almost impossible to set up personal Microsoft accounts that does not allow passwordless login. So what is more likely to have happened is that your account is set up like this and you are just getting MFA requests that are not a second factor, but simply an attempt to get access to your account.

I was getting multiple of these a day and found that if you set up the Microsoft Authenticator app from a phone, it will force it to passwordless if you have any type of lock on your phone (facial, fingerprint, pin). The only way around it is to disable all of those while setting up the account in the authenticator app. I don't use my Microsoft account much, so just use a separate e-mail now for verification instead of the authenticator app.

The fact that this is how it works is of course insane, but I'm guessing someone inside of Microsoft is hitting their KPIs for passwordless logins or something...

Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#156

Post by giancarlostoro »

I was probably late to the party in realizing and saying it, but I've been saying for a little while, even if you don't want to use AI because "the code is bad" or whatever, I highly suggest you consider having AI auditing code and services for security, or literally anything that scans code for vulnerabilities.

The attack vector isn't just plugins that steal your data, but also 0-day exploits in just about any software you use, and even your own web services being exploited by a script kiddy with an LLM. There will be an increase in hacks and it's only going to get worse, so anyone not investing in cyber security audits and auditing tools should really reconsider.

Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#157

Post by yifanl »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #156

I was probably late to the party in realizing and saying it, but I've been saying for a little while, even if you don't want to use AI because "the code is bad" or whatever, I highly suggest you consider having AI auditing code and services for security, or literally anything that scans code for vulnerabilities. The attack vector isn't just plugins that steal your data, but also 0-day exploits in just about any softw…

AI harnesses were exploited, here's why it's actually good for AI.

Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#159

Post by giancarlostoro »

yifanl wrote: post #157
giancarlostoro wrote: post #156

I was probably late to the party in realizing and saying it, but I've been saying for a little while, even if you don't want to use AI because "the code is bad" or whatever, I highly suggest you consider having AI auditing code and services for security, or literally anything that scans code for vulnerabilities. The attack vector isn't just plugins that steal your data, but also 0-day exploits in just about any softw…

AI harnesses were exploited, here's why it's actually good for AI.

Not what I'm saying at all, but okay. More like "don't sleep on cyber security" more than anything. I don't care if you use AI, though it can definitely be useful for security auditing. Red teams are going to become more invaluable these days.

Re: Microsoft's open source tools were hacked to steal passwords of AI developers

#160

Post by yifanl »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #159
yifanl wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI harnesses were exploited, here's why it's actually good for AI.

Not what I'm saying at all, but okay. More like "don't sleep on cyber security" more than anything. I don't care if you use AI, though it can definitely be useful for security auditing. Red teams are going to become more invaluable these days.

You're talking about living in a world where we have to take entirely preventative steps, not reactive because hacking is going to be that much more prevalent.

AI can tell you you're being zero-day'd, but that isn't much comfort - you're already expecting everyone to always be zero-day'd at all times!

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