Microsoft Cortana vulnerability exposure: you can bypass the lock screen password to directly access the website, cortana lock screen

Microsoft Cortana vulnerability exposure: you can bypass the lock screen password to directly access the website, cortana lock screen

On the afternoon of June 14, March 7, digital virtual assistants using artificial intelligence technology became one of the essential weapons for many technology enterprises. For some people, this technology has changed their lives and brought them into a new habit of using electronic devices. However, for other people, virtual assistants only give them new things for a while. There are also some people who are not only very familiar with all kinds of technology products, but also grasp the almost behind these products. In the eyes of these people, virtual assistants have become a door for them to crack devices.

Two security researchers from Israel discovered how to use Microsoft voice assistant Cortana to download malware from a locked Windows PC. Cortana is not only a good helper for common users, but also a good helper for hackers.

Not long ago, Microsoft upgraded Cortana to allow users to use this virtual voice assistant while their computers are locked. This feature is actually not uncommon. Apple's Siri and Google Assistant can implement this feature on smartphones. In general, when the device is locked, the user can use very limited functions, at least Google Assistant and Apple Siri do this. However, Cortana is not the same as the previous two.

Even if your computer is locked, you can enable Cortana to open the website. After receiving the user's instructions, Cortana opens the website with due diligence. However, its operations are meaningless for common users because the opened pages are not displayed on the screen lock interface. But in the eyes of hackers, Cortana enables them to access computers without authorization, and even intervene in other computers on the same network.

The two security researchers mentioned above have inserted a USB device with a network adapter into the computer, which can intercept network requests from the computer, and redirect these network requests to another website containing malicious programs. Then the website automatically downloads and installs the malware on the computer. When this computer is infected, it can infect other computers in the same network in multiple ways.

Microsoft said they knew the vulnerability, but their response was a bit ridiculous: if the user asked Cortana to open the webpage while the computer was locked, cortana will not directly open the website requested by the user, but redirect to bing search. However, this method still allows Cortana to respond to user commands in the locked state. Currently, security researchers are looking for other similar methods to use Cortana to bypass computers to lock passwords. Currently, the solution is to set Cortana to only respond to your voice, and the voice commands of others will be ignored by the system.