Fresh from winning the PWN2OWN contest yesterday, Charlie Miller has been interviewed by ZDNet. He talks about how Mac OS X is a very simple operating system to exploit due to the lack of any form of anti-exploit features. He also explains that the underlying operating system is much more important in creating a successful exploit than the bowser, why Chrome is so hard to hack, and many other things.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2007-09-06
Absolutely. I'd love to know that Apple was taking security and quality more seriously rather than just the pretty packaging and "think different" marketing spin. I'm all for anything that benefits the end user and improved quality defiantly does that. Heck, I have two osX boxes at home with one in daily use; I'd like those to be a little more robust and it's not like I have more freedom then what Apple Updates delivers.
Member since:2009-03-21
It's wrong to suggest that Apple is somehow ignoring the evolving security climate. Known exploits are regularly patched and the underlying OS keeps getting new security enhancements like •File Quarantine •Sandbox •Package and Code Signing •Application Firewall •Non-Executable (NX) Data •Address Space Randomization
For more info, see Jordan Hubbard's talk on the evolution of OS X at http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa08/tech/hubbard_talk.pdf
OS X doesn't have to be the most secure OS. It just has to be secure enough to keep criminal attention focused on Windows. Just remember that security and usability are often mutually exclusive, so all vendors are forced to balance the need to not inconvenience users with the need to be secure. If that were not the case we'd all be using PGP-enabled mail clients, every web stream would be SSL encrypted, we'd all be using multi-factor authentication, all our hard drives would have full-disk encryption, etc. etc.
Member since:2006-08-08
I'm not at all saying Apple is ignoring security. I feel happy with Mac OS X very much.
What I am saying is that companies for the most part tend to see these things as bad press (and for a legit reason as that is what everyone spins it as).
All I'm hoping is for Apple to take this and say "Hey, let's keep moving on security and fix these things up". The last thing I'd want to happen is have Apple come out and downplay something that is now in the open.
Companies tend to clam up when these things happen and I'd love to see them acknowledge these and get them plugged... to keep moving forward!
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently."In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies."The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Member since:
2006-08-08
I hope a few people at Apple read the interview and continue the work on Mac OS X by implementing some of these missing features that run behind the scenes. There's no point NOT to implement them, getting them incorporated into the system early and having even more new features and security to boast about.
This interview is almost like free advice for them... I hope they take it. I'm almost purely a Mac user (save for a linux box or two) and I'd love to know that Apple was moving on these things!!