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Was my MacBook hacked?

A

ang31

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 21, 2009
3
0
I was searching images at google, and when I clicked an image, there was this web page which said something like "Are you trying to hack us?", and then in 3 seconds or so, my MacBook suddenly shut down! Did the web page cause this? After that happend I could start my MacBook normally, but are there any things that I should worry about? I haven't been online on that MacBook after that.
 
I'd reformat the drive and reinstall the operating system.

But hey, I'm paranoid :p
 
o_O ... that sounds worrying... was it porn or something? ... no joke, its just that u have to be careful as some porn sites contain virus, etc
 
As a recent PC to Mac switcher... this is where I'm confused.

Is OSX really that vulnerable to something like this? Could it be that easy?

I'm not naive enough to think macs are immune from *all* hacks but this is one of the main reasons I switched.

Plus, those Mac/PC guys on TV say so. :D
 
 
ang31 said:
I was searching images at google, and when I clicked an image, there was this web page which said something like "Are you trying to hack us?", and then in 3 seconds or so, my MacBook suddenly shut down!
Click to expand...

Sure it did... :rolleyes:
Give us a link and some evidence otherwise I'm finding this story tough to swallow.

First post, huh? Welcome aboard.
 
There might be no or less viruses on the OS, but there could be a software virus, like the java bug which has been recently publicized.
 
Thank you for your replys! I have to admit the image was porn-ish... but I am a girl and I was just curious for no sexual reason. Anyway, I don't know the website's url because I called Japan's Apple support and she said I should reset safari, which I did. She said there's nothing to worry about and there's no need to buy any security software, but really...??
And no, the battery was full because the power charger was plugged.
 
Consultant said:
THERE ARE NO VIRUSES on OSX.
Click to expand...
Well, I'm sure this horse is dead. :D

Great reading though!

Since this issue seems to be part of Apple's marketing hype, I tend to believe that any malware/virus author would be revered as a god in hacker heaven among his peers should he succeed in doing this. (Regardless of the low market share theory)

As far as I know, this hasn't happened on any large scale so there must be something to it.
 
Well, I'd be amazed if a website was capable of sending a shutdown command to a Mac
 
It wasn't like usual shutting down, it was more sudden, like when you force it to shut down when it's freezing. Maybe the website and the shutting down was unrelated? Is this sudden shutting down a common thing?
 
Consultant said:
THERE ARE NO VIRUSES on OSX.
Click to expand...
Actually there are. They're just rare and not as effective as Windows viruses. It also depends on what you mean by virus. It's very easy to write code that delete all your files and shut down your computer. All you need is an exploit to launch that code arbitrarily.
 
kpark42 said:
Actually there are. They're just rare and not as effective as Windows viruses.
Click to expand...

Depends on what you define "virus" as.

There is currently no self-propagating malicious software out there capable of infecting Mac OS X machines.

The malicious software that has been seen "in the wild" requires the user to either execute it or give it their root password in order to do anything.
 
ppc750fx said:
The malicious software that has been seen "in the wild" requires the user to either execute it or give it their root password in order to do anything.
Click to expand...
That's Malware I think. And I've always thought a virus is something that hops from machine to machine without anyone's knowledge.

But what's a trojan? (Not the kind you keep your wallet).
 
ang31 said:
I was searching images at google, and when I clicked an image, there was this web page which said something like "Are you trying to hack us?", and then in 3 seconds or so, my MacBook suddenly shut down! Did the web page cause this? After that happend I could start my MacBook normally, but are there any things that I should worry about? I haven't been online on that MacBook after that.
Click to expand...

To the best of my knowledge, the main Safari related viruses such as the Safari Bomb were already patched. Regardless of which, unless you explicitly downloaded content from a website, performing a lower level system call like a "battery pull" style shut down is a pretty big issue. If websites are able to do that, we've got bigger fish to fry...

My advice to you, see if you can find good virus scanner for your Mac, run it. To be honest, i'd try to replicate the problem to see if it happens again. If it happened again to me, i'd format my Mac because I have credit card info on it.
 
Richard1028 said:
That's Malware I think. And I've always thought a virus is something that hops from machine to machine without anyone's knowledge.

But what's a trojan? (Not the kind you keep your wallet).
Click to expand...

It's a similar concept as a Trojan horse, yah from (Greek / Roman perhaps?) history. It is a file or series of files disguised as something harmless, when indeed they are there to alter your existing files, flood you Mac with files, or download / upload information through your network connection...among many other harmful things they can do. Typically Trojans don't replicate.
 
Any sense of security is fool hearted. At recent hacking competitions Mac OSX was usually always the first to be hacked. Exploits are just as disastrous as a virus. There are viruses as well for the OSX. The only reason why Apple can tout safety and give users "a sense of security" is simply because at this point the user install base vs pc users aren't of much interest for time and effort involved for hackers and etc. As the user install base increases - you have to be prepared for an increase and that armor starting to chip away. Nothing is fail safe. Nothing.

Keep in mind Apple continues to neglect to correct reoccurring Safari exploits. The most current one is the Java exploit. The only way to prevent being a victim is to disable Java completely in Safari.
 
RiCEADDiCTBOY said:
The only reason why Apple can tout safety and give users "a sense of security" is simply because at this point the user install base vs pc users aren't of much interest for time and effort involved for hackers and etc. As the user install base increases - you have to be prepared for an increase and that armor starting to chip away. Nothing is fail safe. Nothing.
Click to expand...

No.

Look, I'm not going to claim that OS X is invulnerable (it really, really isn't) -- but the marketshare argument is BS.

Why? Well someone else has said it best. From this Slashdot comment:

Linux isn't more secure because it is targetted less. It is more secure because it uses a different security model with a whole lot fewer holes in it; *nix in general has been designed to be secure and account for restricting one portion of the system from other portions since very early days. Windows started wide open, and remained wide open for a long time, a lot of system software was written to be wide open, and even more importantly, a lot of system concepts, like activeX, were not designed with security in mind. Consequently, Windows security, such as it is, is an afterthought layer that was added to the original functionality, whereas *nix security, specifically linux security, is built in at the bedrock level.

The fact is, it is a lot more difficult to hack a *nix system by design. Something else to note: A huge proportion of the servers out on the net are linux machines running apache. These machines are powerful (that's why they are servers), the tend to have big pipes (again, they're servers, they need relatively big pipes) they're online all the time (they're servers!) and so they are ideal for a botnet or a spamming system, etc. And so, the majority of spamming systems and botnets are linux machines, right? Because they're common and have the perfect set of capabilities for these tasks? No. Wrong. Most mal-servers are Windows machines. But why? All those many linux machines would be great mal-servers! They are a huge target! Well, the why is simple, and it's just what I said above: It is hard to hack a linux server, even one that isn't that well patched. A linux machine that is properly kept up to date is even harder. Macs are basically the same kind of hard target; they're *nix underneath.

The bottom line is that Windows has the malware because it has been the easy target. Not because it is the common target.
Click to expand...

Same applies for OS X (although to a lesser extent, in part due to Apple's prioritization of user experience over security.)

That's not to claim that OS X won't ever be exploited, but I do think that it presents a much, much smaller target than Windows. Dig?
 
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