osx & security question

[braid]

Hi there.

 

I did read recently, and I think most of you did too, the news of a macbook was hacked in few minutes, thanks to a Safari vulnerability. Well, no big deal so far, because we all know that every system have security issues. But After that, I started to read more about security on mac system. For my surprise, I saw a lot of simple security questions that just scares me. itunes, the xxxagent, etc...

 

My question is: with all the security issues in the programs, and in the system itself, turning the firewall ON, in stealth mode, it will be possible to hack using those fails? (exploits I mean)

how secure the os will be with firewall on + stealth mode???

 

 

thanks.

[chris2k]

Honestly, you don't have to worry more than you would with any other operating system. OSX is pretty stealth by default. No services running/no open ports.

As for Safari/ITunes/etc, I don't know. Not many people are developing exploits for them now because of the small userbase.

And no, the Firewall won't help, because you're initiating the connection. The stealth mode only means that your box won't reply to a ping.

 

You will rather get something by downloading malware/trojans instead of being hacked. Nobody hacks "dialups" with 0day exploits. If you apply the security updates, you're by 99% on the safe side.

[A Nonny Moose]

You don't really have anything to worry about. Your Mac is still safe, because to be quite blunt about it, it's harder to hack a Mac than it is a Windows machine.

 

Or if you want an anecdote, I dared some computer "hotshot" friend of a friend (honestly, most FOAF stories are fake but you're getting this one firsthand) to hack into my Mac because he said it was "horrible and I could hack it any time I wanted to." So I told him to take his bast damn shot and I'm still hack free.