Posted on 07/22/2010 7:19:01 AM PDT by for-q-clinton
Here's one more piece of evidence that the Mac isn't the secure, locked-down system that its proponents claim: The organizer of the Pwn2Own hacking contest says that Windows 7 is more secure than Snow Leopard, and that Safari will be the first browser to fall victim in the upcoming hacking contest.
Contest organizer Aaron Portnoy, who is the security research team lead with 3Com TippingPoint, the sponsor of Pwn2Own, told Computerworld's Gregg Keizer that:
"Safari will be the first to go. [Safari will] be on Snow Leopard, which isn't on the same level as Windows 7."
Last year at the contest, it took only five seconds for a security researcher to hijack a Mac by hacking in through Safari. The year previous, it took less than two minutes to hack in to a Macbook Air --- and once again, Safari proved to be the security hole.
...
Who is right? One way to tell will be at the upcoming Pwn2Own contest --- I'll have details when it happens.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.computerworld.com ...
While OSX was completely hacked IE8 gave up read only access. So data could be stolen but not changed. Not great but certainly more safe than OSX.
Tech Ping. I know it’s an old article but after all the FUD about Mac being more secure than windows and how these contests mean nothing from the Mac supporters...this article is definitely needed as it points out that everyone knew Mac would be the first to fall.
While I still think Windows has issues, I’ll admit that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Windows 7. I didn’t get Vista and stayed with XP for the longest time, until circumstances forced me to upgrade. Windows 7 has run very smoothly, apps open so much faster, load times are much shorter. I haven’t yet encountered anything that makes me regret moving to W7.
If I recall this “test” correctly, the user had to be tricked into allowing access. The hacker couldn’t exploit without user help. Am I thinking of the wrong competition?
Any decent black hat can pwn Apple sh— because they are easily identified.
http://revision3.com/hak5/shmoocon2010
How do you think most viruses and malware get onto PC systems?
I think that’s the one. The only OSX exploit I’ve ever heard form a public hacking competition required tricking the user into giving permission.
That said: never use a software house’s own browser in the context of their OS. Not Safari on a Mac, not Explorer on a Windows machine. They can’t resist optimizing the browser for the OS, which is where the security holes tend to come from.
As part of the contest they will browse to a site or something like that. But that’s how many/most windows attacks occur and is the biggest threat out there. And with Mac promising to have robust security most of their users wouldn’t imaging getting hijacked from just visiting a website.
Please, please, please, point me to a website that will hijack my Mac just from visiting it.
Put up or shut up time : )
>
> While OSX was completely hacked IE8 gave up read only
> access. So data could be stolen but not changed.
> Not great but certainly more safe than OSX.
>
Really ? Well I know that is what the article from geek.com says, however, the link to ArsTechica in that same article ( http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2010/03/ie8-safari4-firefox3-iphone-fall-on-day-1-of-pwn2own.ars) writes the following:
"So far, little is known about the successful exploits. Until vendors have been informed of the flaws and those flaws have been patched, details will not be made public."
Look, MS operating system have and will always be hacked due to a poor architecture AND an ambivalent business culture.
Mac's latest OS is not uniquely theirs, it is a certified Unix implementation, which along with Solaris and clones such as Linux have a vastly superior track record with regard to security and robustness.
I am certain that when the full details of the Mac-Safari exploit come out, it will only be the case where a hacker took over the user account, not the entire OS, and that the fault is with Safari, and not the OS.
It's mostly used for is trading stocks and currency online, email and surfing the net and making air reservations, etc. Stock and currency trading is mostly about a fast Internet connection and 2D graphics and charts.
My trading software is specialized and is proprietary for Windows, so no Mac's please.
I'm thinking of a Toshiba R705 Portege. It's a new one just out and about $800 from Best Buy. It's an i3, 4 gig ram, 500 HD, 13.3 inch screen, has an optical drive and weighs only 3.2 lbs. It's mostly for travel.
I also have a desktop for home use.
The other consideration is an Asus UL80 something. Also an i3, 4 gig, 500 HD, 14 inch screen and a little more weight. About $750.
Whadda think guys ‘n gals? Speed and reliability are good things.
Thank you all
Please please please point me to a website that will hijack my win7 box. Since windows 7 has a larger market share than all OSX flavors combined it will be easier to find the windows7 site, so I’ll let you go first.
Mac's latest OS is not uniquely theirs, it is a certified Unix implementation, which along with Solaris and clones such as Linux have a vastly superior track record with regard to security and robustness.
Still want to go with that comment? Or think it's time to update it to reflect reality?
“Windows 7 has run very smoothly, apps open so much faster, load times are much shorter”
I got a PC with Vista just a few months before W7 came out. I didn’t know W7 was coming out or I might have waited. Now I am debating whether to pay for migration to W7. If I do migrate, I then have to decide whether to start from scratch on the PC or perform a conversion from one to the other. Any comments from freepers who have been through this would be appreciated.
From the same article you are citing:
Secunia is not saying that Apple products are less secure than other products.
Furthermore, if you read the entire article you will also find this:
Keep in mind, by the way, that simply listing the total number of potential vulnerabilities isn't the best way to gauge the relative security or insecurity of a computer
I stand by my comments, but just to be clear, Microsoft consistently has security flaws which allow an entire computer to be completely compromised, and this is due to fatal flaws in it's architecture, which have long been correced by other operating systems, especially those with a Unix based implementation.
I’ve done both. I prefer the clean install as it just makes me feel better, but my current laptop (where I do most of my work) is an upgrade from Vista and I’m very happy with it.
You should be fine either way, but you may want to try the upgrade and if you aren’t happy go to clean.
Sheesh, sounds like Apple should axe Safari.
Huh? This was in response to another discussion with Anti-Republicrat about this very contest. I was saying everyone knew OS X would be the first to fall as the exploits have been known for a while yet Apple wasn’t able to identify and fix them.
So I found this and found it pertinent to the discussions and worthy of posts. Especially when I had this article to follow it http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2557086/posts?page=42
But I’m not sure how redmond being desparate makes OSX not the first one hacked for the past 3 years in Pawn2Own. Plus it was even said that it would be the easiest to hack BEFORE the contest took place.
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