News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by jacquesm on Monday March 18, 2019 @05:22PM (#19425455)
Even my bank feels it is necessary to run Google Analytics tags on the pages with the account balances. Morons.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by chaitanya on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:32PM (#19426031)
I noticed the same for my bank too. Wrote a blog post complaining about it and got a call from them. Essentially their argument was that "we have a confidentiality agreement with Google and that is sufficient to ensure that your data won't be compromised."

So glad I have uBlock Origin.

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by DarkCrusader2 on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @05:07AM (#19429184)
I might be wrong but I think Ublock origin does not block google analytics, atleast with default settings. I have installed ghostery for that. Will check and confirm.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by thg on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @06:43AM (#19429620)
It does if you load the Ublock - Privacy list. However I can't tell you whether it's enabled by default.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by gorhill on Wednesday March 20, 2019 @09:20PM (#19448534)
It does block Google Analytics by default.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by m463 on Monday March 18, 2019 @07:17PM (#19426331)
kaiser permanente (doctor) has not only google analytics but doubleclick links on their online health services. Even the pages to communicate with your doctor or view test results. kp.org

I complained about this (and blocked everything), but at one point they required I accept an onerous terms of service to continue to use the site. So I requested they delete my account. Well, apparently they cannot delete an account, only inactivate it. They didn't do that and I still

California DMV has not only google analytics, but will log you into google when you use their site. dmv.ca.gov

It is hard to mindfully resist.

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by sodosopa on Monday March 18, 2019 @07:35PM (#19426465)
Doubleclick, just means they're running ad campaigns on Google, targeting pages on kp.org. It's standard practice for health insurers' websites, like kp.org.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by 908087 on Monday March 18, 2019 @09:11PM (#19427150)
Is that supposed to make it okay?
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by sodosopa on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @06:25AM (#19429543)
I personally have no problem with this. I’ve worked in this space in health care and understanding how these metrics are used.

It’s no different than running Webtrends on a website. Companies want to know how people interact with sites and the methods as to how they arrive.

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by geuszb on Monday March 18, 2019 @11:25PM (#19427829)
This is where GDPR would help. They wouldn't be able to keep your account and personal info.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by mobjack on Monday March 18, 2019 @09:06PM (#19427120)
Google Analytics does not transmit page content like your account balance. It can see that you viewed the account balance url but knows nothing about what is displayed.

There are however other trackers that could send such information if they are not configured correctly.

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by jacquesm on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @01:02AM (#19428202)
What it does or what it does not is of no consequence to me. What it could do is what matters because I don't have the time to check whether or not someone at Google or some US agency decided that they want to know. The easy solution is to make sure that it can't happen, which is to stop using GA tags on logged in parts of the website.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by mdavidn on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @01:38AM (#19428357)
They would need to remove GA from all pages on the same origin. JavaScript in any page can perform an AJAX request to read HTML, and those requests will send cookies.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by claudius on Monday March 18, 2019 @09:46PM (#19427328)
So I am supposed to check the script Google sends me every time I access the page that this script does not now (only in an A/B test! Only in beta! It was a human error!) send all the page content to Google as well? Ridiculous.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by eternalban on Monday March 18, 2019 @09:32PM (#19427275)
Nothing to see here folks, it's just 'meta-data' .. move along.

[edit: /s]

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by kuon on Monday March 18, 2019 @09:53PM (#19427360)
I experienced the same thing on one of my credit card account management interface.

I have been using ublock + configured my router as DNS server using https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/

The DNS server has the advantage of filtering for the mobile devices on WiFi as well, which is a nice plus.

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by chii on Monday March 18, 2019 @05:51PM (#19425702)
Imagine how much money you'd be able to syphon if you could access the javascript that serves these pages!
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by jacquesm on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:06PM (#19425832)
You can't get at the $ but you can get at the individual transaction data. They really should not have third party js on banking and medical sites, especially not for logged in users.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by chopin on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:35PM (#19426052)
Are you absolutely sure about this (would love a reference)? Letting another party running code removes at least many layers of defence. I would not trust a bank which is doing that it's just a sign of gross incompetence.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by jacquesm on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @01:03AM (#19428205)
2FA should at least in theory stop them from doing that. But if the script rewrites the page then maybe there are interesting ways around that.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by nostoc on Monday March 18, 2019 @10:49PM (#19427656)
Third party code within your banking website has access to anything you can do from the UI.

That includes siphoning money from your account.

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by jacquesm on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @01:04AM (#19428210)
I have a hardware token and a chipcard to stop that from happening, still, there may be some way to do it that I'm not aware of. One way I can think of is to display one set of destination details for a transfer to the user and use another for the actual transfer.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by chopin on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @03:05AM (#19428685)
The hardware token I use shows amount and recipient. At least you could notice.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by doikor on Monday March 18, 2019 @05:55PM (#19425730)
From my banks web site? Effectively zero. Nothing will happen unless you validate the transactions using two factor authentication (user id + code app/single use paper code)

(In my experience all bank web sites work like above here in Finland)

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by slig on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:14PM (#19425905)
One possible attack is to change the details of a transaction before the page post it. To the user it would appear as she's transferring money to Bob, but it'd go to Eve.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by magicalhippo on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:29PM (#19426005)
My bank has two-factor using some special applet thingy on my phone (not a regular app, it's tied into the SIM card somehow). It shows me the details (amount and destination account) which I have to confirm using my password (in combination with a key from the SIM).

Much more difficult to circumvent, assuming the user pays attention...

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by chii on Monday March 18, 2019 @07:45PM (#19426522)
Then, the malicious script can just pop up an official looking dialog box with a message saying that they are 'testing' the confirmation system, and please accept/agree to the next sms/alert from the app.

Having direct control of the user interface is very powerful.

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by magicalhippo on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @08:31AM (#19430128)
Of course one has to have a minimum of awareness for any protection mechanism to work.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by moviuro on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:29PM (#19426011)
Eve should be among the known receivers though, which is a world of slow (~72hours to add an IBAN to my list for instance).

There are banks that try to make it faster though, with MFA, though the MFA system is usually SMS.

Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by JeremyBanks on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:29PM (#19426004)
The banks I've used in Canada allow you to send transfers (uip to $3000) to other domestic bank accounts without reautenticating. Fortunately, they don't seem to use any third-party JavaScript.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by tnolet on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:17PM (#19425925)
Nothing. That is not how online banking works. At all. Payments need validation, check and balances (quite literally) at multiple stages before any money changes hands.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by nostoc on Monday March 18, 2019 @10:52PM (#19427672)
Really depends on how secure your bank is, because a lot of major banking trojans work in a very similar way : injecting JavaScript in your webpage.
Re:EU government websites have undisclosed adtech trackers f... by eecc on Monday March 18, 2019 @07:02PM (#19426241)
Nut they can sure tell if you’re worth mugging...