Wi-Fi demo bruises Apple security

Researchers at the Black Hat Security event in Las Vegas gave a demo Wednesday showing how they could break into a MacBook using a Wi-Fi network.

While the exploit is equally dangerous to PCs, the use of an Apple machine drew the attention of the blogosphere. Apple systems are traditionally seen as safer than PCs from threats of hackers and viruses--a notion that Apple has touted in ads for its systems.

The researchers said they were not releasing the details of their attack, and they deliberately did not show a live demonstration to prevent anyone from copying their attack.

Blog community response:

"What is scary is that for this exploit to be executed, the MacBook simply has to be turned on, as by default the MacBook is transmitting to hypothetical access points in order to locate possible networks."
--Infinite Loop

"That 99% of the community thinks that there computers can never be penetrated thus the majority of Max users have no virus or firewall protection. Well hate to say it but welcome to the real world."
--Geek News Central

"Maynor and Ellch could have used either a Windows XP or a Mac OS X system to demonstrate their attack, but they chose the MacBook. Why?... those new 'I'm a Mac, I'm a PC' advertisements didn't factor into the decision, did they?"
--Techblog