Apple Hit By Hackers Who Targeted Facebook 148
snydeq writes "Apple was recently attacked by hackers who infected the Macintosh computers of some employees, the company said on Tuesday in an unprecedented disclosure that described the widest known cyber attacks against Apple-made computers to date, Reuters reports. 'The same software, which infected Macs by exploiting a flaw in a version of Oracle Corp's Java software used as a plug-in on Web browsers, was used to launch attacks against Facebook, which the social network disclosed on Friday. ... A person briefed on the investigation into the attacks said that hundreds of companies, including defense contractors, had been infected with the same malicious software, or malware. The attacks mark the highest-profile cyber attacks to date on businesses running Mac computers.'"
There is no OS-based security. (Score:1, Interesting)
Among my computers is a windows machine. I have no fear of being compromised because it has no exposed ports, a safe browser, and all 3rd party plugins disabled until I activate them.
I also have an android phone, and I'm near certain it'll get malware from an advertisement someday, because I have no means of blocking anything. It has nothing to do with the underlying safety of the system, but always the weakest link the chain.
Re:That's Impossible! (Score:5, Interesting)
They don't like it because you have to run an update twice a week to keep up with the latest exploits found in flash and java. IF oracle/adobe were generous enough to roll up an update this week for the new exploits.
And the boneheads at oracle kept insisting on rolling up whole new installers most of the time, that would only work if you had the previous version installed. (installer or updater make up your mind!) So you'd install vers 10, then 11, then 12, then 12.1, then 13, then 14, most of which were 55-56mb each. Idiots. Java needs to die in a fire. And I'll bring the marshmallows.
It's not entirely oracle and adobe's fault though really... they're just keeping it up because devs keep using it. I'll admit it, writing games in flash (or java) is pretty quick and easy. But quick-n-easy comes at a price, a price to the users
Re:Hackers reported that the malware "just worked. (Score:3, Interesting)
No Apple user I know and who has even basic knowledge of what malware is claims Macs are immune to malware. Even totally clueless 'drone' type users don't assume that. I know because a friend of mine has a small Apple shop and people regularly show up at his dealership and ask about infection risks on OS X and half the time they walk out with a free info booklet on malware and having bought a basic anti malware suite (he installs and configures it for free). This guy is just another nerdy zealot venting his irrational hatred of all things Apple. That "OS X is immune to malware and h4x0rs" mantra is so old it has whiskers on it and regurgitating it makes him just as lame as those sad plonkers who still spell Microsoft with a $ sign.
Come to my company. We have many users with Apples at home that swear to me that their Apples cannot get viruses, malware, hacked, etc... They all want to use them on the company network.