I don’t know why it requires a Mac-mocking message to materialize before I will pull myself out of a 3-month blog-posting slump. But when I saw the article regarding the researcher who broke into a fully patched MacBook machine, my blog fingers started itching, and I couldn’t resist. :)
The article can be summarized with the following classic quote:
“…Hacking into Macs is so much easier. You don’t have to jump through hoops and deal with all the anti-exploit mitigations you’d find in Windows….”
He basically goes on to give the impression that the Mac has hardly any defensive mechanisms in place at the operating system level – as a hacker, exploiting Macs is easy for him because there’s “almost no hurdle to jump through”. Priceless.
So, this falls right in line with my previous post about Macs needing antivirus software. Day after day, the machine touted for being so reliable and secure keeps getting its frailty exposed. And now it seems like Apple is taking their “it just works” mantra to the next level – they seem to say that not only will it work easily for the end user, but also for the hacker – come on in, we won’t get in your way… we’ll let you do what you need to do. LOL
The scariest part in my opinion is that I think most Mac users are buying their own hype so much, they won’t realize the danger and take the necessary precautions until it’s too late. However, unlike the antivirus issue, there may not be much they can do about this newest exploit. Remember, this MacBook was fully patched.
Now I’ve got to look at my mac Mini and wonder – is she the weak link in my network security? Do I need to take her offline to protect my PC’s??? Well, since I’ve still been unable to find a practical way to work my mac Mini into my cyber lifestyle, I guess yanking the plug on her would also be “easy to do”. :)
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Ric my friend - when you do decommission it - I'll buy it (or trade you 5 PC's I have laying around for it). No joke. I am serious.
After being a PC user for more than 10 years and Director of IS/IT responsible for roughly two thousand PC users for 5 of those 10 years, my 5 short years as a Mac convert has completely convinced me that OS X is a far superior operating system. Whether you are talking security, functionality or TCO the Mac wins in my book hands down. And that is from experience not hearsay. One hackers test doesn't change that, it's too much other data confirming the opposite. So when you're ready, I'll buy or trade for your mini and free you or your security vulnerability. (Rod)