I installed the Jungle Disk client onto one of our web servers to try out, but I am concerned about the security risks of using the application.
It installs using a .DEB or .RPM package based on your OS of choice. Once installed, the JD server could see and modify my files. I didn't open any ports in my firewall, and I use SSH on a non-standard port. My concern is that this behavior is similar to that of a Trojan. What stops a bad guy from creating a server claiming to be "Jungle Disk" and gaining access to my file system?
The JD documentation says that files are transfered over SSL. Since I didn't setup SSL for this, I'm guessing that the software on my machine acts as a client to their server which is running SSL. SSL by nature can prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, and serves as a form of validation, but certificates expire. There must be some way that they can push new certificate lists to clients, in case they change their certificate or CA? In this case, couldn't a hacker push an update to the software that points the client program at a malicious server?
We need to maintain PCI compliance, as our production servers (not the one I'm testing on) take credit card information from consumers. But I am also worried about creating an attack surface on my servers in general.
In keeping with the purpose of this site, my specific questions are:
Are there any known vulnerabilities with recent versions of Jungle Disk including 3.16?
Is there anything in specific that I should look for in any cloud backup provider that indicates their solution is safe, rather than having to take their word for it? For example, a SAS 70 type II certified data center has been audited and found to meet certain security requirements.
UPDATE:
I have sent the following to Jungle Disk via support ticket:
I have some concerns regarding the security of JungleDisk.
Once the .DEB package is installed, your servers can see and access my files, even though I didn't open any ports, or grant file level permissions to the Jungle Disk user. While this functionality is necessary to make backups work, it does raise some concerns. Namely, that it creates a surface area for attack by a malicious individual or organization. What measures are in place to prevent an unauthorized server from presenting itself to my server as Jungle Disk Administrator and taking my files? Or using the restore function to install a root kit? Or just deleting/corrupting data in general? Does Jungle Disk meet PCI requirements for backing up E-commerce web servers that accept credit cards? What measures are in place to prevent data from being sent to an attackers server after a DNS cache poisoning attack?
I also came across this article: http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2011-06-03-insecurity-in-the-jungle.html. It was posted about 9 months ago and raises concerns about the way data is encrypted and stored on Jungle Disk. What measures, if any, have been taken to address these concerns?
Do you have a security auditor on staff?
I didn't ask JD initially because I knew I would get a response like this:
Thank you for contacting Jungle Disk Support.
Jungle Disk uses a multi-layered, defense in depth strategy to protect our customers' data and we constantly review our solution and implement new improved features and techniques as they become available to us. Security is always a priority for us when providing our customers with products like Jungle Disk, and we will continue to review feedback to help us ensure that we have the best solution available.
Regards,
JungleDiskSupport