Researcher: Cortana flaws allow you to bypass the Windows Password Locks

Two security researchers from Israel found a way to use Microsoft voice assistant Cortana to download malicious programs on locked-down Windows PCs. Cortana is not only a good helper for ordinary users but also a good helper for hackers.

Not long ago, Microsoft upgraded Cortana to allow users to use this virtual voice assistant while the computer is locked. This feature itself is not unusual, Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant can achieve this function on the smartphone. In general, when the device is locked, the functions available to the user are very limited. At least Google Assistant and Apple Siri do this. However, Cortana is not the same as the first two.

Users can have Cortana open the site even when the computer is locked. After receiving the user’s instructions, Cortana will dutifully open the site, but its operation is meaningless to the average user because the open page will not be displayed on the lock screen. But in the eyes of hackers, this feature of Cortana has opened the doors for unauthorized access to computers, and can even involve other computers on the same network.

The two security researchers mentioned earlier inserted a USB device with a network adapter into the computer, which intercepts the computer’s network requests and redirects these network requests to another malicious program. After this site will automatically download and install malicious software on the computer. When this computer is infected, it can use a variety of methods to infect other computers on the same network.

Microsoft stated that they already knew about the loophole, but their response was somewhat ridiculous: If the user requests Cortana to open the webpage when the computer is locked, Cortana will no longer open the website requested by the user, but will redirect it to search. However, this approach still allows Cortana to lock the user’s instructions accordingly. Current security researchers are looking for other similar methods to use Cortana to bypass computer lock passwords. The current solution is to let Cortana respond to your voice only, and other people’s voice commands will be ignored by the system.

Source: motherboard.vice.com