Monday, March 31, 2008

Queens wear brown...

The Vista laptop also went down, the fault of Abode. The irony of Adobe being at fault is only compounded by the LookingGlass vendor of the week last week being Adobe. No NX, No ASLR, unsafe libraries, no cookie Adobe.


http://www.cnet.com/8301-13509_1-9906502-20.html

Only the Mac faithful could take something like a Macbook being hacked and turn it into a commerical for Apple products. It seems as if the Macalope is stumping for a job as Apple's Chief Security Officer or as Obama's running mate, I can't decide which.

"Plus, you hack it, you keep it. So, sure, everyone's trying to hack the Air."

He seems to imply that the only reason people were hacking Macs were they get to keep them. Since not everyone can live without the faux sexiness that is Apple, of course someone will find a way to go home with that hardware. He also goes on to explain the only reason "security researchers" are paying attention to Mac is that they are cool and we are not.

I have a different theory: it was the easiest. With Vista and Linux correctly implementing technologies Apple botched like ASLR it is the naturally easiest target. If you want an analogy, it is kind of like the slow Antelope that has been separated from the herd by predators.

We all know what happens to that ailing animal.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've wondered at times if "the Macalope" is Gruber. I think I see some similarities there now and then both in opinion and in language. Each points to the other very eagerly at times, too. The Macalope says some things Gruber wouldn't -- Daring Fireball, I saw, played safe on this one and linked to Rich Mogull -- but then *whoever* the Macalope belongs to it exists as an anonymous mask for saying what its owner mightn't avow in his real name anyway.

I think it's possible that when the Macalope says "Plus, you hack it, you keep it. So, sure, everyone's trying to hack the Air" he's not being totally serious. He may just be making a joke at the expense of the PC OEMs, many of whom don't, after all, come up with interesting and desirable hardware. And stroking the egos of the Mac-using readers who'll take that point even if they don't take the one that's ostensibly being made will help his relationship with the readers.

Interestingly, there is an admission that perhaps all is not as it should be on the Mac buried in that article:

"It may very well be that it's easier to exploit certain vectors on the Mac. The Macalope's not qualified to make that call."

But, sure, that's barely whispered, and the article is mostly fluff.

Given that, despite whatever Apple should have done and haven't, OS X isn't much of a target (at least currently) I can't say I worry about using it. But maybe I ought to use Firefox when I'm on OS X. :-)

Ozyland said...

Faux Sexiness?? You are in the minority if you think the Mac Air is "Faux Sexy". If the PC's were cracked first this story would not be making the rounds. In that case it would have been "what else is new?"