In my inbox today I had an email from Apple detailing over 80 vulnerabilities plugged in their latest OS update - OSX 10.6.3. Included in the details are the people who reported the various vulnerabilities. It fixes everything from a bug that allows a Mac to be hijacked when a user performs a spell check to the Apache web server built into OS X. This is a large update, and it really covers a lot of stuff. If you want to learn more, you can check out Apple's page on it.
Apple also released a security update for Leopard (10.5).
If you have a Mac running OS X Leopard (10.5) or Snow Leopard (10.6) you can get the updates through Software Update (either automatically or under the Apple menu) or the Apple download page.
Showing posts with label Exploit Code. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exploit Code. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
OS X: Safer but less secure than Windows
Darren Murph at Endgadget reports that Charlie Miller is going to expose 20 zero day exploits for OS X at the upcoming CanSecWest. Mr. Miller has been exposing holes in OS X for years, and has twice won the PWN 2 OWN hacker contest by taking control of Apple computers. A third time he took control of an iPhone.
A zero day exploit is a piece of malware that takes advantage of a vulnerability that is not generally known, so there are no patches, updates, or workarounds to keep it from being used. Unless the person who discovers the zero day exploit informs the creators of the software being exploited the vulnerability probably won't patched until after someone writes some type of malware that takes advantage of the exploit.
If you, like me, are a big fan of Apple Macs, you know that Apple likes to tout the security of OS X and the Mac. If you are an honest Mac user you realize that OS X has vulnerabilities. Some have even been exploited, if not very successfully.
Charlie Miller is very good at what he does - find security holes so they can be patched before the bad guys can take advantage of them. His years of work in computer security have given him a good perspective on the state of Mac security vs Windows security, and that insight produced one of my favorite quotes on the subject:
In other words, Macs are safer, because there aren't that many people trying to break into them. Windows computers are more secure because the security holes are constantly being patched. As much as I wish it weren't so, the analogy works.
A zero day exploit is a piece of malware that takes advantage of a vulnerability that is not generally known, so there are no patches, updates, or workarounds to keep it from being used. Unless the person who discovers the zero day exploit informs the creators of the software being exploited the vulnerability probably won't patched until after someone writes some type of malware that takes advantage of the exploit.
If you, like me, are a big fan of Apple Macs, you know that Apple likes to tout the security of OS X and the Mac. If you are an honest Mac user you realize that OS X has vulnerabilities. Some have even been exploited, if not very successfully.
Charlie Miller is very good at what he does - find security holes so they can be patched before the bad guys can take advantage of them. His years of work in computer security have given him a good perspective on the state of Mac security vs Windows security, and that insight produced one of my favorite quotes on the subject:
"Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town."
In other words, Macs are safer, because there aren't that many people trying to break into them. Windows computers are more secure because the security holes are constantly being patched. As much as I wish it weren't so, the analogy works.
OS X: Safer but less secure than Windows for now
Darren Murph at Endgadget reports that Charlie Miller is going to expose 20 zero day exploits for OS X at the upcoming CanSecWest. Mr. Miller has been exposing holes in OS X for years, and has twice won the PWN 2 OWN hacker contest by taking control of Apple computers. A third time he took control of an iPhone.
A zero day exploit is a piece of malware that takes advantage of a vulnerability that is not generally known, so there are no patches, updates, or workarounds to keep it from being used. Unless the person who discovers the zero day exploit informs the creators of the software being exploited the vulnerability probably won’t patched until after someone writes some type of malware that takes advantage of the exploit.
If you, like me, are a big fan of Apple Macs, you know that Apple likes to tout the security of OS X and the Mac. If you are an honest Mac user you realize that OS X has vulnerabilities. Some have even been exploited, if not very successfully.
Charlie Miller is very good at what he does – find security holes so they can be patched before the bad guys can take advantage of them. His years of work in computer security have given him a good perspective on the state of Mac security vs Windows security, and that insight produced one of my favorite quotes on the subject:
In other words, Macs are safer, because there aren’t that many people trying to break into them. Windows computers are more secure because the security holes are constantly being patched. As much as I wish it weren’t so, the analogy works. Hopefully Apple is working to change that.
A zero day exploit is a piece of malware that takes advantage of a vulnerability that is not generally known, so there are no patches, updates, or workarounds to keep it from being used. Unless the person who discovers the zero day exploit informs the creators of the software being exploited the vulnerability probably won’t patched until after someone writes some type of malware that takes advantage of the exploit.
If you, like me, are a big fan of Apple Macs, you know that Apple likes to tout the security of OS X and the Mac. If you are an honest Mac user you realize that OS X has vulnerabilities. Some have even been exploited, if not very successfully.
Charlie Miller is very good at what he does – find security holes so they can be patched before the bad guys can take advantage of them. His years of work in computer security have given him a good perspective on the state of Mac security vs Windows security, and that insight produced one of my favorite quotes on the subject:
“Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town.”
In other words, Macs are safer, because there aren’t that many people trying to break into them. Windows computers are more secure because the security holes are constantly being patched. As much as I wish it weren’t so, the analogy works. Hopefully Apple is working to change that.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
TOR cracked to catch child pornographers
Tuesday I wrote about TOR, The Onion Router. Wednesday in ZDNets "Zero Day" blog I read about a TOR server patch written for the purpose of catching child pornographers. Not just to the geographic location they are operating from, but to the computer they are working at. A worthy endeavor. But since the author, HD Moore of Metasploit fame, is releasing the source code, modified versions of the patch can be created to track anyone using TOR. This means TOR as a standalone item has become useless for protecting people who need protecting, i.e. human rights activists in oppressive countries, journalists and police under cover, and anyone with a legitimate need to keep their location hidden.
Moore (arguably) had good reason to do this. In Germany, at least, TOR is being heavily used, or is suspected of being heavily used, to traffic in child pornography, and the German authorities have been cracking down on TOR servers. But is the possible benefit in one admittedly important area worth the cost in several other important areas?
But there is an alternative the the TOR package by itself. It is also cross platform, and free. It will run on Intel Macs, Windows, and Linux. It is called JanusVM and runs in a virtual machine. It plugs the holes used by Moore's patch, and keeps your location obscured. From the Janus website:
JanusVM is free, cross platform, and can take a little more setup than the basic TOR package, depending on how your network is setup. But if you need anonymity online, it's the best thing going now.
Moore (arguably) had good reason to do this. In Germany, at least, TOR is being heavily used, or is suspected of being heavily used, to traffic in child pornography, and the German authorities have been cracking down on TOR servers. But is the possible benefit in one admittedly important area worth the cost in several other important areas?
But there is an alternative the the TOR package by itself. It is also cross platform, and free. It will run on Intel Macs, Windows, and Linux. It is called JanusVM and runs in a virtual machine. It plugs the holes used by Moore's patch, and keeps your location obscured. From the Janus website:
JanusVM is powered by VMware, built on the Linux 2.6.14 kernel, and brings together openVPN, Squid, Privoxy, and Tor, to give you a transparent layer of security and privacy that is compatible with all your TCP based applications. DNS request are also passed through Tor so even your ISP doesn't know what web site you are looking at.
JanusVM is free, cross platform, and can take a little more setup than the basic TOR package, depending on how your network is setup. But if you need anonymity online, it's the best thing going now.
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