Can a Mac be hacked?

[Rustus Maximus]

Is it possible for a Mac to be hacked? Not necessareily taken over but perhaps used as a relay for IRC or something?

We recently had a situation where a computer sat idle overnight and the next day a small animated icon with text bubbles was seen on the screen (in front of all open apps). When the user moved the mouse, the little animated icon looked up as though it was looking at the user, it's eyes got big, then it scooted off the screen (no I am not using).

I've never heard of this before, not on a mac at least? Was someone snooping/hacking? Any thoughts?

 

[timnosenzo]

Was the user "using"?? Too weird.

 

[srphoto]

Yeh sounds kinda crazy... Did YOU see this??

 

[jeremy.king]

Sure it wasn't a Konfabulator widget?

Like this?
http://widgetgallery.com/view.php?widget=26790

 

[varmit]

Maybe a screen saver of some sort that someone put on the Mac.

 

[Rustus Maximus]

Yeh sounds kinda crazy... Did YOU see this??

Yes I did and the fact that it looked at us then scurried off the screen when he moved the mouse was a little...disturbing.

Sure it wasn't a Konfabulator widget?

Like this?
http://widgetgallery.com/view.php?widget=26790

kingjr I can't get that page to load up for some reason, can you post a pic of what you are talking about?

Maybe a screen saver of some sort that someone put on the Mac.

I thought of that but after scanning through the system and asking everyone, I am ruling out a screensaver.

Was the user "using"?? Too weird.

(sniffs friend) I don't think so

 

[jeremy.king]

kingjr I can't get that page to load up for some reason, can you post a pic of what you are talking about?

The link works fine, Try again.

Guess you should find out if the user has Konfabulator installed, and if so, which widgets are installed.

 

[Applespider]

Ah... I remember the days when things waved out of the Mac desktop regularly. I had Oscar the Grouch living in my trashcan and a screensaver where two little men dug a hole in the middle of the desktop and ran away with my processor... most amusing

 

[Rustus Maximus]

The link works fine, Try again.

Guess you should find out if the user has Konfabulator installed, and if so, which widgets are installed.

The system doesn't belong to a single user, sort of a group mac. No Konfabulator or anything installed.

 

[Rustus Maximus]

Ah... I remember the days when things waved out of the Mac desktop regularly. I had Oscar the Grouch living in my trashcan and a screensaver where two little men dug a hole in the middle of the desktop and ran away with my processor... most amusing

Would that it were Oscar...at least I would trust him. National icon of sorts. However this was some deviant bovine. A little freaky...amusing...but it has peaked my curiosity.

 

[wPod]

yes, a mac is hacable. there are some pretty serious ways you can get into mac as a root user if you have a re-install CD that came with the computer (or any computer of the same flavor) most of the 'easy' ways to hack on require being at the computer. im sure there are ways to hack over the net, i just doubt it happens to frequently b/c of how secure OS X is and how infrequent it is that 'hackers' would see/know what to do with a mac. im sure if a lot of people use the computer than someone put it on as a gag or thought it looked cute then forgot about it once it ran off.

 

[rueyeet]

Man, it would mess with my head if I had Gir dancing on my desktop. Especially to John Tesh...oh, wait, not in my music Library. SAFE!!

A Mac is as hackable as any other Unix system out there; however, I don't think a hacker would go to so very much trouble to put a cute little look-n-scoot icon on your friend's desktop. It's more likely that it's a "feature"--whether documented or not--of something someone has installed. Because it's a group Mac, anybody could have put anything at all on there. Check the Applications folder.

 

[PixelFactory]

Ah... I remember the days when things waved out of the Mac desktop regularly. I had Oscar the Grouch living in my trashcan and a screensaver where two little men dug a hole in the middle of the desktop and ran away with my processor... most amusing

There is nothing like catching your niece deleting files just so she could see Oscar the Grouch over and over again.

 

[cb911]

LOL i love that little dancing Gir.

so - this weirdness did happen on a Mac? what kind of a setup is this Mac using? connected directly to the net via broadband modem? or what kind of network? if the security is slack, i guess someone could have installed Konfab or something...?

 

[Rustus Maximus]

LOL i love that little dancing Gir.

so - this weirdness did happen on a Mac? what kind of a setup is this Mac using? connected directly to the net via broadband modem? or what kind of network? if the security is slack, i guess someone could have installed Konfab or something...?

Yeah, constant connection to the net via DSL. I'll check again for Konfab.