Slashdot Mirror
Southwest Airlines iPhone App Unencrypted, Vulnerable To Eavesdroppers
New submitter davidstites writes "I am a masters computer science student at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and in November I performed a security audit of 230+ popular iOS applications because I wanted to know how secure apps on smartphones and tablets really are. I made a shocking discovery. The largest single potential security breach was with the Southwest Airlines application. Southwest Airlines' iPhone app leaves a user's information vulnerable to hackers. When you login to the application on your phone using your Rapid Rewards account, the app submits your username and password information as plain-text (unencrypted) to a Southwest remote server (mobile.southwest.com). A potential attacker can simply sniff for the data on the network and steal it. This situation is a hackers dream! If a victims credentials were captured, a hacker could use those credentials to login to that particular account and they would have access to anything the victim would have access to, such as addresses, birthdays, e-mail, phone and credit cards. They could even book a flight in the victims name." (Read on below for more details.)
davidstites continues: "This not only obviously worrisome from the standpoint of a potential attacker fraudulently using a victims account and credit card information, but also due to the possibility of terrorist threats in air travel.
The possibility of being able to capture this data is especially probable since Denver International offers free WiFi and it is an unencrypted network. The probability that a Southwest passenger would login to their account is also quite high since they have an entire terminal to themselves (C concourse). However, this could occur on any unencrypted or encrypted network.
Consider the possibility of a person who is currently (and rightfully) on the Department of Homeland Security's 'No-Fly' list. If this person were able to capture a victim's credentials and create a fake ID, he could pass through TSA security without being stopped.
I don't know how Southwest Airlines let this happen, but sometimes companies have to decide between security and the bottom line. Companies rush to get products out, the engineering dollars are not there to complete the project, so security falls to the back. Usually, security is not thought of as a benefit, until it fails.
I contacted Southwest when the vulnerability was found in early December and they still have not released a patch as of today and they have never contacted me back about the vulnerability. Until the security flaw is fixed, the best solution is to not use the application.
A full list of applications with vulnerabilities can be found here. Additionally, some local NBC and ABC news stations and the Denver Post covered this story."
The possibility of being able to capture this data is especially probable since Denver International offers free WiFi and it is an unencrypted network. The probability that a Southwest passenger would login to their account is also quite high since they have an entire terminal to themselves (C concourse). However, this could occur on any unencrypted or encrypted network.
Consider the possibility of a person who is currently (and rightfully) on the Department of Homeland Security's 'No-Fly' list. If this person were able to capture a victim's credentials and create a fake ID, he could pass through TSA security without being stopped.
I don't know how Southwest Airlines let this happen, but sometimes companies have to decide between security and the bottom line. Companies rush to get products out, the engineering dollars are not there to complete the project, so security falls to the back. Usually, security is not thought of as a benefit, until it fails.
I contacted Southwest when the vulnerability was found in early December and they still have not released a patch as of today and they have never contacted me back about the vulnerability. Until the security flaw is fixed, the best solution is to not use the application.
A full list of applications with vulnerabilities can be found here. Additionally, some local NBC and ABC news stations and the Denver Post covered this story."
It's a pain in the behind to distribute apps with encryption code (even if all your app does is use SSL!) on the app store.
You need to go through hoops registering with the US government for an export license for every app you publish. When we built our software, we got hit with these requirements and had to go through a bunch of paperwork that really slowed us down and gave us a headache all because we communicate with only communicate with our web service via SSL.
It's ridiculous that there's no exemption for SSL usage on US export controls. It's just a pain in the ass for everyone in the process and you can't honestly claim that it prevents awfully dangerous tech from getting into the enemy's hands.
You're interpreting it correctly. The rest of the world, including terrorists living in caves, are perfectly capable of implementing encryption on their own. And instead of helping or protecting Americans, so-called "export controls" are aimed squarely at the US populace. US companies are prevented from taking basic steps to protect online privacy for exactly the same reason that mild external threats are hyped and used as justification to strip other rights from US citizens -- the US is a fascist, occupation government with absolutely no regard for the rule of law.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
... because I'm just looking for someone else to blame, too. But there is this big WTF:
The possibility of being able to capture this data is especially probable since Denver International offers free WiFi and it is an unencrypted network.
It doesn't have to be unencrypted to be free.
Well, if you want a secure encrypted network, it's probably not going to be free.
There's only moderate additional security gained by having a WPA encrypted network where everyone has the same PSK since it's trivial to capture the association handshake (by forcing them to reassociate if neccessary) and steal the session key from anyone's session - Wireshark will do this for you. Alternatively, you can set up a hotspot on your laptop called "SouthwestAirlines" and nearby clients will connect to your laptop instead of the real Southwest network and you can capture all of their packets.
To make a secure encrypted network, they'd need to implement something like 802.1x security with unique username/passwords for each user and with Wifi clients configured to authenticate the network's 802.1x certificate (to prevent someone from setting up a rogue SouthwestAirlines access point).
Few providers of free Wifi service are going to be willing to run a helpdesk to assist all of the users with setting this up - it's not always trivial (depending on the device). So it's probably better to not provide the illusion of a secure encrypted network when it's not. The users that are sophisticated enough to set up 802.1x authentication on their device are probably also sophisticated to use a VPN to secure their data.
When I connect via an open Wifi network, I always VPN to my company or my home internet router so all of my wifi traffic is encrypted.
Yeah, I know. Look at all the people using my credentials to log into Slashdot. And I get the blame for all the stupid 'In Soviet Russia' crap.