Version: 2008

Comments on: News of a Mac OS X worm incites death threats and intrigue

Various people hiding behind pseudonyms are fueling news about a supposed worm for Mac OS X.

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Death threats?
by LuvThatCO2 July 19, 2007 10:53 AM PDT
I've always thought Apple fanboys were a little too emotionally attached. But death threats? Thats the kind of thing you'd expect to hear about from religous zealots who issue threats because someone drew their god in a cartoon.

Really, people, macs arent even that good. Get over it.

Better yet, get a Windows PC and a life.
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Right
by tedk7 July 19, 2007 11:10 AM PDT
Because there's no such thing as windows people who get that
worked up about stupid crap.

Grow a brain and realize that there's no rationalization WHAT SO
EVER to tie together the attitudes and mentalities of people who
share a consumer product.
View reply
preference
by frankwick July 19, 2007 2:53 PM PDT
Everyone has a choice on PC, Windows, Mac, Linux whatever. There are advantages to each.

I do agree that Apple fans take their OS evangelism too far. They take up for Jobs like he is a god and take his lip service for truth. I have seen some crazy stuff from Apple fans, but the death threats surprise even me. Hello?!?!? It's software that YOU are paying to use.

1. You pay for software.
2. You make someone else rich.
3. Jobs hides behind a veil of bashing other systems and you think my OS is great.
4. you buy what he says. You buy his products.
5. Goto 1.
Wrong target
by otokichi July 19, 2007 3:14 PM PDT
Termination notices should be carried out on Spammers and Phishers. The Crackers can wait, unless they insist on making themselves traceable targets. These are the folk who will find out the location of secret torture cells operated by the Black Bag people. (That is, if they continue to mess with government/Mafia computer systems for bragging rights at the next Black Hat conference.)
*Downloads ClamXav*
by FuturDreamz July 19, 2007 11:46 AM PDT
Justin Case.
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Looking like FUD?
by ArturoYee July 19, 2007 12:09 PM PDT
OOOPS - reporters jumping the gun again?
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It is valid to report on this
by qwerty75 July 19, 2007 2:39 PM PDT
Even if it is a hoax, like it almost certainly is, it is still noteworthy.

My money is this guy is a Microsoft fanboy desperately trying to cling to the notion that all OS's have to have as many security issues as Windows does.
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Probably, given his history.
by Penguinisto July 19, 2007 4:00 PM PDT
Same guy who chumped an alleged WiFi hack awhile back, only to get shot down under scrutiny.

SecurityFocus for 10.4.latest vulns show only his alleged one... and there's no details, no code, no nothing. No one else has been able to confirm/deny it yet.

A check on 10.4.unpatched (that is, 10.4.0 w/ no patches at all) shows 99 vulns and DoSes total since 10.4 was released sometime in 2005. The vast majority of them are responsibly reported, and mostly from Apple.

(by contrast, it is interesting to note that Vista, having been out for less than 1/4 of the time, already has 27. I figure it'll surpass 10.4 by the end of the year ;) ).

/P
Comments
by bboldon July 19, 2007 12:20 PM PDT
Most of the comments posted throughout cnet are informative, if not interesting. Too bad a few people take any opportunity to bash someone elses system prefs. Also, too bad that you don't have a crap comment filter, which would eliminate that stuff. 'Nough CO2, need more O2!
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Wrong Gas
by Gromit801 July 19, 2007 12:44 PM PDT
More like CH4
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I disagree
by shoffmueller July 19, 2007 3:00 PM PDT
Seldom do c/net comments add insight to a story.

Most hard-news stories remain commentless, and most MS/Apple stories are heavily commented with some techno-geek subculture which get's in a snit about operation systems.

But, still, it entertains me.
As marketshare grows, so does threat potential.
by frankwick July 19, 2007 2:58 PM PDT
I've always said that as Mac's marketshare grows, so does the target on its back. OSX growth has been brisk, but still very small percentage wise. I think at one point OSX was over 5% total share, but has since dropped below that line. If they maintain that 5% + share, then watch out -- here comes trouble.

Don't beleive it can or will happen. Just look at the number of security threats discovered (patched and unpatched) on the OSX platform. In many cases, the number greatly exceeds the number of pacthes released on MS's patch tuesday (and these patches are for all MS systems, not just Windows). There is also the MOAB project that even exceeded the author's expectations on finding apple holes.
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Wrong
by qwerty75 July 19, 2007 3:13 PM PDT
Market share and security are disjoint.

A secure product is secure regardless of whether there is 1 user or 100 million.

An unsecure product is unsecure regardless of whether there is 1 user or 100 million.

Just look at the web server market and the fallacy of your comments will rear its ugly head. Why are windows servers the most exploited when they are a fairly small player in this market? The answer is the same as for the question why is windows the most vulnerable OS.

IT IS THE EASIEST.

A 12 year old kid with no technical knowledge can ravage windows machines and networks.

It takes a lot of time and skill(and often contrived situations) to exploit OSX and Linux.

There is a HUGE difference between a flaw and an exploit. An unpatched flaw in Linux or OSX is much harder to exploit then one in Windows. That is fact, and comes from the security from the ground up and modular design of both OS's.

Time between discovery of exploits is another important factor. Apple and the OSS community runs circles around MS in this area. MS patch day is a huge negative. Fixes have to wait to go out the door, not elsewhere. And the patch system in Windows is ****-poor. On every Linux distro that I know of, every single application that is on your system get patched from a single program and are available as they are released. No wanting for days, weeks, and even months.

You do know that the sasser worm was caused by one line of code, yet MS took 188 days to issue the fix? If that is your idea of security, then nothing will convince you that MS has always treated security with disdain, and new management with a new mindset comes it, it always will.

There are more flaws found so far in Vista then in the entire lifespan of OSX.
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Credibility
by scweezil July 19, 2007 3:09 PM PDT
This may well be true, but they way this individual has
conducted him/herself leaves His/Her credibility in question.
How does anyone know exactly who posted what? This childish
idiot may have posted some of this stuff himself. Also he said
his site was hacked. His childish attitude & his hyperbolic
statements & the fact that someone paid him to do this has to
make you wonder. I wonder where the payment came from? That
would be interesting to find out. MS has recently said that Vista
is more secure than, well all the other OSs...but of course that's
not smug. Where is this anonymous cowards outrage over that
statement? Apple has never said that OSX is invulnerable. Their
commercials state that there are 100,00+ plus viruses on
Windows that don't effect the Mac. Essentially that's true. Most
Mac users know that OSX is not invulnerable. Nothing is.
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Correction(?)
by edgedesign July 19, 2007 4:08 PM PDT
"MS has recently said that Vista is more secure than, well all the
other OSs..."

I'm fairly certain the MS statement was something like "Vista is the
most secure 'Windows' OS to date"... I recall finding it humorous
they included the word 'Windows'.
View reply
Please
by KTLA_knew July 19, 2007 6:56 PM PDT
"Most Mac users know that OSX is not invulnerable."

Even you know that isn't true.

Also, someone allegedly posts death threats, and instead of being skeptical of the facts and remaining silent until the facts are out, you start posting character attacks against him. Posts like this are exactly what all the "Mac Fanboi" posts on your various tech forums are complaining about.
View reply
Paris Maynor.
by Penguinisto July 19, 2007 3:39 PM PDT
No, really... this is the same guy who stumbled all over himself trying to yammer about a supposed flaw in OSX and Wireless (of course, he required a 3rd-party card and a shedload of certain conditions which no Mac user would likely ever find him/herself in...)

On the plus side, it did get Apple to focus on their WiFi drivers, in which they actually found and patched a different flaw, so that one wasn't too bad.

Meanwhile, while every responsible researcher on the planet...

1) can't seem to locate very many (if any) exploitable OSX flaws, and...

2) report everything they do find otherwise, along with example code and full details

...we find Maynor suddenly gripped with hysteria about some alleged death threat.

To him I say "*yawn*... whatever, chump." Come back when you can actually tell us what it is you think is broken.

/P
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If I were an illicit programmer...
by ralfthedog July 19, 2007 11:19 PM PDT
If I were an illicit programmer, I would write malware for the Mac. You get no fame writing malware for Windows (It's been done many times).

If you want to do true damage to the internet, you could hit all of the LAMP servers. If you want true fame, the kind that makes you immortal, write a virus that works in the wild for the Mac.

No one remembers the 4th man to walk on the moon, or the 122nd person to fly across the Atlantic. Just the first.

We all know that someday a successful virus will hit the Mac. Many people have been trying for quite some time. Lets all hope it is a long way off.
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weirdness
by nmc July 20, 2007 2:22 PM PDT
ditto
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Whew!
by cyclelogicpress.com July 21, 2007 10:19 PM PDT
The drama ... the intrigue ... the utter senselessness of the act.
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