Apple computer vulnerablities

[Ironklaw]

In my experience, IE still gets primarily targeted. I've never had some kind of obnoxious toolbar install itself on Firefox while whenever I open IE (more out of curiosity than anything), it's COVERED in them. Weird.

[Ashes]

A lot of those obnoxious toolbars are totally ligitimate, not that they are any less stupid.

Google Toolbar, Yahoo Tool bar, MSN Live toolbar, lots of programs want to install toolbars into your browser as a 'Bonus'.  Daemon Tools even has a toolbar. :X  A lot of them also are checked by default when you install whatever program they come with so you have to watch and uncheck it before you click 'next'.

Or uninstall the toolbar later.

[GoldMatenes]

Firefox allows you more control, which the other browsers don't.
There may be a gaping security hole of some sort, but with NoScript, AdBlockPlus, Ghostery, hundreds of anti-malice/scriptjacking/clickjacking scripts in Greasemonkey, and elaborate options for use of proxies, rerouting systems, and such... I think I'll stick with it.

[Drajiel]

Hackers already found exploits in IE8 from day one, so security is still up to the end-user to educate themself and deal with it.  Firefox + AdBlock/NoScript extensions pretty much kills the majority of typical virii received over the net, but for the most part.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on unix systems, wouldn't the primary means of a virus hitting a Mac would be if the user gave it permission to actually run in the first place?   When Firefox tries to execute stuff, my Mac requests permission to open it from there, so I can't see a mac-specific virus being exploited through Firefox to run freely without me first doing something, unless I'm wrong here.

Regardless, a computer is a computer, nobody is safe, take care, etc.

[Sid]

The irony is that I bet IE is now safer than Firefox what with everyone switching to Firefox.

IE is still playing catchup as far as I know.  I've read several articles that are less than favorable about IE8- but that could be just the usual anti-MS bashing, right?

Apparently IE8 will finally have a no script filter similar to the NoScript plugin that Firefox users have been enjoying for a good long time now...

[Drajiel]

I'm just waiting on all the major browsers to adopt Google Chrome's idea of sandboxing everything to prevent unauthorized access to the computer so crap can't self-exceute itself at all.

[Featheredragon]

I'm putting this in Soapbox because I could easily see this getting out of hand and become a debate.

Please don't take this reply as an attack on Macs.  I like Macs.  They're built off Unix, which I like a lot.  I usually bring up the shell on those computers and just run everything from there.  The user interface is pretty and the whole computer is easy to use, with most applications running very well and smoothly.  It's more efficient as an OS, and now has the ability to run XP on top of it for more specific needs.

But with that out of the way; be very careful with them.  Especially if you're going to be running Firefox.  It's important to realise that Macs are NOT as secure as they once were.  Mac is starting to suffer from the same problems windows had and learned to deal with.  It's still mostly safe against viruses and certain trojans (unless the user himself plays a role in the installation of it, the best virus is the user himself), but it is easy as HELL to hack.

Thankfully people aren't prone to do hack Macs.  They're just not a common target.  But just to be safe, it is usually recommended to continue using Safari, or even better Chrome.

http://www.osnews.com/story/21171/Mille ... _Economics

There are also a whole lot more serious vulnerabilities in Macs. That's normal though, since they haven't been making popular operating systems as long as Microsoft has.  Microsoft is just more used to dealing with hackers trying to break their system.

Oh, tsk tsk!   I could have told you that just by looking at them!  Have you seen the bite in that those Apple computers? The logo says it all!     :P

Actually....I'm just pulling your tail!  ^_^  Macs are cool!  Couldn't resist some humor.  =3

[tecywiz121]

I'm just waiting on all the major browsers to adopt Google Chrome's idea of sandboxing everything to prevent unauthorized access to the computer so crap can't self-exceute itself at all.

actually, IE7+ does this, and as a security measure, still fails.  If a browser gets exploited, the exploit runs with whatever permissions the browser has, meaning that unless the browser is sandboxed externally (ie chroot) it is possible to circumvent the sandbox.

[Ashes]

It's basicly impossible to build a perfect system that can not be exploited in anyway.  While you can make it hard, no company has the resources to bug test and try to rape their own software into finding out how many holes there are.  By the nature of letting data in, there exists the potential for malicious data to get in and be executed.  It's like trying to build a perfect door that can be securely locked but still let people in or out.  Only sure fire way is to skip this 'door' nonsense and built the entire room as a cube of concrete without any enterances, exits, gaps, air holes or anything.

[Sid]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on unix systems, wouldn't the primary means of a virus hitting a Mac would be if the user gave it permission to actually run in the first place?

Or if they escaped the buffer.  That was a major hole in *nix systems for years, though it's much better these days.

  When Firefox tries to execute stuff, my Mac requests permission to open it from there, so I can't see a mac-specific virus being exploited through Firefox to run freely without me first doing something, unless I'm wrong here.

Or it gains access through another program.  *nix systems have an option that allows you to execute a program with the owner or group's permission- for example, when you change your passwd as a normal user, it assumes root privileges so it can modify the passwd and shadow files.

There was a major security hole that the White Hats (ethical hackers) discovered with the Wireless NIC drivers on Macbooks a couple years ago.  You could run the exploit and log into a Macbook as root within a couple of minutes.

Keep in mind too, that trojans can be particularly nasty.  Rootkits appeared first on *nix systems- not Windows.  In fact, they've probably been around for decades now.  No one made a big deal about it until they arrived on Windows and Sony started using them with their music CDs.