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Thread: Trojan Horse Attacks Mac OS X

  1. #21
    Junior Member
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    thanks for the welcome xierox. appreciated much.
    If we had said \' The Earth is the center of
    our universe -as far as we know\', we\'d have
    been a lot less wrong. Still applies.

  2. #22
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    who knows the difference between a virus and a vulnerability? raise your hand. nobody?
    A vulnerability is a flaw or unintended effect of an application or operating system.

    A virus is program that is launched when an specific activity occurs. It requires that someone propogate it (e.g., "sneaker net") whereas it's cousin, affectionately known as a worm, propogates on it's own through the use of email or other methods.

    cjmarch, there are some of us who are not "clueless" and perhaps making an assumption about who we are isn't necessary.

    ok, i did not mention the permissions system that controls acces in unix, but i thought that was a given.
    That would assume only OS X. We often forget there is still a large segment that use OS 9 (or earlier) on their old Macs.

    Security isn't 100% about the OS. It's is, however, entirely dependent on the mindset of the person who uses that OS. And lastly, there is always a way in. One's ability to "break in" doesn't mean a heck of a lot of the machine we've broken into has a user that doesn't pay attention to security. My SO uses OS X (my macs are too old and I'm too cheap to fork out ) but he hasn't fully enabled accounts and doesn't quite understand how the permissions work. I can easily get into his system should I choose and if I was feeling rather malicious could easily gain access to anything he access (via some sniffing).

    So rather than walking around with a chip on your shoulder with an intent to fight, why not peruse the rest of the forums and see if there are other things that might be worthwhile to help you in your question to make things more secure.
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
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  3. #23
    The skills required to Mac hack are no different that the skills required to hack anything else. Mac's aren't special. The vulnerabilities I posted are typical of any OS, buffer overflow, DoS, privledge escalation of all sorts... all of which can be replicated easily when given enough detail.

    Again, mac's aren't special. And coming from a high school that was 100% Macintosh, I can tell you that they are not inherently secure. I may not have exploited mac's myself, but I have witnessed the results of successful attacks on Mac boxes and networks, because I helped with the network administration at the school.

    If you know what you are doing, the OS shouldn't really matter.

    Welcome to AO.

  4. #24
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    so one user, who claims to have hacked a mac, also says they are just as easy to hack as windows. well, really- well informed- you did see the unpatched test where -automated- mechanisms brought down windows in 20 minutes from internet activity. try the same thing with a mac- oh wait- you probably don't really use them, so how COULD you know an unpatched mac could survive a LOT longer (you do at least know os x is based on bsd, right?). i don't recommend running anything unpatched, but the truth is it would be no contest between unpatched mac & win systems. 20 minutes? haha

    and what exactly did you use to hack the mac? java & applescript? and how to get it through the firewall / closed port nature of the os? just a couple irrelevant details could go a long way toward validating 'i hack macs'.

    AND i did not insult anyone. i pointed out that the links sent 'to me' were ALL VULNERABILITIES- when i was talking about virii. let's keep the facts straight. and keep the antipoints coming- you only show your defensive posture and pettiness.

    good day 'gentlemen'.
    If we had said \' The Earth is the center of
    our universe -as far as we know\', we\'d have
    been a lot less wrong. Still applies.

  5. #25
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    thanks msmittens,

    there are some people who not only know something, but pay attention to what is discussed. thanks to all who welcomed me- and to those who wish to 'discuss vigorously' - i say that is what fuels great sites. hopefully i have found one where the people are passionate and dont mind heated but reasoned discussion.
    If we had said \' The Earth is the center of
    our universe -as far as we know\', we\'d have
    been a lot less wrong. Still applies.

  6. #26
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    I for one haven't really used a Mac. Not because I don't want too. You can ask a few people here, I've said before I do in fact WANT too use one.

    The price is the only thing stopping me currently. I'm in college again and too broke to afford one.

    The REAL reason I want too use one? Not he GUI, not because it's based on BSD, I have BSD boxes here. But because it's another OS and I haven't used it. I have almost 80 OSs now and I can use them all. I want to play in Mac OS. I don't care if it's OS X or System 1, I want too.

    The closest I've come is BeOS. (If you know anything of BeOS you'll agree it's got a lot of Mac's qualities).

    Heh, just to wind you up, Linux has beaten Mac OS recently. I made a post in the OS forum about it. Heh, very cool.

    Anyway, back to my text based adventure in "Update Slackware Land".

    I beat the end guy once, he's hard.

  7. #27
    Unpatched OS's are irrelevent to this discussion.

    http://www.redstonesoftware.com/vnc.html

    That is VNC for OS X, it is open source. There is nothing stopping anyone from hacking that into a simple trojan horse. That, coupled with one of the vulnerabilities I posted, is your Mac virus.

    pointed out that the links sent 'to me' were ALL VULNERABILITIES- when i was talking about virii.
    Vulnerabilities come first, and make/spread a virus. No vulnerabilities, no virus. Except in the case of netsky and bagle, where the user is the vulnerability.

  8. #28
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Originally posted here by Soda_Popinsky
    No vulnerabilities, no virus. Except in the case of netsky and bagle, where the user is the vulnerability.

    That would be because no OS can patch stupidity.

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