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Flaw Could Open Macs To Malicious Software

Posted on: Thursday, 30 July 2009, 09:30 CDT

A Mac security expert has found a way hackers could take control of Apple computers and steal scrambled data.

The technique being referred to as “Machiavelli" works solely on machines that have already been hacked, such as ones attacked with pirated software.

It has the ability to take over Apple’s Safari browser and use passwords for financial accounts and encrypted data on bank statements.

The software glitch was uncovered by leading Mac researcher Dino Dai Zovi who reported it at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, which is one of the world's top forums for information exchange on Internet threats.

There are around 4,000 security professionals attending the conference, and even some real hackers. As experts try to get to the bottom of the software flaws to rectify the situation and protect users, hackers are utilizing that very information to the detriment of the company in devising pranks and committing crimes.

While it is not against the law to publish software that could be used to hack into computer systems, it is certainly illegal to use it to break into them.

Though hacking on Apple computers is exceptionally uncommon, security experts say that will not be the case for long as Macs increase their market share on PCs running Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system. At least three viruses have been detected by security experts as having infected Macs over the past year.

The most advanced viruses infiltrate the system through pirated versions of Apple's iWorks software. It enables hackers to completely overtake an infected Mac.

OSXPuper is another virus spread through infected websites that lead users to download what they believe to be a video player, but is in fact malicious software. Once downloaded, that software can go on to download other types of viruses.

Dai Zovi, who also co-authored "The Mac Hacker's Handbook," said on Wednesday that after hackers begin to put substantial resources into hacking Apple's computers, the computers will reduced to the same level of vulnerability as Windows machines.

"There is no magic fairy dust protecting Macs," he said in an interview.

Holding 9 percent of the U.S. market in the second quarter, Apple is the fourth-largest U.S. PC maker and continues to take market share, according to Gartner.

"They are advancing. Our concern is that they are just not advancing as fast as they are gaining market share," said Charlie Miller, co-author of "The Mac Hacker's Handbook."

The authors claim that the Mac operating system will be significantly easier to compromise once hackers set their minds to do it. The Mac system has many more codes than Windows, which means many more possible glitches that could be exploited.

There currently may not be much malicious software aimed at Macs, but experts know how quickly things could change and leave millions of Apple users vulnerable to attack.

"When the malware authors put out something that's really sophisticated we are going to have a whole population that is really vulnerable," said Joel Yonts, a Mac security expert attending the Black Hat conference.

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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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