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A number of Macs owned by Apple employees were compromised by the same China-based hackers that targeted Facebook employees recently, reports All Things D. The malware entered the systems through the Java plug-in, which Apple has blocked recently due to unpatched security vulnerabilities. Reuters was the first to report the disclosure.
"Apple has identified malware which infected a limited number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers," the company said in a statement to AllThingsD. "The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers. We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network. There is no evidence that any data left Apple. We are working closely with law enforcement to find the source of the malware."
Apple will also be releasing a standalone malware removal tool to clean infected machines.

The New York Times published an article yesterday laying out how a number of recent hacking attacks against U.S. corporations could be linked to the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Macs have traditionally been viewed as significantly more secure than Windows machines, though in the past year there have been a number of compromised machines from the Flashback malware and issues with Java.

Article Link: Apple Employees' Macs Compromised by Chinese Hackers
 

nep61

macrumors 6502
May 17, 2007
318
2
Maybe I should get some spy-ware or antivirus software....

Hmmm I've been doing fine without either on any Mac I've had since 1992.... Maybe I should be worried ! :rolleyes:
 

zin

macrumors 6502
May 5, 2010
491
6,617
United Kingdom
Why doesn't the Chinese Government have any meaningful actions to combat this? It was Google several months back, then Facebook, and now Apple.

Unless of course the Chinese Government are the ones that hired the 'hackers' so as to steal intellectual property...
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,020
7,863
Why doesn't the Chinese Government have any meaningful actions to combat this? It was Google several months back, then Facebook, and now Apple.

Unless of course the Chinese Government are the ones that hired the 'hackers' so as to steal intellectual property...

I'm guessing its the latter. China plays by its own rules.
 

Jsameds

Suspended
Apr 22, 2008
3,525
7,987
Pointless, really, like the majority of 'cyber hacking' (urgh I hate the term cyber).

To be honest the Chinese citizens hacking skills would be best put to work on their own government, tearing down "The Great Firewall of China".
 

stuffradio

macrumors 65816
Mar 17, 2009
1,016
6
Mac's are unhackable they say. Mac's don't break they say. Windows computers are the only one to get hacked they say.
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
Mac's are unhackable they say. Mac's don't break they say. Windows computers are the only one to get hacked they say.

There were people who complained that Apple blocked the Java browser plugin. So Oracle, trusted vendor of database software, broke those Macs. Next time Java will be blocked quicker.
 

coolspot18

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2010
1,051
90
Canada
If China wanted to hack foreign companies, surely they would try to hide their IP address?

Seems a bit too obvious.
 

M-O

macrumors 6502a
Mar 15, 2011
502
0
it was the iTunes for Windows team. they were all running bootcamp.
 
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