And I thought Apple was unhackable. That goes to show that there seems to be no such thing these days. After all, most everything has a “hole,” and it is only a matter of finding that hole and exploiting it, right?
Security expert Charlie Miller will surely agree with you, and unlike me, he can back up his statements too! Charlie Miller is known for hacking a MacBook Air last year. He did this feat in less than two minutes, and won $10,000 for it. He did not stop there, though. About two weeks ago, Miller joined another contest; this time to hack Safari.
He said that he discovered a hole in the security last year. This hole, when exploited, can give a remote user control of the machine. Miller was able to demonstrate how this is possible in about 10 seconds! This is how he did it: he got the computer user to click on a link (a “malicious URL”) and voila, in one click, he had control.
Naturally, the contest rules stipulate that Miller cannot disclose exactly how he got it done. He said, however, that he told the people at Apple the details of what he was planning to do. At the end of the day, everyone walks away happy. Miller gets his cash prize and the MacBook he used to boot. Apple, on the other hand, gets to discover a bug AND fix it as well.
As for us mere mortals, it just goes to show that we should be careful in clicking. 😉
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinzhu/542471747/sizes/s/