Exclusive Deal While supplies last, save 40% off over 40 iPhone 5 and iPhone 4/4S cases and chargers as well as Samsung S III cases at Kensington.com. Use coupon code 'SAVE40%' at checkout to receive this exclusive discount.      
toggle

AAPL Stock: 445.15 ( + 3.01 )

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/03/24/aapl.history.botnets/

Briefly: AAPL history; Macs in botnets

updated 05:20 pm EST, Fri March 24, 2006

 

AAPL history, botnets


In brief: To celebrate the thirty-year history of Apple Computer, Nicholas Pyers will be giving a presentation remembering the history using Apple's own print and video advertisements.... A recent article about "botnets," or networks of compromised computers, notes that in recent times numerous Macs have been used as zombie systems.... Scosche Industries today announced its new FreestyleT line of RF remotes ($70) specifically designed for fifth-generation iPods and iPod nano.... Wait times for both the 1.83GHz and 2.0GHz MacBook Pro notebooks have decreased from 3-5 days on Wednesday to 1-3 days.... Audioengine is shipping its Audioengine 5 speakers ($350, shown at right) designed for portable media players such as Apple's iPod.


by MacNN Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :

 industry

Related Articles

Recent Articles

toggle

Comments

  1. msuper69

    Mac Elite

    Joined: Jan 2000

    0
    03/24, 07:27pm | report spam | Reply |

    Whaaaa?

    This is the first I've ever heard of any OS X systems hacked with malware. If this is true (that they were used as bots, then why haven't we heard of this before? Methinks something is bogus.

  1. Stratus Fear

    Senior User

    Joined: Dec 2002

    0
    03/24, 07:45pm | report spam | Reply |

    re: whaaaa?

    Unfortunately, it's not at all bogus. Some of the vulnerabilities common to all Unix-based systems are also present in the Mac. The attacks are mostly done by script kiddies though. A number of them rely on trivial passwords, some rely on existing security holes (haven't seen many of these, though) and others rely on holes in 3rd party software (i.e. phpBB). One of my friends with an iMac had his machine botnetted because a friend of his with an account on it was an idiot and used a trivial password. It's definitely not bogus.

  1. OkieDoc

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    0
    03/24, 07:59pm | report spam | Reply |

    Botted?

    In what way was your friend's imac turned into a member of a botnet? Just curious.

  1. jonyanton

    Joined:

    0
    03/24, 09:58pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    BULL!!!

    Here is a claim that Mac can be owned in 30 mins http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Mac_OS_X_hacked_in_less_than_30_minutes/0,2000061744,39241748,00.htm

    but what it doesn't tell you is this link

    http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/bona_fide_mac_os_x_security_challenge/

    and this is what finally happened http://www.informationweek.com/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=181502434

    So get the fact straight.. Mac is still one of the most secure OS in the WORLD!!!

    :)

  1. DarkVader

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2001

    0
    03/26, 02:07pm | report spam | Reply |

    yes, good security, but..

    Mac OS is one of the most secure OSs available, but nothing will protect you from stupid passwords.

    It took me about 8 hours to clean up after one of my clients got a server hit by a paypal phisher. They came in through an account with a VERY weak password (account "pc" password "pc") that was used for a windows machine to connect. I had been saying to them for months that they had inadequate passwords, they didn't want to hassle with good ones.

    The hacker came in through ssh - which actually needed to be on, since it's a server that has to be remotely managed. And ssh login attempts are CONSTANT these days.

    And of course the client's passwords are better now, and ssh is significantly more locked down. So, while the Mac is better than most, you shouldn't take that as an excuse to get careless.

    Oh, and after an incident, you REALLY need to back up all your data, reformat & reinstall, and restore ONLY the data, NOT the apps. Unless you're 100% certain that an attacker didn't get root, anything less is asking for trouble.

  1. jonyanton

    Joined:

    0
    03/26, 02:53pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Password

    I agree..

    If they get your password then it's over..

    I think that goes for every single OS out there.. Until we have some kind of widely used biometric identity for a password, we'll have this problem..

  1. palane

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2005

    0
    03/26, 04:00pm | report spam | Reply |

    Mac Botnets

    Here are the straight facts. The follow-up article (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/) explains the exploit used. The botnet was created using a known security hole in something that runs on top of the operating system. This is PHP, a development programming language built specifically for Web sites. By leveraging this PHP flaw, the attackers were able to seed the Mac systems with several tools designed to turn them into drones for distributed denial of service attacks.

    So, despite the fact that the Mac OS is relatively secure, a false sense of invulerability is dangerous. As is a false sense of smugness.

Login Here

Not a member of the MacNN forums? Register now for free.

 
close
Photo
toggle

Network Headlines

toggle

Most Popular

MacNN Sponsor

Recent Reviews

MaxUpgrades MaxConnect for 2006-2008 Mac Pro

Nobody outside of Cupertino's privileged bunch knows the future of the Mac Pro line for sure. Despite Apple's reluctance to tell us wh ...

Brother HL-3170CDW LED Printer

We've mentioned before that we are far from a paperless society. For now, at least, there are tasks that require a piece of paper for ...

HTC One

It is hard to overstate just how critically important the HTC One is to the Taiwanese company’s fortunes. Despite its alarming decline ...

toggle

Most Commented

 

Popular News