This has been known for a while and there's plenty siminars where people use various vulnerabilities to hack OSX in lightning speed. It's just as this Charles said no ones doing it "right now". If hackers start rearing their head towards Mac, Apples reputation could be tarnished overnight.
@PlatinumSkeet too true. but the same goes for linux I guess... not to mention, linux source is available so you would think vulnerabilities would be 100x easier to find... linux's fragmentation is I guess both a blessing and a curse :)
@eko2 But if you use linux you will see that there is an update every week almost. And the file structure of the system (if done correctly) leaves a threatened enviroment isolated.
@PlatinumSkeet Like Mack Stone above me already pointed out: horror-stories about the supposed vulnerabilities in OS X are as old as the OS self, over half of them are just sensasionalist, no more, no less. That said, any OS has vulnerabilities and statistics can be bent in so many ways you can make windows '95 look more secure than hardened BSD or something. Not every 0-day exploit means my box can be rooted remotely. In fact, AFAIK no (or at least not more than 1 or 2) remote exploits for OS X have ever been discovered. 9 out of 10 'zero-day exploits' require stupidity on the user side.
Last but not least the 'security through obscurity' talk really is nonsens of the highest grade. People have been saying the same about linux for years, and no matter how many web server, database servers, routers or desktops appear that run linux, there would still be no capable hackers around that want to give it a shot, creating a botnet of routers? Or hacking a commercial website?? The same holds voor OS X. If I were a hacker, OS X would probably be my prime target, simply to become the first hacker in history to create a full-scale OS X virus or worm. So where is it?
Maybe the fact that OS X contains 10 times more software than stock Windows, most of which is only a security risk when you have it running 24/7 on a production software, skews the numbers to make them look much worse than they actually are. Last time I checked Red Hat linux had 3 times more zero-day vulnarabilities than Windows XP, but looking at individual installations I'd say that a much, much smaller percentage of the installations is actually exploitable.
@PlatinumSkeet If Apple's reputation really COULD be tarnished overnight, why hasn't it already happened?
Judging from every single discussion forum about Apple ever, it seems to me that there are so many people who would love to shit all over Apple's pristine reputation — and yet no one has done it.
"AFAIK no (or at least not more than 1 or 2) remote exploits for OS X have ever been discovered. 9 out of 10 'zero-day exploits' require stupidity on the user side."
The same has to be said for windows though. how many exploits require stupidity on the user side.
No OS is totally secure or virus proof, to think otherwise is just daft.
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OH NOEZ! OSX can be hacked!!!
/sarcasm
This has been known for a while and there's plenty siminars where people use various vulnerabilities to hack OSX in lightning speed. It's just as this Charles said no ones doing it "right now". If hackers start rearing their head towards Mac, Apples reputation could be tarnished overnight.
@PlatinumSkeet too true. but the same goes for linux I guess... not to mention, linux source is available so you would think vulnerabilities would be 100x easier to find... linux's fragmentation is I guess both a blessing and a curse :)
@eko2
But if you use linux you will see that there is an update every week almost. And the file structure of the system (if done correctly) leaves a threatened enviroment isolated.
@PlatinumSkeet
Like Mack Stone above me already pointed out: horror-stories about the supposed vulnerabilities in OS X are as old as the OS self, over half of them are just sensasionalist, no more, no less. That said, any OS has vulnerabilities and statistics can be bent in so many ways you can make windows '95 look more secure than hardened BSD or something. Not every 0-day exploit means my box can be rooted remotely. In fact, AFAIK no (or at least not more than 1 or 2) remote exploits for OS X have ever been discovered. 9 out of 10 'zero-day exploits' require stupidity on the user side.
Last but not least the 'security through obscurity' talk really is nonsens of the highest grade. People have been saying the same about linux for years, and no matter how many web server, database servers, routers or desktops appear that run linux, there would still be no capable hackers around that want to give it a shot, creating a botnet of routers? Or hacking a commercial website?? The same holds voor OS X. If I were a hacker, OS X would probably be my prime target, simply to become the first hacker in history to create a full-scale OS X virus or worm. So where is it?
Maybe the fact that OS X contains 10 times more software than stock Windows, most of which is only a security risk when you have it running 24/7 on a production software, skews the numbers to make them look much worse than they actually are. Last time I checked Red Hat linux had 3 times more zero-day vulnarabilities than Windows XP, but looking at individual installations I'd say that a much, much smaller percentage of the installations is actually exploitable.
@PlatinumSkeet If Apple's reputation really COULD be tarnished overnight, why hasn't it already happened?
Judging from every single discussion forum about Apple ever, it seems to me that there are so many people who would love to shit all over Apple's pristine reputation — and yet no one has done it.
@drange
"AFAIK no (or at least not more than 1 or 2) remote exploits for OS X have ever been discovered. 9 out of 10 'zero-day exploits' require stupidity on the user side."
The same has to be said for windows though. how many exploits require stupidity on the user side.
No OS is totally secure or virus proof, to think otherwise is just daft.