Apple's Safari will fall first at hacker contest, past winner predicts

Computer World ^ | March 3rd | Gregg Keizer

[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."

[Swordmaker]

What happens when the warranty ends and the screen craps out?

Let's see... I administer a couple of dozen flat panel iMacs that are up to 7 years old, haven't had one fail in that manner yet. However, replacement screens are available...

[mowowie]

I bought 2 gigs of DDR2 ram for moms pc for 18 bucks x 8= 144 bucks.
1 TB drives are going for 90 bucks on newegg.com

Now if your thinking Intel i7 with DDR3 memory and board now your talking big bucks!

[Swordmaker]

Why I use FIREFOX with my Macs. Safari has a lot of bugs.

It does?

---

Firefox tops app vulnerability list

Bit9 research reports 40 known severe vulnerabilities this year for the popular browser

Phil Muncaster
vnunet.com, 11 Dec 2008

Mozilla's open-source Firefox browser recorded the highest number of severe vulnerabilities among popular consumer applications this year, according to new research from whitelisting firm Bit9 released today.

Versions two and three of the popular browser were found to have 40 known vulnerabilities over the course of the year. Second highest was Adobe Acrobat versions 8.1.2 and 8.1.1 with 31, and in third place was Microsoft Windows Live (MSN) Messenger versions 4.7 and 5.1 with 19 vulnerabilities. . . MORE.

[Swordmaker]

Now if your thinking Intel i7 with DDR3 memory and board now your talking big bucks!

The Mac Pros don't use the Nehalem i7 Intel "Bloomfield" quad core processors which were released five months ago... they use two of the Intel Nehalem Xeon Quad core "Gainestown" processors (which won't be released to the other manufacturers for another couple of weeks). Retailing for around $2500 each, the Gainestown processors run about $2,000 more expensive than the i7s with the same clock speed which can be purchased for around $550 each.

You also have to use ECC memory... which the i7s don't support.

[yazoo]

“It does?”

Well, actually I meant bugs of the kind that cause hangups. I don’t really care about hacking threats to my computer.

[LeGrande]

I have everything screeming over-clocked.

Ahh the good old days : ) I remember soldering extra heat sinks and fans and keeping the room ice cold.

I think I spent over $800 on Ram alone for my system. I have found that extra Ram is better than faster clock speed for my purposes (lots of apps running at once).

To each his own but I am getting old and lazy. I just want the system to work and not cause me any problems. I like that I can let my wife and kids on the system with almost no worries (they don't have the root control password) and since the system automatically backs up, I have a hard time seeing what might ruin my day.

[LeGrande]

Now if your thinking Intel i7 with DDR3 memory and board now your talking big bucks!

Life on the bleeding edge : )

[SlowBoat407]

I built my last computer out of curds and whey, and wrote the OS in crayon on a napkin.

[Fire_on_High]

My Vista box decided it didn’t like the manual config that I set up to get it on my LAN. Double checked, everything was exactly right, still no go. Wiped the settings and started fresh using the *exact same info* and it worked.

Worth a try before shelling out for a new router, which sounds pretty fishy to me.

[Sudetenland]

Had one just long enough to know it was no better than my PC...just more expensive. Of course that was several years ago and it was a G4 dual 1 Ghz running Tiger. Maybe they've improved since then...they certainly haven't gotten any cheaper.

In a lot of ways I found it a bit primative. The mouse was inferior and the keyboard was for crap...of course for a couple of hundred I could have upgraded them from Apple...I chose to by a new keyboard and wheel mouse at Best Buy for about $30. Too bad Apple has to charge such outrageous prices for run of the mill equipment.

Oh yeah and their LCD screens are no sharper or brighter than those built by LG or or most other manufacturers...only 2-3 times as expensive...no better.

I guess I'm just not an Apple Kool-Aid drinker like you.

[Blue Highway]

I’ve had IE 8 for going on a year now maybe longer. FYI IE8 is Release Candidate 1, which isn’t a beta any longer.

[Blue Highway]

I wish there was a survey of Apple and Prius owners. I’d venture to bet a high percentage own both, and are also liberal.

[6SJ7]

I have an old ibook G4. A good computer with no problems.

I had a G4 iBook bought about 2003. It was used hard over the last 6 years without trouble. It just last week began to develop a short in the wiring harness connecting the LCD panel; likely due to opening and closing the lid about a million times. I retired it and bought one of the new aluminum MacBooks. What a nicely constructed machine. It's solid, with no flex. Tolerances on every panel are perfect, hell the machine is even nicely finished on the inside of the battery compartment. It's a pleasure to own.

[Swordmaker]

Well, actually I meant bugs of the kind that cause hangups. I don’t really care about hacking threats to my computer.

Hangups? I haven't seen a Safari crash for several months and mine is on 24/7... currently I am using Safari 4.0 Beta... and it has not crashed either.

[Blue Highway]

Those all in one computers are a nightmare if you have to work on one. I never liked the original iMacs and the newer ones are more streamlined, but still not my cup of tea. I get the idea of slimline computers and I actually bought a re-certified Dell small form factor GX520 and any smaller than that I’d get a new laptop but I already have one. That Dell cost me under $100 and it is as current as I need to be. It runs Windows 7 on it and XP as well. 3.2 gHz 512mb upgraded to 2gb.

[Swordmaker]

The mouse was inferior and the keyboard was for crap...of course for a couple of hundred I could have upgraded them from Apple

Why do you find it necessary to exaggerate? What was this "upgraded" keyboard and mouse from Apple? The Apple keyboard and Mouse that came with the Mac you claim was the same they sold on their website and stores. Keyboard price was about $49. The Mouse was usually about $29. If you wanted a bluetooth wireless mouse (I am not sure they offered them for the G4 PowerMac because it was not offered as a factory installed option). Then you MIGHT have gotten to a $120 bluetooth keyboard and mouse including a Bluetooth USB adaptor.

Did you buy this G4 used? Or new?

[Swordmaker]

Those all in one computers are a nightmare if you have to work on one.

They are? I just replaced a hard drive on one of my client's 2007 Intel iMacs... Place the iMac face down on a table, loosen three captive screws, lift off the back and set it aside. Everything is easily accessed. Replacing the LCD screen or backlight would be more difficult... but everything else is modular.

[Blue Highway]

That’s what I was talking about though. Give me an idea how much a replacement LCD screen for that iMac will cost? Let me guess it’s also going to be a proprietary LCD screen specifically for Apple?

[ReignOfError]

Waiting for the Apple disciples to come out on the offensive in the wake of this blasphemous article.

Pre-game trash talking. Something for the locker room bulletin board. I'll wait to do post-game analysis until after the game is actually, you know, played.

[ReignOfError]

However if you are the average user who does nothing more than websurfing and the occasional word document then the lifetime of your pc is as long as your hardware will ast

Only if you have very limited expectations for Web surfing. Computers more than a few years old are going to have a hard time with YouTube, and with a lot of Flash pages.

The Web has shifted the definition of obsolescence; it's true that whatever a computer can do the day you buy it, it will continue to do for years and years; but long before the hardware fails, "doing the same stuff" will no longer include visiting the same Web sites.