Apple Employees' Macs Compromised by Chinese Hackers

[Bathplug]

At least apple didn't wait a month to let the public know unlike facebook.

 

[mus0r]

Mac's are unhackable they say. Mac's don't break they say. Windows computers are the only one to get hacked they say.

Apostrophes for plural nouns, you say?

 

[MediaMind]

And when will APPLE identified WiFi problem that iPhone 4S users have!
I'm simply not happy any more with Apple and so much bugs...

What are they doing now... Nothing except fixing some bugs and let the users walk around with phone without WiFi and without bluetooth.

...and yes! I did everything, from restoring, updating, going to APPLE store, contacting APPLE and etc...

 

[Vol7ron]

A computer is only as secure as the software you run on it. You could have some of the most secure networks in the world, but if you have one program that is buggy and full of holes, then guess what, you are vulnerable. Java, like flash, has outlived its usefulness and needs to be retired....

 

[See Flat]

Mac's are unhackable they say. Mac's don't break they say. Windows computers are the only one to get hacked they say.

I don't say that....
I just say" in now more than 20 years on the mac platform I have always had whatever flavour virus protection was available. In all those years, I have had two files identified as virus/malware whatever. They were on my bootcamp partition.

 

[Sayer]

Java is the number one exploit vector for "hacked" websites to invade a personal computer, not Flash or the browser itself, these days.

And there are Mac-specific exploit app kits to turn your Mac into a node of a botnet and send all your personal info to hackers in eastern Europe/Russia/China.

Don't install Java unless you actually need it, and if it is installed, disable the Java plugin in your browser at the very least.

And no, you don't need to install some third-party video codec to view some "content" you found online, that's probably a trojan horse/virus/rootkit you are being tricked into installing.

 

[Born Again]

So the pla did peepee in apple's coke

 

[Bubba Satori]

Apple should just buy the People's Liberation Army.

 

[PinoyAko]

I still dig Chinese chicks.

 

[LagunaSol]

Yet, they own us now. The largest nation by population, and one of the most powerful by markets and debts owned.

Fortunately Google and the Android fans are hard at work wresting us from the Chinese and giving us to the Koreans instead.

 

[mac jones]

You mean my Mac isn't safe now?

Heck, I'll switch to Windows then......wait

 

[pacalis]

Mac's are unhackable they say. Mac's don't break they say. Windows computers are the only one to get hacked they say.

They apparently are not Kapersky....

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/...s-behind-microsoft-in-terms-of-security/11706

"I think [Apple] are ten years behind Microsoft in terms of security," Kaspersky told CBR. "For many years I've been saying that from a security point of view there is no big difference between Mac and Windows. It's always been possible to develop Mac malware, but this one was a bit different. For example it was asking questions about being installed on the system and, using vulnerabilities, it was able to get to the user mode without any alarms."

 

[Shearwater]

...and remember...you heard it last on MacRumours!!.....

 

[krravi]

This tells you that we have been sold (Technology in general, not just Apple) half baked products. Reactionary measures are a symptom of something that was not well thought out(be it software or hardware).

 

[Lennholm]

The weakness is Java, not OS X. But then you don't really care, do you?

As if you care if a particular Windows threat is because of Windows itself rather than something else.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Apple wants a R&D site in china!

 

[IJ Reilly]

I often wonder, if China is so advanced to hack so many systems, why would they leave a trail of bread crumbs?

The New York Times article linked above provides some of the details of how they traced the attacks back to one Shanghai neighborhood. It's a really good read, much more detailed than the NPR story I linked. The evidence for the source of the attacks is not irrefutable, but strongly circumstantial.

 

[entatlrg]

State sponsored, PLA unit. They've been doing it for 10 years, ask Nortel...

True.

 

[krravi]

Apple wants a R&D site in china!

Imagine that! No more cyber attacks. It will be snail mail between the R&D center and the PLA headquarters.

 

[mcdj]

There is no evidence that any data left Apple.

Did they seriously just say that?

Right, because hackers could NEVER figure out how to make off with data without anyone knowing it.

 

[Guacamole]

someone should start hacking chinese companies and their employees

 

[grue]

Just disconnect China from the internet at this point, no real downside. Less spam, less malware.

 

[elistan]

I don't have Java on my iMac. Never had, and don't plan on it in the future. Hopefully the software from Apple will continue to be un-compromised.

 

[Moopy Sac]

Yet, they own us now. The largest nation by population, and one of the most powerful by markets and debts owned.

God I miss the 90's, times seemed, simpler. (and yes, I realize many policies of the 90's lead us to this situation, but it seems many more from the 2000's have pushed us over the fiscal cliff, so to speak)

In the 90s it was the Japanese we were terrified of (to this day Japan owns roughly as much US debt as China, both around 7%).

In hindsight the Japanese are much more benevolent rivals than the Chinese. Weird how democracy works that way.

 

[50548]

And why on Earth were Apple employees using Java on their Macs?

As I've explained many times before, this is an irrelevant client-side technology that no one should be using anymore (apart from a tiny minority of obsolete/lazy websites, of course).