A couple of hackers at the Black Hat security convention have showed off a method of compromising a MacBook’s security in about 60 seconds. While the exploit is related specifically to the MacBook, they’ve found similar vulnerabilities in Windows-based OSes. The exploit has not been published yet, and no examples have been seen in the wild, but the dynamic duo opted to show a videotape presentation of their experiment instead of doing a live one, for fear that the code could be intercepted and used.
The vulnerability resides in low level code connected to the wireless device driver.
“The main problem here is that device drivers are a funny mix of stuff put together by hardware and software developers, and these guys are often under the gun to produce the code that will power products that the manufacturer is often in a hurry to get to market.”While the pair says they’re not trying to pick on Macs, it’s clear that they have some issues with the platform, commenting “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” and saying that they picked the platform because of the “Mac user base aura of smugness on security.”
[via Infinite Loop]
