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Yubico YubiKey 5Ci with USB-C and Lightning connector for mobile devices

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I am a big fan of the Yubico YubiKeys. I have a couple of YubiKey 4 NEO NFC devices. This post will show the Yubico YubiKey 5Ci 

Here are my older posts on the YubiKey 4 NEO’s

Yubico YubiKeys

My YubiKey NEO’s have been set up on sites with ether “Insert and Press” (FIDO U2F) or Insert and copy 6 digit OTP code’s (that is valid for 30 seconds).

When a site requires an OTP code I can insert the key and run the YubiKey Authenticator software on iOS, Android, Mac or Windows (and enter an optional password) where I can see all my defined website OTP’s

YubiKey Authentication image

I have enabled YubiKey “Insert and Press” and or time-based OAUTH-HOTP protections to as many logins as I can (PayPal, GMail, Google GSuite, DropBox, My Servers (SSH), WordPress, Forums etc).

I use the NFC on the YubiKey NEO to login to my NFC printer at work.

YubiKey 4 NEO NFC

OTP or TOTP and FIDO U2F or Insert and Press

I am not going to not bore you to death with technical details here and I will refer to TOTP as OTP and FIDO U2F (FIDO Universal 2nd Factor) as “Insert and Press”.

Insert and Press is easier to explain than FIDO Universal 2nd Factor.

You can read about each here:

Find sites that use 2FA

https://twofactorauth.org/ allows you to find sites that use (or do not use) 2FA.

https://twofactorauth.org/ main page

You can search for a site (e.g “play”) and see if the matching sites have 2FA enabled to protect logins.

My Google Play, PlayStation and Ubisoft UPlay accounts are protected with 2FA.

I searched for "Play"

You can also view categories and see what websites and services are up to date. This can be handy if you are looking for a product or service (choose the most secure IMHO).

https://twofactorauth.org/#backup

I would recommend you contact website’s that use that does not support 2FA and tell them. If they drag their feet supporting 2FA, I’d leave them.

My NFC Issue

I recently purchased a Flip Wallet/Phone Case with a magnetic back (so I can remove the phone from the wallet), but the magnets cause issue reading NFC on various devices including the YubiKey.

My phone has a poor NFC range at best and my YubiKey NEO cannot be read with my new phone case on.  I’ll admit I don’t use NFC anymore on my phone.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro phone c ase

Enter the YubiKey 5Ci (with USB-C and Lightning adapter)

Yubico has a YubiKey 5Ci that has a USB-C and Lightning connector for phones and tablets. My phone has a USB C connector and this would work well instead of NFC.  

You can buy a YubiKey 5Ci direct here for $70 USD. 

YubiKey also make 5CI with transparent plastic

If you are Down Under like me you can order from here https://shop.mi-token.com/#!/public-catalogue  and pay in AUD.

YubiKey 5Ci Specifications

USB Type
USB-C, Lightning

NFC-enabled
No

Authentication Methods
Passwordless, Strong Two Factor, Strong Multi-Factor

Productivity & Communication
Google Account, Microsoft account, Salesforce.com | Emerging support for Lightning connector

Password Managers
1Password, Dashlane Premium, Keeper®, LastPass Premium | Emerging support for Lightning connector

Cloud Storage
Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive | Emerging support for Lightning connector

Social
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube | Emerging support for Lightning connector

Design & Durability
No Batteries Required, No Moving Parts

Function
WebAuthn, FIDO2 CTAP1, FIDO2 CTAP2, Universal 2nd Factor (U2F), Smart card (PIV-compatible), Yubico OTP, OATH – HOTP (Event), OATH – TOTP (Time), Open PGP, Secure Static Password

Certifications
FIDO 2 Certified, FIDO Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) Certified

Cryptographic Specifications
RSA 2048, RSA 4096 (PGP), ECC p256, ECC p384

Device Type
FIDO HID Device, CCID Smart Card, HID Keyboard

Manufacturing
Made in USA and Sweden

My YubiKey 5Ci

My YubiKey 5Ci arrived in a small but strong package. Wow this is small.

YubiKey 5Ci Package

The back of the 5Ci packaging has clear instructions.

YubiKey Rear Packaging

I removed the YubiKey 5Ci from the packaging.

A lightning plug is on the left and a USB-C plug on the right. In the middle is a contact to allow activation.

YubiKey 5Ci, Lightning plug on one end and a USB-C plug on the other end

The YubiKey 5Ci is tiny. It is about 4c long with a hole in the middle to allow me to place it on a key chain.

It is about as wide as 2.5 keyboard keys

I do not use iPhone’s or iPad’s but my wife and child do so the lightning plug may come in handy.

Lightning plug close up

The USB plug however will be using on my Android phone and will replace my NFC on My YubiKey 4 NEO when I transfer connected websites over.

USB-C plug up close

I can see two metal contact points on each side of the YubiKey 5Ci that I can press and activate when in Insert and Press mode

Metal contacts on each side of the 5Ci

Insert and Press or Enter OTP Code

What is the difference between 5Ci and Insert and Press when logging into sites?

Google will prompt me to insert my YubiKey and press the bottom to log in.

Googole Insert and Press

My Nextcloud install will prompt for a OTP code (to obtain this I need to Insert my YubiKey and obtain the OTP code)

WordPress requires my YubiKey’s to be presented at login

Wordpress Enter Security Key

I set up my cloud serves to prompt me for a OTP when I log in via SSH. I use MobaXTerm to connect to my servers.

Enter a OTP for the shell

I need to enter an OTP twice as two connections to the server are created (one for the shell and one for the directory listing)

Enter OTP for file the shell

YubiKey 4 NEO v YubiKey 5Ci

Here is a picture comparing my YubiKey NEO and the 5Ci

The 5Ci is thinner and shorter than the NEO

YubiKey Neo 4 NFC and a YubiKey 5Ci

YubiKey Size compared

My YubiKey 4 NEO has been used a few thousand times, but it wont plug into my Mobile Phone.

USB Plug

YubiKey 5Ci (USB C) plugged into an Android Phone

I can easily plug the YubiKey 5Ci can plug into my Android Phone (USB C Plug)

My YubiKey Authenticator automatically opens after I insert my YubiKey.

I can access OTP codes in seconds.

USB C Plus and YubiCo Authenticator

Android 10 asked me if the app Yubico Authenticator can access the USB device.

The Yubico Authenticator can be downloaded for Android here

Open YubiKey Authenticator on YubiKey Insert

YubiKey 5Ci (Thunderbolt) plugged into an Apple iPhone

When I insert the YubiKey 5Ci into my wife’s iPhone I can use the key on the iOS version of the authenticator app (download here)

5Ci inserted into an iPhone

I am prompted to enter the password I have set on the key (nice)

Enter password

YubiKey 5Ci (USB C) plugged into a PC

I have a USB C port on the back of my PC

Some PC’s have USB C on the front of the PC.

Front USB C port

USB to USB Adapter

I purchased an inexpensive USB C to USB adapter to allow me to insert the USB C plug of the YubiKey to the front of my PC

USB C to USB adapter
USB C to USB adapter

Now I can use the YubiKey 5Ci anywhere.

YubiKey 5Ci Conclusion

I love YubiKeys and 2FA of any kind and I have a key chain with my YubiKey 4 NEO (the backup key stay’s somewhere else) and my 5Ci.

I also carry 2x USB backups (encrypted) and a Tile tracking token.

My Keychain

Pros

  • Works flawlessly with OTP (HOTP)
  • Works flawlessly with Insert and Touch (FIDO U2F)
  • Works well on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and Linux.

Cons

  • Black shows dust very well, It would be nice to have them in more colours?

Adding hardware-based 2FA is a long journey but a journey that I don’t regret taking one big.  Have a look at https://haveibeenpwned.com/ if you are unsure if this should be your journey.  Also, check out the weekly Security Now Podcast for all the news on weekly hacks and security vulnerabilities.

Use the Yubico Quiz to find out what YubiKey us best for you.

https://www.yubico.com/quiz/

Troubleshooting

N/A

v1.0 Initial Version

Using OWASP ZAP GUI to scan your Applications for security issues

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OWASP is a non-profit that lists the Top Ten Most Critical Web Application Security Risks, they also have a GUI Java tool called OWASP Zap that you can use to check your apps for security issue.

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I have a number of guides on moving hosting away form CPanel , Setting up VM’s on AWS, Vultr or Digital Ocean along with installing and managing WordPress from the command line. It is important that you always update your site and software and test your sites and software for vulnerabilities. Zap is free and completely open source.

Disclaimer, I am not an expert (this Zap post and my past Kali Linux guide will be updated as I learn more).

OWASP Top 10

OWASP has a top 10 list of things to review.

OWASP Top 10

Download the OWASP 10 10 Application security risks PDF here form here.

Using the free OWASP Zap Tool

Snip from https://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Zed_Attack_Proxy_Project

“The OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) is one of the world’s most popular free security tools and is actively maintained by hundreds of international volunteers*. It can help you automatically find security vulnerabilities in your web applications while you are developing and testing your applications. It’s also a great tool for experienced pentesters to use for manual security testing.”

Zap Overview

Here is a quick demo of Zap in action.

Do check out the official Zap videos on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/OWASPGLOBAL/videos if you want to learn more.

Installing Zap

Download Zap from here.

Download Zap

Download Options

Download

Download contents

Run Install

Copy to the app to the OSX Application folder

Installing

App Installed

App Insatalled

Open OSX’s Privacy and Security screen and click Open Anyway

Open Anwway

OWASP Zap is now Installed

Insallled

Ready for a Scan

Blind Scan

But before we do let’s check out the Options

Options

OWASP Zap allows you to label reports to ad from anyone you want.

Report Label Options

Now let’s update the program and plugins, Click Manage Add-ons

Manage Adons

Click Update All to Update addons

Updates

I clicked Update All

Plugins

Installed some plugins

Marketplace

Zap is Ready

Zap

Add a site and right click on the site and you can perform an active scan or port scan.

Right click Zap

First Scan (https failed)

https failed

I enabled unsafe SSL/TLS Renegotiation.

Allow Unsafe HTTPS

This did not work and this guide said I needed to install the “Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files” from here.

Cryptography Files OSX

The extract files to /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/%your_jdk%/Contents/Home/jre/lib/security

Extract

I restarted OWASP Zap and tried to scan my site buy it appears Cloudflare (that I recently set up) was blocking my scans and reported error 403. I decided to scan another site of mine that was not on Cloudflare but had the same Lets Encrypt style SSL cert.

fyi: I own and set up the site I queried below.

Zap Results

OWASP Zap scan performed over 800 requests and tried traversal exploits and many other checks. Do repair any major failures you find.

Zan Scan

Generating a Report

To generate a report click Report then the appropriate generation menu of choice.

Generate Report

FYI: The High Priority Alert is a false positive with an HTML item being mistaken for a CC number.

I hope this guide helps someone. Happy software/server hardening and good luck.

More Reading

Check out my Kali Linux guide.

Ask a question or recommend an article

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Revision History

V1.3 fixed hasting typo.

v1.2 False Positive

v1.1 updated main features

v1.0 Initial post

Setting up a website to use Cloudflare on a VM hosted on Vultr and Namecheap

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This guide will show how you can set up a website to use Cloudflare on a VM hosted on Vultr and Namecheap

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I have a number of guides on moving hasting away form CPanel, Setting up VM’s on AWS, Vultr or Digital Ocean along with installing and managing WordPress from the command line. This post will show how to let Cloudflare handle the DNS for the domain.

Update 2018: For the best performing VM host (UpCloud) read my guide on the awesome UpCloud VM hosts (get $25 free credit by signing up here).

Snip from here “Cloudflare’s enterprise-class web application firewall (WAF) protects your Internet property from common vulnerabilities like SQL injection attacks, cross-site scripting, and cross-site forgery requests with no changes to your existing infrastructure.”

Buy a Domain 

Buy a domain name from Namecheap here.

Domain names for just 88 cents!

Cloudflare Benefits (Free Plan)

  • DDoS Attack Protection (Huge network to absorb attacks DDoS attacks over 600Gbps are no problem for our 15 Tbps networks)
  • Global CDN
  • Shared SSL certificate (I disabled this and opted to use my own)
  • Access to audit logs
  • 3 page rules (maximum)

View paid plan options here.

Cloudflare CDN map

Cloudflare CDN says it can load assets up to 2x faster, 60% less bandwidth from your servers by delivering assets from 127 data centres.

Cloudflare Global Network

Setup

You will need to sign up at cloudflare.com

Cloudflare

After you create an account you will be prompted to add a siteAdd SiteCloudflare will pull your public DNS records to import.

Query DNS

You will be prompted to select a plan (I selected free)

Plan Select

Verify DNS settings to import.

DNS Import

You will now be asked to change your DNS nameservers with your domain reseller

DNS Nameservers

TIP: If you have an SSL cert (e.g Lets Encrypt) already setup head to the crypto section and select ” Full (Strict)” to prevent ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS errors.

Strict SSL

Cloudflare UI

I asked Twitter if they could kindly load my site so I could see if Cloudflare dashboard/stats were loading.

The Cloudflare CTO responded.  🙂

Confirm Cloudflare link to a domain from the OSX Comand line

Caching Rule

I set up the following caching rule to cache everything for 8 hours instead of WordPress pages

Page Rules

“fearby.com.com/wp-*” Cache level: Bypass

“fearby.com.com/wp-admin/post.php*” Cache level: Bypass

“fearby.com/*” Cache Everything, Edge Cache TTL: 8 Hours

Cache Results

Cache appears to be sitting at 50% after 12 hours.  having cache os dynamic pages out there is ok unless I need to fix a typo, then I need to login to Cloudflare and clear the cache manually (or wait 8 hours)

Performance after a few hours

DNS times in gtmetrix have now fallen to a sub 200ms (Y Slow is now a respectable A, it was a C before).  I just need to wait for caching and minification to kick in.

DNS Improved

webpagetest.org results are awesome

See here: https://www.webpagetest.org/result/180314_PB_7660dfbe65d56b94a60d7a604ca250b3/

  • Load Time: 1.80s
  • First Byte 0.176s
  • Start Render 1.200s

webpagetest

Google Page Speed Insights Report

Mobile: 78/100

Desktop: 87/100

Check with https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Update 24th March 2018 Attacked?

I noticed a spike in and traffic (incoming and threats) on the 24th of March 2018.

I logged into Cloudflare on my mobile device and turned on Under Attack Mode.

Under Attack Flow

Cloudflare was now adding a delay screen in the middle of my initial page load. Read more here.  A few hours after the Attach started it was over.

After the Attack

I looked at the bandwidth and found no increase in traffic from my initial host VM. Nice.

cloudflare-attack-001

Thanks, Cloudflare.

Cloudflare Pros

  • Enabling Attack mode was simple.
  • Soaked up an attack.
  • Free Tier
  • Many Reports
  • Option to force HTTPS over HTTP
  • Option to ban/challenge suspicious IP’s and set challenge timeframes.
  • Ability to setup IP firewall rules and Application Firewalls.
  • User-agent blocking
  • Lockdown URL’s to IP’s (pro feature)
  • Option to minify Javascript, CSS and HTML
  • Option to accelerate mobile links
  • Brotli compression on assets served.
  • Optio to enable BETA Rocket loader for Javascript performance tweaks.
  • Run Javascript service workers from the 120+ CDN’s
  • Page/URL rules o perform custom actions (redirects, skip cache, Encryption etc)
  • HTTP/2 on, IPV6 ON
  • Option to setup load balancing/failover
  • CTO of Cloudflare responded in Twitter 🙂
  • Option to enable rate limiting (charged at 10,000 hits for $0.05c)
  • Option to block countries (pro feature)
  • Option to install apps in Cloudflare like(Goole Analytics,

Cloudflare Cons

  • No more logging into NameCheap to perform DNS management (I now goto Cloudflare, Namecheap are awesome).
  • Cloudflare Support was slow/confusing (I ended up figuring out the redirect problem myself).
  • Some sort of verify Cloudflare Setup/DNS/CDN access would be nice. After I set this up my gtmetrix load times were the same and I was not sure if DNS needs to replicate? Changing minify settings in Cloudflare did not seem to happen.
  • WordPress draft posts are being cached even though page riles block wp-admin page caching.
  • Would be nice to have ad automatic Under Attack mode
  • Now all sub-domains were transferred in the setup ( id did not know for weeks)

Cloudflare status

Check out https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/ for status updates.

Don’t forget to install the CloudFlare Plugin for WordPress if you use WordPress.

More Reading

Check out my OWASP Zap and Kali Linux self-application Penetration testing posts.

I hope this guide helps someone.

Ask a question or recommend an article

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Revision History

v1.8 host Command from the OSX CLI

v1.7 Subdomain error

v1.6 Cloudflare Attack

v1.5 WordPress Plugin

v1.4 More Reading

v1.3 added WAF snip

v1.2 Added Google Page Speed Insights and webpage rest results

v1.1 Added Y-Slow

v1.0 Initial post

Security checklist for securing a self-managed Ubuntu server in the cloud

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Below is a (perpetually updated) security checklist for securing a self-managed Ubuntu server. Recently WordPress released patch v4.8.3  that fixed some SQL injection issues.  Is your OS, Database, Web Server, OS and software up to date?

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Although I have recently blogged about securing Ubuntu in the cloud, and running a server Audit with Lynus,  this new post is really about obtaining a mindset change and allocating time (each week) to ensure your self-managed servers and software is kept up to date. You can easily list down the actions you need to follow but keeping a system up to date is hard work. Sites like www.shodan.io will reveal what servers or services are vulnerable, let software updates lapse long enough and an open exploit may open a hole to your system.  It only takes minutes to set up a $2.5  a month Ubuntu server with Vultr, $5 a month Digital Ocean Server or AWS server but you need to maintain it.

I highly recommend that you watch the following video that highlights the need for even minor vulnerabilities to be patched asap. If you leave one minor vulnerability open you will give hackers a foothold into your system.

Follow @jawache on twitter.

Troy Hunt has a great post about the simplicity of hacking. Hacking is child’s play.

General Security Checklist

Find log files on your system:

Output (handy logs to review):

./var/log/mongodb/mongod.log
./var/log/fail2ban.log
./var/log/mysql/error.log
./var/log/ufw.log
./var/log/lynis.log
./var/log/dpkg.log
./var/log/nginx/error.log
./var/log/nginx/nginxcriterror.log
./var/log/nginx/access.log
./var/log/audit/audit.log
./var/log/php7.0-fpm.log
./var/log/mail.log
./backup/backup.log
./scripts/boot.log
etc
  • Enable brute force detection and banning (fail2ban etc) Read more here.
  • Secure folders with service accounts.
  • Do secure software (e.g WordPress Wordfence)
  • Do use SSL Certificates (and use modern cyphers and test with https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/)
  • Monitor SSL vulnerabilities.
  • Do a Lynis security report.
  • Install a Virus scanner (read here).
  • Secure MySQL/Databases.

First, find the version of MySQL

mysql --version
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.19, for Linux (x86_64)

Read the official MySQL manual here and security guidelines here.

Read this Digital Ocean guide on securing MySQL.

  • Other: _______

Application (coding) checklist

Retain and protect information.

Infrastructure

Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

  • Use the latest Long Term Support (LTS) version or Ubuntu
  • Update packages

View app packages (Ubuntu 16.04) with updates

View app packages (Ubuntu 16.04) with updates

To update packages type (remember to backup data and config files first)

Among other things, you will see the following information

Show available updates

  • Only work on code checked into GitHub or BitBucket (You will thank me when data or servers disappear).
  • Backup configuration files or backup to remote servers (my rsync guide here)
  • Use snapshots of VM’s.
  • Use Green/Blue server deployments (toggle one server a Prod and the other and Dev/Test and have one ready for a hot spare). Digital Ocean has a good guide here.
  • Consider forcing Content Security Polic and Public Key Pinning or at least using LetsEncrypt SSL certificates.
  • Take Snapshots of VM’s (automate)
  • Backup MySQL databases:
sudo mysqldump --all-databases > /backup/dump-$( date '+%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S' ).sql -u root -p

Other Useful Linus Terminal Commands.

Mindset/Culture

Dedicate time to securing your site.

  1. Spend one day a week (or automate) the updating of the OS/Software (no excuses).
  2. Follow people on twitter and subscribe to newsletters of those that are security conscious

Don’t forget to read securing Ubuntu in the cloud blog post here.

And check out the extensive Hardening a Linux Server guide at thecloud.org.uk: https://thecloud.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Hardening_a_Linux_Server

More to come..

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v1.2 added link to Hardening Linux Server link

v1.1 added @jawache link

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