Thursday, August 03, 2006

Hackers irritated by Apple Macintosh commercials...hacks Macs remotely in 60 seconds

Over the past few months, Apple has televised several commercials how Macintosh is a much better platform than PC computers. One of the many arguments that Apple fans have is that Macs are unhackable. As we found out at the recent Black Hat Briefings in Las Vegas, you can hack a Mac in 60 seconds or less. And the sad part is -- you can do it remotely/wirelessly!

One of the hackers that successfully exploited Macintosh, David Maynor, stated the following on an interview:

"We're not picking specifically on Macs here, but if you watch those 'Get a Mac' commercials enough, it eventually makes you want to stab one of those users in the eye with a lit cigarette or something," Maynor said.

Straight to the Facts
Let's be truthful folks -- the reason why there's less people trying to hack Macs is because they only compose 3-4% of the total market share. In other words, 96% of the computer world is using PCs; hence, it's logical for the majority of the exploits, viruses, and hacks to be geared towards PCs. If the situation was reversed and Macintosh was the leading operating system, it would have the brunt of the hacker attacks.

The supposed "security" that's provided by using a Mac isn't because of its code. It is "security through obscurity". No operating system is unhackable.

It seems that Apple's continued marketing gimmick that they are invincible is causing a backlash...

Some interesting links:
Washington Post article - hacking a mac in 60 seconds
MacOS LeapA Virus
Video: Mac Parody

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