Mac OS X Hacked?
This is only a little funny because Mac fans (and I am one of them) can be very smug about OS X security, saying things like: "There has been not a single case of a virus on Mac, ever." Hard to prove or disprove but intuitively it's kind of hard to believe.
So when I saw commentary somewhere earlier today that Mac OS X was hacked in less than 30 minutes I hesitated to post about it, thinking that it was yet another urban legend.
But now ZDNet has picked it up, and with raised eyebrows and a smile (or is it a smirk?) on my face, I share the link to an article I just saw:
"Gaining root access to a Mac is "easy pickings," according to an individual who won an OS X hacking challenge last month by gaining root control of a machine using an unpublished security vulnerability." (from "Mac OS X Hacked in less than 30 minutes")
Can it be true?
Comments
Fortunately, it's not true. The moron who was running the "challenge" was giving accounts on the box to anyone who wanted it. Including activating SSH access for these accounts, which is normally turned off by default. So, the box wasn't "hacked" from outside, but someone was able to take advantage of an account escalation bug. That's a scary bug, and nothing to ignore, but the box was absolutely not hacked in the way people assume. Your Mac is perfectly safe.
Posted by: D'Arcy Norman | March 6, 2006 10:42 PM