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Apple's Safari will fall first at hacker contest, past winner predicts
Computer World ^ | March 3rd | Gregg Keizer

Posted on 03/07/2009 3:51:48 PM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing

Apple Inc.'s Safari is the juiciest target in the upcoming PWN2OWN hacking contest, last year's winner predicted today.

"It's an easy target," said Charlie Miller, the vulnerability researcher who last year walked off with a $10,000 cash prize for breaking into an Apple laptop just a few minutes into the contest. PWNOWN is slated for its third appearance at the CanSecWest security conference later this month in Vancouver, British Columbia.

"It might be because I'm biased about the things I'm good at, but it's the easiest browser [to hack]," Miller said.

PWN2OWN's sponsor, 3Com Inc.'s TippingPoint unit, will pay $5,000 for each new bug successfully exploited in Safari, Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox or Google Inc.'s Chrome. IE8, Firefox and Chrome will be running on a Sony notebook powered by Windows 7, Microsoft's still-under-construction operating system, while Safari and Firefox will be available on a MacBook.

"Apple's products are really friendly to users, and Safari is designed to handle anything, including all kinds of file formats," said Miller. "With a lot of functionality comes the increased chance of bugs. The more complex software is, the less secure it is."

(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: apple; baneriklatranyi; bestofiggle; ilovebillgates; iwanthim; iwanthimbad; microsoftfanboys; mssackcloth; safari; windohs; worstofiggle
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To: Erik Latranyi

It depends. Are they going to hack it during the contest, or are they going to spend weeks beforehand figuring out a hack so they can come to the event ready to unleash it? It’s what they did last time.


121 posted on 03/08/2009 4:22:54 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat (Sacred cows make the best hamburger.)
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To: JSteff
Oh yeah, where do you get the parts?

Usually a lot of research from online sources, looking for just behind the cutting edge technology, sales, free shipping, etc.

I don't buy e-bay type sources, because I want to avoid any "intermittent" problems that may have caused someone to want to sell-off hardware they have.

Sometimes I can find the same, or equivalent, hardware at local stores like Best Buy or Circuit City, etc., on sale.

122 posted on 03/08/2009 4:33:05 PM PDT by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: Swordmaker
It would not bother me much if he finds a vulnerability that he can exploit. That means that one more possible exploit vulnerability will be soon be closed. That is the way that open source software advancement works.

Good points, thanks for the clarification.

123 posted on 03/08/2009 4:35:39 PM PDT by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: JSteff
I just bought a back up (extra reserve) PC. Got a refurb IBM ThinkCentre 2.8 HT, Win XP Pro, CD on Ebay for $90. Added some extra memory I had sitting around. Nice system for the money.

Good point, I will have to rethink that source vis-a-vis refurbed units perhaps.

124 posted on 03/08/2009 4:38:30 PM PDT by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: SlowBoat407
I built my last computer out of curds and whey, and wrote the OS in crayon on a napkin.

Thanks .... ummmm .... for sharing that.

Sounds like your hardware was software, and your software was hardware!

Clearly a technology breakthrough, LOL.

Getting mad and pounding on the keyboard must be easy on the hands, eh?

Although, the view on the monitor must be ... ummm ... blurry?

125 posted on 03/08/2009 4:47:39 PM PDT by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: aft_lizard

Flash itself hasn’t gotten any beefier, but site designers feel more and more free to use bigger Flash movies. Auto-loading movies are a lot more common than they used to be, for one thing. One helpful trend is that as DHTML has gotten better, a lot of designers who actually have a clue have used it instead, which has slowed down processor demands, but overloaded sites — what a friend of mine calls “Flash-f-—ed” — are still all too common, and getting more bloated.

Word processing apps also get more bloated with each revision, and while most of the new features don’t mean squat to most users, running a few versions behind is problematic if you need to exchange files with others.


126 posted on 03/09/2009 8:07:32 AM PDT by ReignOfError
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To: Col Freeper
The parts I have been buying have mostly been through NewEgg and Tiger.
127 posted on 03/09/2009 8:23:55 AM PDT by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and HAVE DOOMED us for a generation or more.)
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To: LeGrande
“You were the one bragging that you could put a great computer system together for $400. If your time is worth $350 an hour I call BS on your $400 system.”

You idiot. Please FR email me your contact info and I will contact you about coming and seeing one of my personal systems. My comment was based (kiddingly) on putting one together for someone else.

The system I am commenting from right now cost $250 and is nice. Using a refurb as a base I have a backup system that cost only $90! So it can be done...just not with an Steve Jobs product. :-)

128 posted on 03/09/2009 8:40:18 AM PDT by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and HAVE DOOMED us for a generation or more.)
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To: JSteff
You idiot. Please FR email me your contact info

LMAO! That right there is just plain funny! Yeah, that's the same way i get chicks to give me their phone number!

129 posted on 03/09/2009 8:43:43 AM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (Want to make a conservative angry? Lie to him. Want to make a liberal angry? Tell him the truth)
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To: JSteff
You are more of an idiot than I thought, and you can't or don't read with any comprehension.

Enjoy your happy mac-bliss child.

130 posted on 03/09/2009 8:44:07 AM PDT by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and HAVE DOOMED us for a generation or more.)
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To: Travis T. OJustice

“Want to make a conservative angry? Lie to him. Want to make a liberal angry? Tell him the truth”

Good tag line.


131 posted on 03/09/2009 8:46:52 AM PDT by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and HAVE DOOMED us for a generation or more.)
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To: JSteff
“You are more of an idiot than I thought, and you can't or don't read with any comprehension.

Enjoy your happy mac-bliss child

132 posted on 03/09/2009 8:49:23 AM PDT by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and HAVE DOOMED us for a generation or more.)
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To: JSteff; JimRed
Good tag line.

I stole it from JimRed, who apparently got it from somewhere else. Thanks for noticing, though!

133 posted on 03/09/2009 8:50:21 AM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (Want to make a conservative angry? Lie to him. Want to make a liberal angry? Tell him the truth)
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To: JSteff
The system I am commenting from right now cost $250 and is nice. Using a refurb as a base I have a backup system that cost only $90! So it can be done...just not with an Steve Jobs product. :-)

Are you trying to claim that your $250 system is equivalent to my Steve Jobs product? LOL I have no doubts at all that you can put together a slower, older system for a lot less. I am sure that you can even build a new system comparable to an Apple system for a little less (even tossing in an Apple DRAM and OS). I don't think that you can go and buy one for less though.

134 posted on 03/09/2009 9:08:42 AM PDT by LeGrande (I once heard a smart man say that you canÂ’t reason someone out of something that they didnÂ’t reaso)
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To: LeGrande

You are a dope. Drop it. Have a nice day.


135 posted on 03/09/2009 10:03:34 PM PDT by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and HAVE DOOMED us for a generation or more.)
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To: dennisw

Great little board.
Like the reviews showed not the fastest out there but my mother onl uses it for E-mail, Web and microsoft office.
My niece uses it for a lot of flash based games on the web.
works great.
I’m thinking of building one as a media server.
I did replace the fan for a quieter one, now it’s virtually silent and the size of a shoebox.


136 posted on 03/10/2009 10:44:19 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: JSteff
You are a dope. Drop it. Have a nice day.

That was easy : )

137 posted on 03/10/2009 11:47:19 AM PDT by LeGrande (I once heard a smart man say that you canÂ’t reason someone out of something that they didnÂ’t reaso)
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To: LeGrande

“To each his own but I am getting old and lazy. I just want the system to work and not cause me any problems”

To avoid those probs is one of the reasons i built my own.
It’s so easy and the best part....fun
A week later your settled down with your new sweet-assed super computer you built CHEAP.
And it screams, and it is pure windows, NOTHING else.
It’s fresh, no cookies, spyware, crapware dogdoo..etc.

Well it’s easier than ever if you have a windows disk laying arond.

The best thought out and researched aftermarket motherboard will be way better quality, performance than any pc or apple OEM.
My PC runs Fantastic. Don’t let these apple guys get to you.

with a logical choice of quad-core processor should do you no probs whatsoever.
Believe me it’s the way to go.

By now i’m sure even 4th graders are building their own.
Prbably got the big boys worrying.


138 posted on 03/10/2009 8:58:59 PM PDT by mowowie
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