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nursingwriter · 2 months ago

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Professional Development Medical Device Sales: Career Summary Medical device sales is a career path in biomedical science that combines technical knowledge with business knowledge. Professionals in this field serve as important intermediaries between manufacturers of medical devices and healthcare providers. They are not just sales people: they actually help to introduce, inform, present, explain, and sell new and innovative technologies and tools that can be used to improve patient care. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), medical device sales representatives typically earn competitive salaries, with median earnings around $85,000 annually, and they can also benefit from performance-based incentives. The role requires one to have a working knowledge of the biomedical sciences. But one also needs exceptional communication skills. Problem-solving and interpersonal skills can also be exceedingly helpful as potential clients tend to present obstacles to a sale. Sales representatives have to understand the clinical applications of their products so that they can give in-depth product training to medical staff when it is needed. They also must have knowledge of regulatory compliance due to the rigorous approval processes governing medical devices in healthcare. Career pathways in medical device sales tend to start with entry-level sales positions. From there they can progress to managerial or regional director roles. Education requirements typically include a bachelors degree in marketing, engineering, health sciences, or business, though specialized certifications such as Certified Sales Professional (CSP) or training in medical technology can definitely be a way to improve ones employability. Networking and internships are also always helpful in obtaining a job in this field. Future industry trends point toward increasing demand for representatives with expertise in digital health tools and AI-integrated devices. AI is the dominant tool of the decade, just as the smart device was of the previous decade. This advancement in technology shows that there will also be a need for continuous professional development and adaptation in this field so as to be able to present these tools in the best way possible. Interview To gain deeper insight into medical device sales, I interviewed Jane Maddow, who is a Regional Sales Manager at MediTech, a small local business that specializes in niche medical devices. She has over 10 years in the field. Jane gave me valuable information about the day-to-day responsibilities of a medical device sales rep and discussed her own career progression within this field. Jane noted that success in medical device sales really depends on building strong relationships with healthcare providers. She said that trust is the most important thingand relationships are what sell the product in the end, especially when it comes to introducing new technologies. A typical day for her includes client visits, friendly discussions, touching base, catching up, offering and delivering product demonstrations, and troubleshooting issues in the clinical setting. She noted that resilience and adaptability are key traits for a sales rep, as targets can be challenging to meet. During the interview, Jane discussed the importance of staying updated on technological advancements. She shared that representatives who can explain how devices integrate into existing healthcare workflows are going to be highly valued by clients as well as by the company they represent. Jane also pointed out the benefits of remote sales technologies, including virtual product demonstrations. When asked about career progression, Jane stated that the initial years can involve intense travel schedules and one has to learn how to balance technical expertise with sales strategies and relationship building. However, these early challenges lay the groundwork for advancement into leadership roles. Jane stressed that certifications, such as CSP, and participation in industry conferences do help. She also recommended developing a professional network early on and gaining practical experience through internships in sales or healthcare-related fields. This step can pay off in dividends down the road, as one sets oneself up with contacts, a network, and potential clients for when the time for sales comes. Career Reflection Exploring the field of medical device sales has solidified my interest in this career path. The research and interview with Jane Maddow gave me a well-rounded understanding of the opportunities and challenges involved. I am particularly interested in the relationship aspect of this role, as I am naturally keen on developing relationships and keeping up with people. I can blend this natural affinity with my interest in scientific expertise and strategies for interpersonal engagement. The need for continuous learning and adaptation also appeals to my passion for staying at the fore of biomedical research. Hearing firsthand about the way AI is changing digital health and medical devices also gave me some inspiration to look further into these areas. Janes advice about networking and looking into getting certifications have also had an influence on my career strategy. I plan to build up a strong professional network and obtain relevant certifications that will strengthen my candidacy for future roles. Future Resume Name Objective: Biomedical science graduate with a passion for medical innovation and sales. Seeking a role in medical device sales to apply technical knowledge and interpersonal skills in advancing patient care. Education: Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences | University of | 2023 Certified Sales Professional (CSP) | National Association of Sales Professionals | 2025 (anticipated) Experience: Sales Intern | MediTech Solutions | Summer 2024 Assisted in product demonstrations for healthcare professionals. Conducted market research to identify potential clients and industry trends. Shadowed senior sales representatives during client visits. Research Assistant | University of | 20212023 Conducted clinical data analysis on device efficacy in patient care. Authored research summaries for academic presentations. Skills: Technical product knowledge in medical devices. Strong communication and presentation abilities. Proficient in CRM software and virtual sales platforms. Professional Development: Member, Medical Device Sales Association (MDSA). Attendee, National Medical Device Conference | 2024. Achievements: Led a team project on healthcare outreach during a summer internship, improving community engagement. Action Plan The first step in my action plan is to enroll in and complete the Certified Sales Professional (CSP) program by mid-2025. This certification will give me with a foundation in sales principles and strategies, so that I can get into high-value, consultative sales environments like those in the medical device market. Next, I plan to get hands-on experience by applying for internships at medical device companies. These internships will expose me to real-world sales processes, where I can see and be part of product demonstrations, and client interactions, while building relationships. My goal is to secure an internship by summer 2024. The experience will also allow me to learn directly from seasoned professionals in the field. In addition to certifications and internships, I will work on developing technical skills that are relevant in sales. By December 2024, I want to become proficient in customer relationship management (CRM) tools like Salesforce, so that I can effectively track client interactions, manage pipelines, see my progress, and apply sales strategies. I will also complete online courses to gain familiarity with digital health technologies and AI-integrated devices. astly, I plan to network. In 2024, I want to attend at least two industry conferences, like the National Device Expo, to connect with professionals and stay informed about new trends in medical device sales. I also plan to network on LinkedIn, where I can meet mentors and look for career openings. Through these efforts, I intend to launch a successful career in medical device sales. Timeline Milestone Target Date Join CSP program March 2025 Secure a summer internship May 2025 Complete CRM training December 2025 Attend National Device Expo October 2025 Networking Plan Name & Role Where/How Found How Could You Meet? What Can You Offer? Jane Doe, Regional Sales Manager LinkedIn Message for an informational call Offer to share research insights. Dr. Reed, Industry Speaker Conference session Attend her next speaking event Provide feedback on presentation. Mike Taylor, Sales Director Networking Event Approach during breakout sessions Share unique academic findings. https://www.paperdue.com/customer/paper/medical-writing-careers-healthcare-2182715#:~:text=Logout-,MedicalWritingCareersHealthcare,-Length5pages Read the full article

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kaijumydude · 4 years ago

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small amount of misc Reed doodles because I've been thinking about their destiny 2 verse again,,, guardian turned hive wizard my beloved

#oc: reed sarabhai #destiny 2 #destiny oc #*points at the hive* you ruined a perfectly good guardian / look he's got anxiety #and trust issues and an aversion to touch #i'm still trying to make his hive form look more like him but these are just simple doodles #it's 1am this was just supposed to be another 'getting used to csp' sesh but I wanted to doodle Reed #his outfit under the robes have a tiddy window cause fuck yea #I'm gonna try and draw a more cohesive character ref one day

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thestarminstrel · 3 years ago

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i had zero issue with giving csp more money. you want me to buy the liscense to csp v2? absolutely, take my money. in order to access new features i need to pay for them as add-ons? hell yea, let's do it. i personally didn't need to upgrade to ex, but i chose to do so on the offchance i picked up animating again and also to give csp more money. they offered a wonderful program for a one-time purchase-- and i was more than happy to spend my money supporting them.

i understand that this new subscription model doesn't affect me terribly. i will still have access to v1, and honestly i've been extremely happy with the version. but the fact that csp decided to propose such a switch absolutely shatters the trust i had in them. what if csp decides to follow adobe's footsteps and only offer subscriptions for all their software (including my current version)? what the fuck are we supposed to do then. because i sure as hell won't be paying for that subscription (yo ho it's a pirate's life for me 🏴‍☠️), and i doubt that many other artists will pay for it either.

it is absolutely sickening how so many companies will gut their users and reputation just for money. and i am frankly fucking exhausted of it. csp, i hope you listen to us and reconsider because there's a lot of people already one foot out the door.

#personal #clip studio paint #unless csp rescinds this decision or gives us more details as to why the fuck they decided to make said decision #i can not recommend this program to anyone #im not going to tell someone to pay for it only to have to then pay MORE for it when there's programs like krita #which i used for a time but i wasn't 100% happy with it like i am with csp #if certain things happen then i literally might just stop drawing bc i can't learn new programs every year #i dont have the stamina for that

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astraldrake · 4 years ago

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For the artist ask: 1, 5, 8, 25? :)

1. Favorite drawing from this year i was originally going to put several down because i have a hard time choosing favorites but the post broke, so know that i have several and this is just one of them. there's some issues with this one that i can point out now since i did this back in april (which feels like ages ago) but i still love the canvas texture and overall feel of the piece is still incredibly cool.

5. favorite little detail in a drawing you did this tiny little sagira i did look at her

8. underrated drawing you did I don't think any of my work is underrated, I'm just happy people like it at all tbh. 25. best advice you've received this year or something new you learned about art does learning two entirely new programs count because i definitely did that. (krita and csp) as far as advice i think the best one i heard this year was about not overworking a single drawing, and instead recognizing that every piece is a stepping stone towards other works. sometimes you just have to recognize your mistake, and avoid making it next time, rather then desperately try to fix it. one piece of advice i have is to never do a complicated painting with overlapping detailed objects on one layer. it never ends well. ( i learned this one the hard way, trust me.)

#tysm for the ask synn!

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arfox158 · 4 years ago

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5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages

TLDR: With a bit of research and support we were able to demonstrate a proof of concept for introducing a fraudulent payment message to move £0.5M from one account to another, by manually forging a raw SWIFT MT103 message, and leveraging specific system trust relationships to do the hard work for us!

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages App

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages Message

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages To My

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages For Her

Before we begin: This research is based on work we performed in close-collaboration with one of our clients; however, the systems, architecture, and payment-related details have been generalized / redacted / modified as to not disclose information specific to their environment.

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5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages App

With that said.. *clears throat*

The typical Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) against SWIFT systems we see in reports and the media are - for the most part - the following:

Compromise the institution's network;

Move laterally towards critical payment systems;

Compromise multiple SWIFT Payment Operator (PO) credentials;

Access the institution's SWIFT Messaging Interface (MI);

Keys in - and then authorize - payment messages using the compromised PO accounts on the MI.

This attack-path requires the compromise of multiple users, multiple systems, an understanding of how to use the target application, bypass of 2FA, attempts to hide access logs, avoid alerting the legitimate operators, attempts to disrupt physical evidence, bespoke malware, etc. – so, quite involved and difficult. Now that’s all good and fine, but having reviewed a few different payment system architectures over the years, I can’t help but wonder:

“Can't an attacker just target the system at a lower level? Why not target the Message Queues directly? Can it be done?”

A hash-based MAC might simply be too big. On the other hand, hash-based MACs, because they are larger, are less likely to have clashes for a given size of message. A MAC that is too small might turn out to be useless, as a variety of easy-to-generate messages might compute to the same MAC value, resulting in a collision. WhatsApp Messenger is a FREE messaging app available for iPhone and other smartphones. WhatsApp uses your phone's Internet connection (4G/3G/2G/EDGE or Wi-Fi, as available) to let you message and call friends and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, calls, photos, videos, documents, and Voice Messages. WHY USE WHATSAPP. Garrick Hello, I'm Garrick Chow, and welcome to this course on computer literacy for the Mac. This course is aimed at the complete computer novice, so if you're the sort of person who feels some mild anxiety, nervousness, or even dread every time you sit down in front of your computer, this course is for you.

Well, let's find out! My mission begins!

So, first things first! I needed to fully understand the specific “section” of the target institution's payment landscape I was going to focus on for this research. In this narrative, there will be a system called “Payment System” (SYS). This system is part of the institution's back-office payment landscape, receiving data in a custom format and output's an initial payment instructions in ISO 15022 / RJE / SWIFT MT format. The reason I sought this scenario was specifically because I wanted to focus on attempting to forge an MT103 payment message - that is:

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MT – “Message Type” Literal;

1 – Category 1 (Customer Payments and Cheques);

0 – Group 0 (Financial Institution Transfer);

3 – Type 3 (Notification);

All together this is classified as the MT103 “Single Customer Credit Transfer”.

Message type aside, what does this payment flow look like at a high level? Well I’ve only gone and made a fancy diagram for this!

Overall this is a very typical and generic architecture design. However, let me roughly break down what this does:

The Payment System (SYS) ingests data in a custom - or alternative - message format from it's respective upstream systems. SYS then outputs an initial payment instruction in SWIFT MT format;

SYS sends this initial message downstream to a shared middelware (MID) component, which converts (if necessary) the received message into the modern MT format understood by SWIFT - Essentially a message broker used by a range of upstream payment systems within the institution;

MID forwards the message in it's new format on to the institution's Messaging Interface (let's say its SAA in this instance) for processing;

Once received by SAA, the message content is read by the institution's sanction screening / Anti-money laundering systems (SANCT).

Given no issues are found, the message is sent on to the institution's Communication Interface (SWIFT Alliance Gateway), where it's then signed and routed to the recipient institution over SWIFTNet.

OK, so now I have a general understanding of what I'm up against. But if I wanted to exploit the relationships between these systems to introduce a fraudulent payment without targeting any payment operators, I was going to need to dig deeper and understand the fundamental technologies in use!

So how are these messages actually 'passed' between each system? I need to know exactly what this looks like and how its done!

More often than not, Message Queues (MQ) are heavily used to pass messages between components in a large payment system. However, there are also various “Adapter” that may be used between systems communicating directly with the SAG (Such as SAA or other bespoke/3rd party systems). These are typically the:

Remote API Host Adapter (RAHA);

MQ Host Adapter (MQHA);

Web Services Host Adapter (WSHA).

Having identified that MQ was in use, my initial assumption was that there was most likely a dedicated Queue Manager (QM) server somewhere hosting various queues that systems push and pull messages from? However, due to SWIFT CSP requirements, this would most likely - at a minimum - take the form of two Queue Managers. One which manages the queues within the SWIFT Secure Zone, and another that manages queues for the general corporate network and back office systems.

Let's update that diagram to track / represent this understanding: Now I could research how this 'messaging' worked!

There are multiple ways to configure Message Queues architectures, in this case there were various dedicated input and output queues for each system, and the message flow looks something like this: Full disclosure, turns out it’s hard to draw an accurate - yet simple - MQ flow diagram (that one was basically my 4th attempt). So it’s.. accurate 'enough' for what we needed to remember!

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages Message

Now I had a good understanding of how it all worked, it is time to define my goal: 'Place a payment message directly on to a queue, and have it successfully processed by all downstream systems'.

This sounds simple, just write a message to a queue, right? But there are a few complications!

Why are there few indications of this attack vector in the wild?

How do I even gain “write” access to the right queue?

What protects the message on the queues?

What protects the messages in transit?

What format are the messages in?

What is the correct syntax for that message format at any particular queue (0 margin for error)?

Where does PKI come in? How / where / when are the messages signed?

Can I somehow get around the message signing?

What values in the messages are dependent / controlled / defined by the system processing them (out of my control)?

What is the maximum amount I can transfer using Straight Through Processing, without alerting the institution / requiring manual validation?

But OK, there's no point dwelling on all of that right now, I'll just clearly define what I want to do! The goal:

Successfully write a payment instruction for 500,000 GBP;

Inject that message directly onto a specific queue;

Have the message pass environment-specific validation rules;

Have the message pass sanctions and AML checks.

Have the message successfully signed;

Have the message pass SWIFTNet-specific validation rules;

What I was not interested in doing for this research - yet needed to understand nevertheless for a full attack chain was:

How to compromise the institution's network;

How to gain access to the MQ admin's workstation;

How to obtain the pre-requisite credentials.

What I wanted to 100% avoid at all costs:

The attack involving SWIFT payment operators in any way;

The attack involving SWIFT application access in any way;

A need to compromise signing keys / HSMs;

A need to compromise SWIFTNet operator accounts or certificates or any type of PKI;.

Now I had an idea of what to do, I needed to make sure I could write a raw MT103 payment instruction! Typically, even when operators write payment messages using a messaging interface application like Alliance Access, they only really write the message “body” via a nice GUI. As raw data this could look something like:

I'll break this down in the following table:

NameFieldValueTransaction Reference20TRANSACTIONRF103Bank Operation Code23BCRED (Message is to 'credit' some beneficiary)Value Date / Currency / Amount32A200102 (02/01/2020) GBP 500,000.00Currency / Original Credit Amount33BGBP 500000,00 (£500,000.00)Ordering Customer50KGB22EBNK88227712345678 (IBAN) JOHN DOE (Name) JOHN'S BUSINESS LTD (Line 1) 21 JOHN STREET, LONDON, GB (Line 2)Beneficiary59KFR20FBNK88332287654321 (IBAN) ALICE SMITH (Name) ALICE'S COMPANY (Line 1) 10 ALICE STREET, PARIS, FR (Line 2)Remittance Information7012345-67890 (essentially a payment reference)Details of Charge71ASHA (Shared charge between sender and receiver)

Now as this is a valid message body, if I were targeting a payment operator on SWIFT Alliance Access, I could - for the 'most' part - simply paste the message into SAA's raw message creation interface and I'd be pretty much done. With the exception of adding the sender / recipient BIC codes and most likely selecting a business unit. However, these values are not stored in the message body. Not stored in the message body you say? Well that complicates things! Where are they stored exactly?

The message “body” is referred to as “block 4” (aka the “Text Block”) within the SWIFT MT standard. As suggested by the name, there is probably also a block 1-3. This is correct; and these blocks are typically generated by the payment processing applications - such as SWIFT Alliance Access - and not necessarily input by the operators. A 'complete' MT103 message consists of 6 blocks:

Block 1 – Basic Header

Block 2 – Application Header

Block 3 – User Header

Block 4 – Text Block

Block 5 – Trailer

Block 6 – System block

So it looked like I was going to need to learn how to craft these various “blocks” from scratch.

Block 1 (Basic header)

Reading through some documentation, I crafted the following “Basic header” block:

A breakdown of what this translates too is as follows:

NameValueContextBasic Header Flag1Block 1 (Not 2, 3, 4, or 5)Application TypeFFIN ApplicationMessage Type0101 = FIN (I.e not ACK/NACK)Sender BICEBNKGB20EBNK (Bank Code) GB (Country Code) 20 (Location Code)Sender Logical TerminalATypically A, unless they are a significantly large institution and require multiple terminalsSender BranchXXXAll X if no branch neededSession Number0000The session number for the messageSequence Number 999999The sequence number of the message

Taking a step back, I already identified two potential problems: the “session” and “sequence” numbers! These are described as follows:

Session Number – Must also equal the current application session number of the application entity that receives the input message.

Sequence number – The sequence number must be equal to the next expected number.

Hmmm, at this point I was not sure how I could predetermine a valid session and/or sequence number - considering they seemed to be application and 'traffic' specific? But there was nothing I could do at the time, so I noted it down in a list of 'issues/blockers' to come back to later.

Block 2 (Application Header)

A bit more dry reading later, I managed to also throw together an application header:

Again, I’ve broken this down so it makes sense (if it didn’t already; I’m not one to assume):

NameValueContextApplication Header Flag2Block 2I/O IdentifierIInput Message (a message being sent)Message Type103103 = Single Customer Credit TransactionRecipient BICFBNKFR20FBNK (Bank Code) FR (Country Code) 20 (Location Code)Recipient Logical TerminalXAll General Purpose Application Messages must use 'X'Recipient BranchXXXAll General Purpose Application Messages must use 'XXX'Message PriorityNNormal (Not Urgent)

Awesome! No issues crafting this header!

Note: At this point I should probably mention that these BIC codes are not 'real', however are accurate in terms of in format and length.

Block 3 (User Header)

The third block is called the “User Header” block, which can be used to define some “special” processing rules. By leverage this header, I could specify that the message should be processed using “Straight Through Processing” (STP) rules which essentially attempts to ensure that the message is processed end-to-end without human intervention. This could be specified as follows:

However, this was not yet a valid header! As of November 2018 the user header requires a mandatory “Unique end-to-end transaction reference” (UETR) value, which was introduced as part of SWIFT's Global Payments Innovation initiative (gpi)! This is a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) compliant with the 4th version of the generation algorithm used by the IETF standard 'RFC4122'. This consists of 32 hexadecimal characters, divided into 5 parts by hyphens as follows:

where:

x – any lowercase hexadecimal character;

4 – fixed value;

y – either: 8, 9, a, b.

This value can be generated using Python as seen below:

With an acceptable UETR generated, this is how the third block looked:

And as before, a breakdown can be found below:

NameValueContextUser Header Flag3Block 3Validation Flag119Indicates whether FIN must perform any type of special validationValidation FieldSTPRequests the FIN system to validate the message according to the straight through processing principlesUETR Field121Indicates the Unique end-to-end transaction reference valueUETR Value8b1b42b5-669f-46ff-b2f2-c21f99788834Unique end-to-end transaction reference used to track payment instruction

Block 5 and 6 (Trailer and System Blocks)

I’ve already discussed “block 4” (the message body), so to wrap this section up, I'll be looking at the final 2 blocks: Block 5, aka the “Trailer”; and block S, aka the “System” block.

Before going forward, let me take a moment to explain the pointlessly complicated concept of input and output messages:

An “input” message (I) is a message which is traveling “outbound” from the institution. So this is a message being “input” by an operator and sent by the institution to another institution.

An “output” message (O) is a message which is traveling “inbound” to the institution. So this is a message being “output” by SWIFTNet and being received by the institution.

OK, moving swiftly (aaaahhhhh!) on.

For Input messages, these blocks were not too much of a problem. The headers only really seemed to be used to flag whether the message was for training / testing or to flag if it was a possible duplicate, which syntactically took the following form:

Where “TNG” indicated “training” and “SPD” indicated “possible duplicate”.

However, with Output messages, it got considerably more complicated. An example of what the trailer and system block could look like on an Output message is the following:

A breakdown of these various values is:

Trailer ((5:) MAC – Message Authentication Code calculated based on the entire contents of the message using a key that has been exchanged with the destination bank and a secret algorithm; CHK – This is a PKI checksum of the message body, used to ensure the message has not been corrupted in transit; TNG – A flag to indicate that the message is a Testing and Training Message.

System ((S:) SPD – Possible Duplicate Flag SAC – Successfully Authenticated and Authorized Flag. This is only present if:

Signature verification was successful.

RMA (Relationship Management Application) authorization and verification was successful.

COP – Flag indicating that this is the primary message copy; MDG – The HMAC256 of the message using LAU keys.

However, these seemed to only be values I would need to consider if I was to try and forge an “incoming” message from SWIFTNet or an 'outbound' message on the output of the SAG.

So.. I'll stick with crafting an “input' message trailer:

Now, having said all that, it turned out the trailer block did seem to sometimes hold a MAC code and a message checksum (sigh), meaning I actually needed to construct something like:

So that was +2 to my 'issues/blockers' list. However, issues aside, I now understood the complete message format, and could put it all together and save the following as a draft / template MT103 message:

Highlighted in bold above are the areas of the message I was - at this point - unable to pre-determine. Nevertheless, a summary of what that the message describes is:

Using the transaction reference “TRANSACTIONRF103”;

please transfer 500,000.00 GBP;

from John Doe, (IBAN: GB22EBNK88227712345678) at “English Bank” (BIC: EBNKGB20);

to Alice Smith (IBAN: FR20FBNK88332287654321) at “French Bank” (BIC: FBNKFR20);

Furthermore, please ensure the transaction charge is shared between the two institutions;

and mark the payment with a reference of “12345-67890”.

To wrap up this section, i wanted to take a moment to explain some logic behind the target of 500,000 GBP, as it is also important.

Aside from the many reasons it would be better to transfer (even) smaller amounts (which is an increasingly common tactic deployed by modern threat actors), why not go higher? This is where it’s important to understand the system and environment you are targeting.

In this instance, let's assume that by doing recon for a while I gathered the understanding that:

If a message comes from SYS which is over £500k;

even if it has been subject to a 4 eye check;

and even if it is flagged for STP processing;

route it to a verification queue and hold it for manual verification.

This was because a transaction over £500k was determined to be “abnormal” for SYS. As such, if my transaction was greater, the message would not propagate through all systems automatically.

OK, so now that I understood:

how the system worked;

how it communicated;

the fundamental structure of a raw MT103 payment messages;

and how much I could reliably (attempt) to transfer.

And with that, it was time to take a break from MT standards and establish an understanding of how I would even get into a position to put this into practice!

To place a message on a queue, I was going to need two things:

Access to the correct queue manager;

Write access to the correct queues.

Depending on the environment and organisation, access to queue managers could be quite different and complex. However a bare-bones setup may take the following form:

An MQ Administrator accesses their dedicated workstation using AD credentials;

They then remotely access a dedicated jump server via RDP which only their host is whitelisted to access;

This may be required as the queues may make use of Channel Authentication Records, authorizing specific systems and user accounts access to specific queues;

The channels may further be protected by MQ Message Encryption (MQME) which encrypts messages at rest based on specific channels. As such, even if someone was a “super duper master admin” they would only be able to read / write to queues specifically allocated to them within the MQME configuration file (potential target for another time?);

The MQ Admin can then use tools such via the Jump Server to read/write to their desired message queues.

So, in this scenario, to gain access to the message queues I - as an attacker - would need to compromise the MQ admin’s AD account and workstations, then use this to gain access to the jump host, from where I could then access the message queues given I knew the correct channel name and was configured with authorization to access it.. and maybe throw some MFA in there..

That is understandably a significant requirement! However, when discussion sophisticated attacks against Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI), it is more than reasonable to accept that an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) would see this as a feasible objective - We don't need to dig into the history of how sophisticated attacks targeting SWIFT systems can be.

Next, it was time to finally identify a feasible attack vector for message forgery.

Now with an idea of how to gain the right access, as well as an understanding of the various technologies and security controls in place; I update my diagram:

You may have noticed I've added something called “LAU” around the SAA-to-SAG adapter, and another “LAU” to the MID-to-SAA MQ channels, which I have yet to explain. “Local Authentication” (LAU) is a security control implemented by SWIFT to authenticate messages using a pair of shared keys between two systems. These keys are combined and used to generate a SHA256 HMAC of the message and append it to the S block. This can then be validated by the recipient system. Effectively, this validates the origin and authenticity of a message. As such, even if an attacker was in position to introduce a fraudulent payment, they'd first need to compromise both the left and the right LAU signing keys, generate the correct HMAC, and append it to the message in order to have it accepted / processed successfully.

But LAU aside, I now just needed to figure out which queue to target! There were a lot of queues to work with as each system essentially has multiple “input” and “output” queues. With that in mind, it was important to note that: an incoming message would require being in the format expected by the target system (from a specific upstream system) and an outgoing message would need to be in the format “produced” by one target system and “expected / ingested / processed” by its respective downstream system. So to figure this out, I worked backwards from the Gateway.

Targeting SAG

This was the least feasible attack vector!

I hadn't really looked into how the SWIFT adapters worked - If only I could research literally everything);

SAA and SAG implemented LAU on messages sent between them - An excellent security control!;

The output of SAG was directly on to SWIFTNet which would entail all sorts of other complications - this is an understatement)!

Next!

Targeting SAA

So what if I wanted to drop a message on the “outbound” channel of SAA?

LAU and the SWIFT adapter aside, remember those session and sequence numbers? Well, messages which leave SAA are in the near-final stages of their outbound life-cycle, and as far as I understood would need to have valid session and sequence values. Given I didn't know how to generate these values without gaining access to SAA or how they worked in general (and lets not forget the LAU signing) this didn't currently seem feasible.

Next!

Targeting SANCT

This solution didn't actually transport messages back and forth; it just reads messages off the queues and performed checks on their details. Not much I could wanted to leverage here.

Targeting MID

To target MID, I could try and inject a message onto SAA’s “input” queue, or the “output” queue of MID. This would only need to match the format of messages produced by the Middleware solution (MID). Following this, in theory, the (mistial) message session and sequence number would be added by SAA, along with the UETR. This was promising!

However, MID was a SWIFT “message partner”, which are typically solutions developed using the Alliance Access Development Kit that allows vendors to develop SWIFTNet compatible software, and consequentially, implement LAU. So again, in-order to forge a message here, I’d need to compromise the left and right LAU signing keys used between SAA and MID, manually HMAC the message (correctly!), and then place it on the correct queue.. This also no longer looked promising..

Targeting SYS

OK, how about the input of the next system down - the 'Payment System'?

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages To My

As described previously, the inbound data was a custom “application specific” payment instruction from the institutions back office systems, and not a SWIFT MT message. This would be an entirely new core concept I'd need to reverse - not ideal for this project.

But how about the output queue?

Although SYS received custom format data, I found that it output what seemed to be an initial SWIFT MT messages. This was perfect! Additionally, SYS did not have LAU between itself and MID because (unlike MID) SYS was not a SWIFT message partner, and was just one of many-many systems within the institution that formed their overall payment landscape.

Additionally, because SYS was esentially just one small piece of a much larger back office architecture, it was not part of the SWIFT Secure Zone (after all you cant have your entire estate in the Secure Zone - that defeats the purpose) and as such, made use of the Queue Manager within a more accessible section of the general corporate environment (QM1). Konica minolta bizhub c352 driver mac os xcompubrown recovery tool.

With this in mind, and having - in theory - compromised the MQ admin, I could leverage their access to access on the corporate network to authenticate to QM1. I could - in theory - then write a fraudulent payment message to the SYS “output” queue, which we will call “SYS_PAY_OUT_Q” from here on.

OK! It seems like I finally had an idea of what to do! But before I could put it into practice, I of course needed to create a diagram of the attack:

I think it’s important to take a minute to refer back to the concept of “trust” which is what lead to this attack diagram. My theory behind why this may work is because the MID application, implicitly trusts whatever it receives from its respective upstream systems. This is intentional, as by design the security model of the payment landscape ensures that: at any point a message can be created, a 4 (or 6) eye check is performed. If there was a system whose purpose it was to ensure the validity of a payment message at any point upstream, the downstream systems should have no real issue processing that message (with some exceptions). After all, It would be next to-impossible to maintain a high-throughput payment system without this design.

And with that said, the plan was now clear:

Leverage the access of a Message Queue administrator;

to abuse the “trust relationship” between SYS, MID, and SAA;

to introduce a fraudulent payment message directly on to the output queue of SYS;

by leaning on my new found understanding of complete MT103 payment messages.

It was finally time to try to demonstrate a Proof-of-Concept attack!

So at this point I believe I had everything I needed in order to execute the attack:

The target system!

The message format!

The queue manager!

The queue!

The access requirements!

The generously granted access to a fully functional SWIFT messaging architecture! (that’s a good one to have!)

The extra-generously granted support of various SMEs from the target institution! (This was even better to have!)

Message Forgery

I needed to begin by creating a valid payment message using valid details from the target institution. So before moving on I was provided with the following (Note: as with many things in this post, these details have been faked):

Debtor Account Details – John Doe, GB12EBNK88227712345678 at EBNKGB20

Creditor Account Details – Alice Smith, GB15EBNK88332287654321 at EBNKGB20

Some of you may have notice that the sending and receiving BIC’s are the same. This was because, for the sake of the research, I wanted to send the message back to the target institution via SWIFTNet so that I could analyse its full end-to-end message history. Furthermore, you may have noticed we are using 'test & training' BIC code (where the 8th character is a 0) - this was to make sure, you know, that I kept my job.

But yes, with access to these 'valid' account details and the knowledge gained during the research so far, I could now forge a complete Input MT103 messages:

Note: Field 33B is actually an optional field, however, the MT standard stated that “If the country codes of both the Sender’s and the Receiver’s BIC belong to the country code list, then field 33B is mandatory”. As such, if 33B was not present in the message, it would fail network validation rules and SWIFTNet would return a NAK with the error code: D49.

Optional / Mandatory fields aside, it was not quite that simple! There were a few minor changes I needed to make based on the specific point in the message's its life-cycle I was planning to introduce it!

As I list these changes, remember that the objective is to introduce the message to the output queue of SYS (Which exists before MID, SAA and SAG)

The first 3 blocks needed to be placed on a single line;

Remove field 121 (UETR) from the User Header, as this would be generated by SAA during processing;

Remove 1 character from the transaction reference as it needed to be exactly 16 characters (classic user error);

Add decimal point to transaction amount using a comma - otherwise it would fail syntax validation rules;

Ensure the IBAN's were real and accurate, otherwise it seemed the message would fail some type of signature validation on the SWIFT network. The IBANs are fake here, but during the real PoC we used accurate account details in collaboration with the target institution;

Remove the trailer block (5) - as this would be appended by SAA during processing;

Remove the System Block (S) - as this would be completed by the SAG.

And the final message was as follows:

Note that the location in which I introduce the message has resolved all of the 'issues / blockers' I'd tracked whilst researching the message structure! It would seem the further upstream you go, the easier the attack becomes - given MQ is still used as a transport medium.

Message Injection

Now I had my raw MT103 message, I just need to save it to a file (“Message.txt” - sure why not) and place onto the “SYS_PAY_OUT_Q” queue using one of the admin's tools:

With access to a sole MQ Administrator's AD account;

We connect to the MQ admins machine;

Log into the Jump Server;

Open our MQ tools of choice and authenticate to queue manager (QM1) where the output queue for SYS was managed;

Connected to the 'SYS_PAY_OUT_Q' queue;

Selected my forged “Message.txt” file;

Invoked the “write to queue” function;

And it was off!

Loggin in to Alliance Access and opening the message history tab, we sat awaiting for an update. Waiting, waiting, waiting… waiting… and..

ACK! It worked!

That's a joke; did we hell receive an ACK!

See, this last section is written slightly more 'linear' than what actually happened. Remember those 'tweaks' used to fix the message in the previous section? I hadn't quite figured that out yet..

So roughly seven NACKs later - each time troubleshooting and then fixing a different issues - we did indeed, see an ACK! The message was successfully processed by all systems, passed target system validation rules, passed sanctions and AML screening, passed SWIFTNet validation rules, and SWIFT’s regional processor had received the message and sent an 'Acknowledgement of receipt' response to the sending institution!

For the sake of completeness, I’ve included the ACK below:

And of course a breakdown of what it all means:

NameValueContextBasic Header Flag1Block 1Application TypeFF = FIN ApplicationMessage Type2121 = ACKInstitution CodeEBNKGB20AXXXEBNKGB20 (BIC) A (Logical Terminal) XXX (Branch)Sequence and Session No.19473923441947 (Sequence No.) 392344 (Session No.)Date Tag177200103 (Date) 1102 (Time)Accept / Reject Tag4510 = Accepted by SWIFTNet

Excellent! WooHoo! It worked! .. That took a lot of time and effort!

Closer Inspection

But the ACK wasn't enough, I wanted to make sure I understood what had happened to the message throughout its life-cycle. From the message I placed on the initial queue, to being processed by SWIFTNet.

Thankfully, as we sent the message back to the target institution we could see its entire message history. I already knew what the raw message placed on the queue looked like, so I wanted to focus on what became of the message once it had been processed by SAA:

The end-to-end tracking UUID had been generated and added (b42857ce-3931-49bf-ba34-16dd7a0c929f) in block 3;

The message trailer had been added ((5:(TNG:))) where I could see that - due to the BIC code used - SAA had flagged the message as 'test and training'.

Additionally, an initial System Block segment had been added ((S:(SPD:))), tagging the message as a possible duplicate. I wonder why - *cough* 7th attempt *cough*?

OK, so that was SAA. Now let’s see how it looked it once it passed through the Gateway and regional processor:

OK, we can see a few changes now.

The session and sequence numbers have been populated (1947392344);

The I/O identifier in block 2 has been updated to track that it is now an 'Output' message;

The additional data within Block 2 is a combination of the input time, date, BIC, session and sequence numbers, output date/time, and priority;

The trailer has been updated with a message authentication code (MAC) calculated based on the entire contents of the message using a pre-shared key and a secret algorithm;

Additionally, a checksum of the message body has been stored within the trailer’s “CHK” tag. This is used by the network to ensure message integrity.

I also took a look at the entire outbound message history, just to see all the “Success” and “No violation” statements to make it feel even more awesome!

So that's that really..

With a bit of research and support I was able to demonstrate a PoC for introducing a fraudulent payment message to move funds from one account to another, by manually forging a raw SWIFT MT103 single customer credit transfer message, and leveraging various system trust relationships to do a lot of the hard work for me! https://arfox158.tumblr.com/post/655263262721638400/wireless-external-hard-drive-for-mac.

As mentioned briefly in the introduction, this is not something I have really seen or heard of happening in practice or in the 'wild'. Perhaps because it clearly takes a lot of work.. and there is a huge margin for error. However, if an adversary has spent enough time inside your network and has had access to the right documentation and resources, this may be a viable attack vector. It definitely has its benefits:

No need to compromise multiple payment operators;

No requirement to compromise - or establish a foothold within - the SWIFT Secure Zone;

No requirement to bypass MFA and gain credentials for a messaging interface;

No generation of application user activity logs;

No payment application login alerts;

No bespoke app-specific and tailored malware;

And all the other things associated with the complex task of gaining and leveraging payment operator access.

All an attacker may need to do is compromise one specific user on the corporate network: a Message Queue administrator.

The industry is spending a lot of time and effort focused on securing their payment systems, applications, processes, and users to keep - among other things - payment operators safe, Messaging Interfaces locked down, and SWIFT systems isolated. But the reality is,; the most valuable and most powerful individual in the entire model, might just be a single administrator!

As always, a security model is only as strong as its weakest link. If you're not applying the same level of security to your wider institution, there may very well be many weak links within the wider network which chain together and lead to the comrpomise of systems which feed into your various payment environment.

I think the main thing to remember when reflecting on this research is that it did not abuse any vulnerabilities within the target institution's systems, or even vulnerabilities or weaknesses within the design of their architecture. It simply leverages the legitimate user access of the Message Queue administrators and the trust relationships that exist by design within these types of large-scale payment processing systems.

So the harsh reality is, there is no particular list of recommendations for preventing this type of attack in itself. However, the main point to drive home is that you must ensure the security of your users - and overall organisation - is of a high enough standard to protect your highest privileged users from being compromised. Things such as:

Strong monitoring and alerting controls for anomalous behaviour;

Requirements for Multi-Factor authentication for access to critical infrastructure;

Segregation of critical infrastructure from the wider general IT network;

Strong password policies;

Well rehearsed incident detection and incident response policies and procedures;

Frequent high-quality security awareness training of staff;

Secure Software Development training for your developers;

Routine technical security assessments of all critical systems and components;

The use of 3rd party software from reputable and trusted vendors;

However, in the context of Message Queues, there is one particular control which I think is extremely valuable: The implementation of channel specific message signing! This, as demonstrated by SWIFT's LAU control, is a good way in which to ensure the authenticity of a message.

As discussed, LAU is - as far as I know at the time of writing - a SWIFT product / message partner specific control. However it's concept is universal and could be implemented in many forms, two of which are:

Update your in-house application's to support message signing, natively;

Develop a middleware component which performs message signing on each system, locally.

This is a complex requirement as it requires considerable effort on the client’s behalf to implement either approach. However, SWIFT provides guidance within their Alliance Access Developers guide on how to implement LAU in Java, Objective C, Scala and Swift;

Strip any S block from the FIN message input. Keep only blocks 1: through 5;

Use the FIN message input as a binary value (unsigned char in C language, byte in Java). The FIN message input must be coded in the ASCII character set;

Combine the left LAU key and the right LAU key as one string. The merged LAU key must be used as a binary value (unsigned char in C language, byte in Java). The merged LAU key must be coded in the ASCII character set;

Call a HMAC256 routine to compute the hash value. The hash value must also be treated as a binary value (unsigned char in C language, byte in Java). The HMAC size is 32 bytes;

Convert the HMAC binary values to uppercase hexadecimal printable characters.

An example of how this may work in the more flexible middleware solution proposed is where the original service is no longer exposed to the network, and is altered to only communicate directly with the custom 'LAU-eqsue' service on its local host. This service would then sign and route the message to its respective queue.

When received, the core of the recipient payment service would seek to retrieve its messages from the queues via the 'LAU-esque' signing middleware, which would retrieve the message and subsequently verify its origin and authenticity by re-calculating the signature using their shared (secret) keys. Key-pairs could further be unique per message flow. This design could allow for the signing to be used as a way to validate the origin of a message even if it had passed through multiple (local) intermediary systems.

As a final bit of creative effort, I made yet another diagram to represent what this could perhaps look like - if life was as easy as a diagram:

If you made it this far thanks for reading all.. ~6k words!? I hope you found some of them interesting and maybe learned a thing or two!

I'd like express our gratitude to the institution who facilitated this research, as well as specifically to the various SMEs within that institution who gave their valuable time to support it throughout.

Fineksus - SWIFT Standard Changes 2019

https://fineksus.com/swift-mt-standard-changes-2019/

Paiementor - SWIFT MT Message Structure Blocks 1 to 5

https://www.paiementor.com/swift-mt-message-structure-blocks-1-to-5/

SEPA for corporates - The Difference between a SWIFT ACK and SWIFT NACK

https://www.sepaforcorporates.com/swift-for-corporates/quick-guide-swift-mt101-format/

SEPA for corporates - Explained: SWIFT gpi UETR – Unique End-to-End Transaction Reference

https://www.sepaforcorporates.com/swift-for-corporates/explained-swift-gpi-uetr-unique-end-to-end-transaction-reference/

M DIBA - LAU for SWIFT Message Partners

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lau-swift-message-partners-mohammad-diba-1/

Prowide - About SWIFT

https://www.prowidesoftware.com/about-SWIFT.jsp

5m Mathmrs. Mac's Messages For Her

Microsoft - SWIFT Schemas

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/biztalk/adapters-and-accelerators/accelerator-swift/swift-schemas

SWIFT FIN Guru - SWIFT message block structure

http://www.swiftfinguru.com/2017/02/swift-message-block-structure.html

2 notes · View notes

docbe · 5 years ago

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So I recently have been using a to-do/task/planning app called todoist (I used to use wunderlist but that got absorbed into Microsoft todo and like hell im letting Microsoft rope me into any more of their products) and I’ve kind of been amazed at how helpful it’s actually been? Historically I just used planning apps to like, not forget something over a year, but I could never actually get into using any for actual planning

And I think the trick w it is that todoist is like, v simple...you have projects, and inside projects you can make tasks, and those are p much just check boxes. But! Your tasks can have subtasks, and those subtasks can have subtasks, and so on for like 5 levels I think? And any of those can be treated like any other tasks and dragged and reorganized and color coded p easily

So like I think the original issue I had w planning tasks is that you could have a checklist inside of a task, but that’s about it...so organizing categories, subcategories, tasks, smaller tasks, etc just wasn’t happening...You kinda either had to choose to do categories w big tasks and kinda just remember the small tasks or do big tasks w small tasks and just have A Lot cluttering everything up...but w this I can be like “ok so a category just for skills, and then some broad skills like Statistics, and then like a specific course I found online, but crap they have weekly assignments, I’ll make a list for those, and I can actually schedule those” so it’s a list inside of a list inside of a category inside of a category but it’s all still a v clean, simple, uncluttered interface...and if I do something like make a bunch of tasks that are loosely related and then get annoyed by the clutter, I can just make a new task and nest all those under that one so I can get them outta my gd way or like organize them as a connected set. Just drag and drop

And like priorities can be set separate from scheduling, so I can add a date on something if it’s kinda concrete or just set it as a higher priority if it’s like a broad task like “find csp brushes” so I’m not constantly snoozing dates but also don’t want to forget to do that sooner rather than later...I’ve never used the scheduling component of any planner app before bc I can’t trust my fucking brain to be reliable and execute tasks on a on-demand basis, but this actually makes it feel more like a clarifying reminder than hard deadline somehow

It’s nice. I feel kinda productive sometimes. In a world full of only half-useful apps, it’s nice to find one that feels like it fits ur personal issues

#anyway idk if itd work for everyone but it does for me so maybe it will fit some of you better than other apps #figure i might as well share tools ive found useful jic #blarg

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madfantasy · 6 years ago

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Dear Blogging

Hello dears, how have you been? I am re-energized, still open for commissions and under good pressure. Will talk endlessly about those, heh.

★How do I feel now after all this time trying to convince myself to not sink and stay afloat beyond the depth— that has no prosperous outcome to dive into— but cause more ache and suffering.. was empty, and now under a different surge of energy — mercifully weightless.

I was burnt out, streched thin, out of my mind with indecisive grief and had no reason to dream anew. Sounds hurtful to the ear but it was better to me than storms that uproot their surroundings and bring an end to perhaps a growing needed tedious process of repair. And it is what I am going under right now.

I suppose it means no more inktober daily for me. I was feeling uncertain with my art before but three days into it I have hated the guts of it. The influence of that horrendous dismay has brought down everything right along with it. Dishing out art like that whilst being under the pressure of time mixed with others things were the least constructive thing I needed to do in an already strained state— I knew it will be all-round draining but thought I needed a distraction— fell into destruction instead. And that what I have tried to depict in the last sketch to express myself. I feel I could have done more if I wasn't scrambling to post it before midnight: The absent of balance (the hand) has brought out the worst in me; the spotlight shone excessively until it paled the whole picture and focused only on the thickest part of it. Shadows consumed the light, while reviving me—in the darkness I have yet to create, but cannot see the results. Which have broken my spirit, but my work is there, visible, and to me has a glow of its own and fight to appear against the engulfing black.

I'm sorry for casting my worries wordlessly as such. Speaking is too harder of a task when I find myself in distressed or in such baseless trance. It's like having a mouthful of unpleasantness that you can't either swallow or spit out. And usually with force comes out like incoherent garble. (In my case, I write poems instead of talking cuz that's all I can think of, I can't do it any other time which is one of my strange cases, heh)

That being said, I never thought to do self expressing things before- and when I do, I usually erase them before I finish... but because I came through in the middle of doing it—it was a good experience. In a way, it urged me look for brushes. And while doing so I found me a new Master to study their artwork in awe, seeing their skill picked me up my dwindling desires because I found in them something I want to achieve in my artwork. Even if I feel like a dunderhead in comparison hehe, and don't link with the subject of their artwork, the feel of it is amazing. That's what I need in life, something to hit you in the face because of its present and not its title or what it is representing. Such happy chance.

★I have posted that I'm still open for commissions, but did not explain myself. It's got everything to do with wanting to improve my art in any way. I want to do art in greater, clearer picture quality. And the more I increase the resolution, the more the strokes of my brush slows. And I love CSP and would love to dive more into it, but I can't do much on it as it often lags if things got heavy, I tried everything out there to resolve those issues, got nothing so far.

I got an email from the library here encouraging to pre-order the new iPad. So I thought oh yeah people use it for art-ing and always heard how it did replace most of their art gear. So I have done lots of research and I find it so appealing especially with CSP and other apps I wanna try. I haven't seen its price until the very end and it did knock me through three walls whilst very much expecting it to be high, heh. So I'd like to get me one. I already have an app for a specific thing to do in it, like an app for painting and other for drawing and so on. Idk I can't try it without buying so it's a huge leap of faith hehe.

★Thank you for reading my blabber. You're amazing, wonderful and deserve the best in life. You can bring everything you visualize to life because it came to light in your mind, from the talents within you, awaiting your command to flourish, you are the tool to build it. I believe and trust in you to get over the burdens and follow the graceful pitter-patter of your heart wishes as it speeds at the mention of your desires. And if you can't see them, please try to listen, your consciousness often does speak to you, pay attention and you will see the jewel encrusted in you glitter, reflecting who you are and who you can be. Let it be you on the outside, want that success with your all, and don't allow the rule of mere mortals diminish you, your dreams, and everything you stand and believe in. I'm sorry you had the rough times, I'm sorry when there was no one to listen, I'm sorry for the precious tears you shed, bless your tolerance, you brave brave soul. It's hard, but sometimes it's all a must to form you, to shape you for your approaching destiny. You're one your way, bless your efforts and wish you a good night/day my dears 💛🌟.

#text #drawing journey #personal #💛

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foleypdx · 6 years ago

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Hey Foley I'm finally getting around to using my iPad for more that notes and the biggest issue I've when drawing is finding a good free app(is it really worth paying, if so any recommendations?) And the fact that there's no friction! My lines are never clean and I keep going back to paper. Sorry I know you get a lot of these but I'd really love your help!

I’m not up on any free drawing apps, but I feel you get the greatest bang for your buck with Procreate. I use that and Clip Studio Pro, but CSP is subscription based and that’s really only worth it if you work in that program A LOT.

For basic doodling and getting comfortable with the iPad as a tool, I’d say invest in Procreate.

Now, as far as that lack of friction… I personally don’t notice it, but my move was from a Cintiq to the iPad, glass to glass. You’re going PAPER to GLASS and that’s a tough transition. There is a product called PaperLike that you can pick up that helps add more grippy surface to your iPad screen. I have a few friends who I trust who really like the feel.

Hope that helps.

#advice #megxrubia #art advice #technical advice #foleypdx #foleypdx art

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smoothshift · 6 years ago

Text

Comprehensive coverage of the Ford Explorer Carbon Monoxide problem - and the fix that didn't work. via /r/cars

Comprehensive coverage of the Ford Explorer Carbon Monoxide problem - and the fix that didn't work.

Hi. This story is long, so I will include a TLDR; at the beginning. If you or someone you know is included in the title subject group, I encourage you to read this. In-text citations are included and a reference list is at the bottom (APA6 for those who care). While I see there are links to certain articles about this subject, I believe my article is more comprehensive in coverage. Mods, if you feel this falls too close to the duplicate rule, I understand. This is something I'm dealing with currently and I wanted to share the results of my findings. I have put a great deal of effort into researching and citing this, so I hope it meets the standards.

TLDR:

Fifth Generation Ford Explorers have a problem dating back to 2011 with exhaust leaking into the cabin. Ford claims to have fixed it but it hasn't. This has caused accidents, lawsuits, and a large potential scandal to be swept under the rug. Get an inexpensive Carbon Monoxide detector to keep in the car if you fall into this category, it may save your life.

INTRODUCTION

I am writing this post as a precautionary tale to others who may be in my shoes. I own a 2013 Ford Explorer Limited 4WD with 110,000 miles on it. On Friday my wife complained of a migraine, which happens from time to time. On Saturday, the migraine was so bad she had to go to the ER. Her Check Engine light came on by Monday, at which point she took it to a trusted mechanic who read the code and told her that one of her catalytic converters was going out.

For those that don't know, "a catalytic converter is a device that uses a catalyst to convert three harmful compounds in car exhaust into harmless compounds" (HowStuffWorks, 2019). According to Popely (2019), a catalytic converter should last 10 years. This equates out to around 160,000-185,000 miles. The fact that this was failing after 6 years and 110,000 miles was a big problem. If a catalytic converter fails, it's usually a severe symptom of something else in the engine going wrong.

That same Monday, she noticed an odd smell in her car, something she described as a permanent marker type smell. The mechanic informed her that this was carbon monoxide and extremely dangerous. For those that don't know, according to The Mayo Clinic (2019),

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when carbon monoxide builds up in your bloodstream. When too much carbon monoxide is in the air, your body replaces the oxygen in your red blood cells with carbon monoxide. This can lead to serious tissue damage, or even death. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas produced by burning gasoline, wood, propane, charcoal or other fuel. Improperly ventilated appliances and engines, particularly in a tightly sealed or enclosed space, may allow carbon monoxide to accumulate to dangerous levels.

The symptoms of CO Poisoning include:

Dull headache

Weakness

Dizziness

Nausea or vomiting

Shortness of breath

Confusion

Blurred vision

Loss of consciousness

Carbon Monoxide does not simply leave your body as soon as you hit fresh air. Brain damage can occur and effects can happen even after leaving the CO filled environment. My wife was a sufferer of migraines but had taken steps to mitigate them, so it startled us that they had been reoccurring in recent months. I was looking online about this and found this was a systemic problem to the fifth generation Explorer that Ford simply doesn't know how to fix.

Known Cases

Since 2016, the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHSTA) has been investigating this problem. As far as I can tell, the problem was first detected in the Police Interceptor model of the Ford Explorer (in commercial use) with incidents such as (Martyn, 2019) :

A Newport Beach, CA Officer passing out while driving, which led to him crashing into a tree.

An Auburn, MA officer also passing out while driving, rear-ending another vehicle (the department claims 4 officers have experienced CO poisoning).

A Henderson, LA officer losing consciousness and flipping her vehicle.

Five Austin, TX officers experiencing CO poisoning over a period of four days, leading to the department pulling 400 Explorer patrol vehicles from service.

Additionally, a Fall River, MA officer was hospitalized for CO poisoning in his cruiser (San Miguel, n.d.).

Furthermore, six Washington state troopers filed suit against Ford after receiving CO poisoning (Howard, 2019).

HOWEVER, the actual discovery of the problem dates back to 2011, when a Ford employee discovered this. Ford stated that they found "the circumstances needed to recreate the problem to be outside of typical customer use," (Hyatt, 2019).

For its part, Ford blamed the Police Departments, citing modifications found that were not factory standard. However, Ford does not have an explanation for the over 1,300 civilian complaints made to the NHSTA regarding the same problem.

Furthermore, "Captain James Thibodeaux of the Henderson Police Department responds that Ford has never inspected the Explorer involved in the crash that injured his officer. He says that the automaker contacted the police department’s insurer about arranging an inspection, but has yet to do so. As for Ford’s blaming the carbon monoxide leak on vehicle modifications, 'they can’t make that determination from this point at the case because they haven’t looked at the vehicle,'" (Martyn, 2019).

The Center for Auto Safety has pressured Ford to initiate a recall for the 1.3 million Explorers sold in that period, citing the over 1,300 documented cases. The NHSTA has stated it has received over 2,000 complaints as well that might be related to the exhaust problems because they mention "an exhaust smell, burning eyes, drowsiness, headaches, and nausea" (Riddle, 2019).

Although Ford has repeatedly denied responsibility, "Ford has reportedly issued technical service bulletins that pertain to the issue. The manufacturer acknowledged in a deposition that there appears to be a “design issue” that is still being evaluated" (Smith, n.d.). This slipped out in arbitration for one of the more than 50 legal grievances filed against the company (Beene, 2019):

Ford representative Bob Gray testifying in January 2015 that the Cassidys (one of the plaintiffs) couldn’t pursue warranty claims because the company had tried but couldn’t solve the problem. “It’s a design issue, not a defect,” Gray told the arbitrator, according to a transcript of the proceeding. “The fact that it’s being reported across the large number of vehicles would show that it’s not a defect in this particular vehicle.”

Ford quickly backpedaled, distancing themselves from the representative and saying that he misspoke and there were no design problems.

HOWEVER, another Ford representative in the Washington State Trooper lawsuit said this:

"During a Florida Better Business Bureau proceeding on Jan. 2, 2015, Ford's representative said, "We do feel that it's a design issue, not a defect ... It's simply a vent leading somewhere where it doesn't need to be; and, you know, it's just being set in a certain way that's — that's allowing it to draw it into the — into the vehicle," according to a transcript cited in the Washington State lawsuit" (Howard, 2019).

Ford backpedaled on this as well, once again citing the safety of their vehicles and a representative misspeaking.

What is this design issue? TO be honest, no one is exactly sure.

While Ford says that its vehicles are perfectly safe, "a police department in Montgomery County, Maryland has found that some vehicles have cracked exhaust manifolds, which is a part of the car that goes from the engine to the tailpipe" (Eklund, 2019).

This is supported by the NHTSA, according to Levine (2019), "In July 2017, NHTSA indicated the most likely culprit for the exposure of Ford consumers to potentially lethal amounts of Carbon Monoxide was cracked exhaust manifolds."

"The leaks were mostly found in the exhaust manifold and the catalytic converter, which in the Explorer are welded together to form a single part. Problems identified in the records included porous welds, cracks and poor fits with other components that allowed exhaust to escape before exiting the tailpipe," (Beene, 2019).

Furthermore, the probe into this from the NHTSA has not included 2018 models, although complaints have been registered about those as well.

Did Ford do ANYTHING?

Ford implemented a program in 2017 that it said fixed the problem, with Explorer owners complaining of exhaust odors being able to bring their vehicle into a Ford dealership. Dealers will reprogram the air conditioner, replace the liftgate drain valves, and inspect the sealing at the rear of the vehicles, Ford said. All work will be done free of charge. This program expired on 31 December 2018.

According to Levine, (2019), "Ford issued a Customer Service Program (CSP-17N03) focused on less expensive and potentially less effective repairs such as reapplying weather sealant and reprogramming the climate control in order to give customers “peace of mind” but stated the “vehicles are safe.” The CSP did not vary dramatically from previous technical bulletins Ford has quietly been issuing since 2012 to address the same issue (See: TSB 14-0130, and TSB 16-016.)."

Additionally, if you didn't know (we sure didn't) (Beene, 2019):

As part of a 2016 deal to resolve a national class-action lawsuit alleging carbon monoxide problems in 2011-2015 Explorers. That nationwide settlement, which was finalized last September, provided $175 to $500 to customers who paid for repairs that didn’t work; extended warranties for the exhaust issue; and required Ford to issue a new bulletin to dealerships recommending repairs, which it did. In the settlement agreement, Ford didn’t admit to any liability. Drivers of 2016 and 2017 Explorers not covered by that settlement filed a separate case seeking class-action status in federal court in Detroit in October 2017. That case is ongoing. Meanwhile, proposed class-action suits have been filed in federal courts in New York State and New Jersey, both on behalf of law enforcement personnel who used Police Interceptor models.

Ford also did a buyback on approximately 100 of these Explorers as a "goodwill gesture", although they are not all completed and the owners are still using the Explorers, albeit with CO monitors.

Why not a recall?

While NHTSA has not finished its investigation and has not ordered a recall, other aforementioned groups have called on Ford to execute one. However, this recall would be in the seven figures and likely cost Ford somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars neighborhood.

As an example of how costly recalls are, (Beene, 2019):

Recalling the 1.3 million fifth-generation Explorers would be costly, but precise estimates are hard to come by—chiefly because it’s unclear what any fix might entail if NHTSA requires a new one. For context: Ford said in September that it would take a $140 million charge to recall around 2 million F-150s for faulty seatbelt components that could cause fires. In 2017, the company took a $267 million charge to recall 1.3 million F-Series pickup trucks in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to correct faulty door latches.

Did the "Fix" work?

Short answer: No. The Center for Auto Safety has received multiple complaints from consumers after they got the "fix", according to Levine (2019). Jason Levine is the Executive Director for the Center for Auto Safety and says that " Ford owners continue to file complaints with NHTSA about exposure to exhaust and carbon monoxide in their Explorers. Scores of consumers, even after receiving their “peace of mind” fix, continue to report experiencing the same symptoms as before their visit to the Ford dealership."

If you fall into this category of driver, I highly suggest you keep an inexpensive carbon monoxide detector in your vehicle.

Silver Linings

According to Hyatt (2019), "the good news, if there is any in all this, is that Ford is introducing an all-new Explorer for the 2020 model year, and the powertrain and exhaust setup are not being carried over wholesale." Even still, this is a company that is actively choosing to ignore a problem it discovered in 2011 and not do a recall. I know that I will never trust Ford again, and I am trading it in (with full disclosure to the dealer) tomorrow.

Caveat: While some reports have said this resolved the issue (Beene, 2019), further reading states that complaints persist (Hyatt, 2019). The free fix program concluded on 31 December 2018

REFERENCES:

Beene, R. (2019). Ford Explorer Owners Say Their SUVs Are Making Them Sick. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-ford-explorer-owners-say-suvs-making-them-sick/

Eklund, J. (2019). Carbon Monoxide Leaks In Ford Explorers May Lead To Large Recall. Retrieved from https://thomasjhenrylaw.com/blog/product-liability/carbon-monoxide-leaks-ford-explorers-may-lead-large-recall/

Howard, P. (2019). Police lawsuit alleges carbon monoxide poisoning from Ford Explorer. Retrieved from This link has been removed from this post on this subreddit due to the blacklist domain rule. The article can be found by googling the headline.

HowStuffWorks. (2019). What is a Catalytic Converter and How Does It Work?. Retrieved from https://auto.howstuffworks.com/question66.htm

Hyatt, K. (2019). Ford Explorer owners getting carbon monoxide poisoning in their cars, report alleges. Retrieved from This link has been removed from this post on this subreddit due to the blacklist domain rule. The article can be found by googling the headline.

Levine, J. (2019). On Second Anniversary of NHTSA Investigation into Carbon Monoxide Leaks in 2011-2017 Ford Explorers Center for Auto Safety Renews Call for Ford Recall Based on Consumer Complaints the Ford Fix Does Not Work. Retrieved from https://www.autosafety.org/on-second-anniversary-of-nhtsa-investigation-into-carbon-monoxide-leaks-in-2011-2017-ford-explorers-center-for-auto-safety-renews-call-for-ford-recall-based-on-consumer-complaints-the-ford/

Martyn, A. (2019). Ford blames police modifications for carbon monoxide leaks that sickened officers. Retrieved from https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/ford-blames-police-modifications-for-carbon-monoxide-leaks-that-sickened-officers-013018.html

Popely, R. (2019). How Often Should I Replace My Catalytic Converter?. Retrieved from https://www.cars.com/articles/how-often-should-i-replace-my-catalytic-converter-1420683869829/

Riddle, G. (2019). SHOULD FORD EXPLORER CARBON MONOXIDE LEAKS SPARK A NATIONWIDE RECALL?. Retrieved from https://justicecounts.com/auto-accidents/ford-explorer-carbon-monoxide-leaks-spark-nationwide-recall/

San Miguel, M. (n.d.). Fall River officer exposed to carbon monoxide in cruiser. Retrieved from https://turnto10.com/news/local/fall-river-officer-exposed-to-carbon-monoxide-in-cruiser

Smith, C. (n.d.). Cop Sues Ford Over Carbon Monoxide Poisoning In Patrol Car. Retrieved from This link has been removed from this post on this subreddit due to the blacklist domain rule. The article can be found by googling the headline.

The Mayo Clinic. (2019). Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/carbon-monoxide/symptoms-causes/syc-20370642

#reddit #autonews #auto #cars

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hakelelius91 · 5 years ago

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allenmendezsr · 5 years ago

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After your purchase, you will be directed to the easy to follow details on how to access the video presentations series. You can then view and download all of the video presentation. The instructions to view and download the videos are easy and quick to do. Along with the video presentations, you can download and print out detailed handout of each of the presentations. With your handout in hand and video presentation on your computer, laptop, iPad or iPod, you are ready to enjoy the presentations and learn a variety of assessments and exercises.

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No, you do not have to. You can watch the video presentations when you want, at your own pace and re-visit any aspects of the video presentation when you like. Plus you will have lifetime access to all of the video presentations. Plus if you ever need any help with anything, you can always email me at the email address given once purchase is complete if any technical issues pop up.

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The new hotness, builds off the version 1 content

Deeper assessments, plus “fixing” common shoulder & hip problems

In-depth coaching for squats, deadlifts, thoracic mobility, foot positioning

Programming considerations for building the best workouts

1.2 Continuing education credits for 12 contact hours

11+ hours of video content

Buy Now!

Combo Pack

$277

Everything for one low price

22+ hours of digital video content

Continuing education credits from both version 1 and version 2

Both packs for a lower price than purchasing separately

Buy Now!

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