Posted on 12/06/2007 9:59:43 AM PST by driftdiver
After years of relative safety, the Apple Mac is becoming an increasingly tempting target for malicious computer hackers, according to a new report published this week.
Security researchers have been aware of the threat to Apple since last year, when they detected the first piece of malicious code – or “malware” – specifically designed to target Apple.
Over the past few months, however, the number of malicious programmes has increased, according to a report published this week by F-Secure, an internet security company.
“Over the past two years, we had found one or two pieces of malware targeting Macs,” said Patrik Runald, an F-Secure security researcher. “Since October, we’ve found 100-150 variants.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
“Unix is harder to hack but is not unhackable.”
I know.
“Toss in a unsophisticated user and its not all that difficult.”
But isn’t that the major selling point for Apple. You don’t have to know much, just plug it in and use it?
I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I just don’t care for zealots on either side of this. Micro$ofties, and Apple zealots are both a bit much for me to take.
I’m of the mind that in previous times, that some viruses/hacks were made by Apple users who didn’t want to pee in their own swimming pool but that the converse was not so true.
Now we have third world hackers who like to mess with everyone.
“Hyperlinks and attachments containing malicious code will not just “install” without further authorization from the computer user prompted by the operating system, unlike a Windows PC.”
Perhaps, my company was tasked to write some security code for MACs. I hate MACs but may have to build that side of the business up. Its obvious there is going to be a good opportunity to make money with disillusioned mac users.
"Impossible" is a very big word -- and a serious lure to hackers.
There are certainly ways to get around the issue -- for example, by cleverly hacking into or mimicking software that does have permission to run.
The point being -- you'll be saying "impossible" until your machine gets eaten.
Javahacks exist too. You can load a page and not click anything ON that page and still be infected.
It even happens on a site like Myspace (now that the Newscorp owns it) where you are viewing a known friend’s page that contains some hacked content.
That's nice. I tolerate PC's.
No German would dare to invade France! The Maginot Line is impregnable!
“I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I just don’t care for zealots on either side of this. Micro$ofties, and Apple zealots are both a bit much for me to take.”
I hate the gorilla that is MS but they are extremely successful and a model for capitalism. We would not have the modern computer age without Microsoft. So thank you Bill.
Apple makes pretty products that work pretty well among themselves. Interoperability is a challenge and managing an enterprise full of MACs would be a challenge. I find their snooty, liberal minded Ads to be offensive and the main reason I don’t like MAC.
Why so you can enjoy your thousands of IN THE WILD exploits on your wintel machine? lol
Interesting analogy, coming from an apparent resident of the Sudetenland.
“I hate MACs
That’s nice. I tolerate PC’s.”
Same here but they pay the bills. Someday I’ll have a sailboat without a PC in sight.
I don’t know anyone who owns one but ... has anyone ever run a port scan against a Mac ?
I’d be interested to know the results.
It may be a factor of geography. There are not so many Macs in Russia and China where many of the most successful hackers are based. But in the U.S., where Macs are widely available, there are plenty of hackers who have tried and failed in their efforts.
“Why so you can enjoy your thousands of IN THE WILD exploits on your wintel machine? lol”
I think its more in the millions. However I’m going on about 5 years without a problem. Standard security policies work well. Pretending you’re unhackable will fail eventually.
You understand of course, that I was poking at your claims that UNIX is inherently impregnable. NOTHING is inherently impregnable.
The Germans simply went around the Maginot Line, rather than through it. Are you suggesting there's absolutely no way around UNIX protections?
All Macs include an application call "Network Utility". It has a port scan feature with a nice user interface.
The problem is that the OpenBSD its built on, along with Apple's own security on top of it, makes it a tough nut to crack. Think an order of magnitude more difficult resulting in many fewer successes on the part of hackers.
Since the modern hacker is after computing platforms used to send out spam and launch DDoS attacks, why should they spend the effort on Apple computers when with the same effort (e.g. - manhours) spent trying to root an Apple machine they can successfully take over a dozen easy-pickings Windows products? Follow the money...
A large segment of Apple's target market over the years have been teachers, academics, and artsy people, who we all know are overwhelmingly liberal. We also know that liberals as a group are not exactly the brightest bulb in the the chandallier or the sharpest knife in the drawer, and they are often a couple fries short of a happy meal. Need I say more?
I’m running the port scan on my Mac. So far, I see only three open in-bound ports. Two of them are for printer sharing, and one is for the netinfo system.
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