Layer Seven Security Blog
Stay up to date on the latest trends in SAP security, new threats and information on protecting your critical systems against an attack
SOAP Opera: Securing SAP Web Services
The best run businesses may run SAP but very few run it exclusively. Most SAP systems operate in a complex, heterogeneous environment with information and processes spread across multiple systems including legacy applications. For SAP, this has always been a barrier to the rapid deployment of its software. Traditional solutions such IDocs, BAPIs and other …
FTC Takes Action against Wyndham Worldwide after Data Breach
Until recently, the fallout from the data breach at Wyndham Worldwide, owner of Ramada, Travelodge and a host of other hotel brands, followed an all too familiar path. Immediately after news of the breach reached customers in 2010, the company followed regular protocols by issuing an apology and committing itself to improving security procedures in …
White Hats, Black Hats and Skiddies: The Class System in Information Security
There are few terms more widely misunderstood in the world of information security than the word ‘hacking’. Although it’s used in a variety of contexts, it’s most commonly used to refer to all types of cyber crime including everything from fraud and industrial espionage to identity theft and spamming. If you take this view, cyber …
The Top 5 Security Notes you should apply to Patch your SAP systems
April was another bumper month for SAP Security Notes. In all, SAP issued 33 patches, of which 5 were considered critical. Top of the list were Notes 1647225 and 1675432 which address missing authorization checks in components of Business Objects Data Services (EIM-DS) and the SAP Classification System (CA-CL). EIM-DS is SAP’s flagship solution for …
The Four Myths of ERP Security
There are several myths in ERP security. One of the most common is that security is largely a matter of controlling access and segregation of duties. Another is that business applications are accessible only within internal networks. Yet another is that such applications are not a target for attack. All three are based on a …
A Ten Step Guide to Implementing SAP’s New Security Recommendations
On January 16, SAP issued a revamped version of the whitepaper Secure Configuration of SAP Netweaver Application Server using ABAP, which is rapidly becoming the de-facto standard for securing the technical components of SAP. According to SAP, the guidance provided in the whitepaper is intended to help customers protect ABAP systems against unauthorized access within …
SAP had reservations with Deloitte’s blueprint for Marin County
After recently losing Beneficial Mutual as an audit client, Deloitte suffered another major setback last week. While a U.S District Court Judge dismissed racketeering and other claims against the firm made by Marin County as a result of what the Californian authority considered a botched implementation of SAP for Public Sector, the court declared that …
When do default passwords become a configuration error?
The answer is when your Legal department is managing the fallout after a data breach. The case in point is the Utah Department of Health which announced this week that over 280,000 records belonging to Medicaid and CHIP recipients were compromised after a breach last week believed to be perpetrated by a group in Eastern …
Why you should immediately patch the recent DoS Vulnerability in AIX
IBM released an advisory in February for a Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability in AIX versions 5.3, 6.1, and 7.1. The warning seems to have flown under the radar since so far, many companies running the effected AIX OS platforms for their SAP environments have yet to deploy the patch. The vulnerability relates to a …
MasterCard confirms it will enforce the PCI DSS compliance deadline for Level 2 merchants
As you probably recall, MasterCard issued a directive in 2009 that required all Level 2 merchants to comply with the PCI DSS through either a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) prepared by a certified Internal Security Assessor or an assessment performed by a Qualified Security Assessor by June 30, 2010. Following an uproar from merchants, this was …
Microsoft Hack Exposed Credit Card Details
Earlier today, Microsoft issued a statement that declared that the financial information belonging to customers of its online store in India may have been compromised by the recent attack perpetrated by a Chinese group called the “Evil Shadow Team.” It is widely believed that this information was stored in clear text in databases raided by …
Netweaver Single Sign-On: Is it Worth the Risk?
SAP’s acquisition of SECUDE in 2011 is finally bearing fruit. Recently, SAP announced the launch of Netweaver Single Sign-On 1.0 which can be downloaded from the Service Marketplace. This is the latest addition to SAP’s identity and access management portfolio and is based on SECUDE’s Secure Login and Enterprise SSO solutions. It uses protocols such …
SAP patches a session hijacking vulnerability in the Netweaver Portal
Imagine a system that provides a single, unified interface to all your SAP applications for not only everyone in your company but customers and suppliers. Imagine also that this system is web-based and uses single-sign-on. Congratulations, you’ve just envisioned the Netweaver Portal, the cornerstone of SAP’s strategy to integrate business information and processes and the …
A Guide to Rootkits and Trojans in ABAP Programs
If you missed Ertunga Arsal’s presentation on SAP Rootkits and Trojans at the 27th Chaos Communication Congress, you can now watch the entire hour-long session below. Ertunga is an accomplished SAP security expert and an entertaining speaker if you appreciate dry, German humour. In this video, Ertunga demonstrates how attackers can use several paths to …
The Hidden Danger of GRC
Does anyone remember the world before GRC? I know it seems like decades ago but the fact is solutions such as SAP GRC are a relatively new phenomenon. Until recently, most of us were working with SU01 and SUIM. While such tools have undoubtedly made life easier for administrators and auditors alike, there’s a hidden …
The SAP Security Blog
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