Hackintosh Security Question

[satch_yt]

I know that Macs are 99.9% secure but I've been wondering if it's "technically" possible for a hackintosh distro maker or anybody out there to implement some sort of trojan or any other malicious software to the OS or even modify core files to steal personal info or passwords etc. Not accusing or blaming anybody, just a technical question out of curiosity. Is it possible that there might be any virus / trojan / open backdoors or any other harmful thing in a hackintosh distro.

 

If so, how can I be sure of my systems security

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Note: I did a search but the search function didn't work, and I couldn't find an appropriate catagory for this question. And sorry if it sounds stupid.

[srs5694]

Of course it's possible. Any time you install software on your computer, you run the risk that it will be a Trojan or some other type of malware. This risk is especially great when you install system software (drivers, low-level utilities, etc.), since such software requires privileged ("root" or even kernel-level) access to the system, and such access enables a would-be miscreant to do a lot more damage than would be possible if the software just ran as an ordinary user. (That's why some programs require you to enter your password before proceeding -- they run as root and can therefore be easily abused.)

 

That said, I don't know of any malware that afflicts the Hackintosh community in particular.

[satch_yt]

Ok, but to be more specific, I'm not worried about the software I install, I'm curious about the software that comes with Mac OS itself (in this case comes with Hackintosh Install cd), like Mail app, or Safari or Keychain app etc, is it technically possible that these apps might be altered by any Hackintosh Distro maker to steal personal info?

[Beerkex'd]

Sure, it's possible. It would be naive not to keep this in mind. It's no different from the risks you take by installing Windows from a pirated CD or DVD. That said, I have not heard of any backdoors or trojans during my time in the Hackintosh community.

 

When downloading from places like rapidshare or piratebay, most of the time you have no way of knowing if the software has been modified or not. But usually those who build and release the hackintosh distros provide an MD5 hash that you can use to verify that the DVD image has not been tampered with.

 

Even though there's less of a risk of 'infection' when installing retail OS X we're still at the mercy of those who write the boot loaders, kernels and patched kernel extensions that we must use to run OS X on our PCs.

 

All of the software that we use is open source, and this is an advantage, as it gives people a chance to audit the code and verify for themselves that it doesn't contain anything malicious. And even if you don't know what to do with source code, there are thousands of users who do, and some of them will speak up. If anything was ever released with malicious code embedded it would not stay a secret for long.

[satch_yt]

Thanks, I haven't seen any report of malicious software included in popular distros too, yet still I'm not %100 sure if I am perfectly safe with the distro, that's why I'm trying to find a way to confirm that my system is safe, I've been monitoring outgoing network activity with some tools but so far I haven't seen any suspicious connections, It'd would be awesome it there were some software to check the full system and look for altered codes, but I guess that's just impossible

Recently I've been trying to install from a Retail DVD, but haven't succeeded yet, by that way, at least I'll be sure that the apps like Mail, Safari etc are untouched.

Or maybe I'm just paranoid

[oldtopman]

I've had no problems with iDeneb v1.4 from KickAssTorrents. The TPB one was too slow.

 

P.S. This thread probably belongs in the Thunderdrome.

[errandwolfe]

I ran several distro over the 10.4 and 10.5 cycles I never found anything at all that would indicate that those distro had been compromised in any way. With the large number of highly technical people using these I am sure by now someone would have raised concerns if there were any.

 

That said, with the right hardware there is no reason for you to run a distro. If you can run vanilla, do it and there goes your concerns (assuming you bought the DVD and did not download it).

[muchlife]

Macs are not 99% secure, whoever told you that probably read it somewhere on the interwebs

 

People unkowingly assume Macs are secure. This is a false sense of security, mainly because you dont hear the virus stories by the millions like you do with windows. However this has less to do with how OSX is built and its security measures, and more to do with the fact that windows has a HUGE market share, therefor its more profitable for virus makers to go after the larger market with potential infection. The more OSX takes over market share, the more exposed to virus makers it will become.

 

Dont get me wrong, i love OSX and because of its lower market share i feel a sense of at ease that theres not nearly as many virus makers out there targeting us, however you never know when you could wake up to experience a nasty virus that overshadows any poor experience you've had on windows

[oldtopman]

Macs are not 99% secure, whoever told you that probably read it somewhere on the interwebs

 

People unkowingly assume Macs are secure. This is a false sense of security, mainly because you dont hear the virus stories by the millions like you do with windows. However this has less to do with how OSX is built and its security measures, and more to do with the fact that windows has a HUGE market share, therefor its more profitable for virus makers to go after the larger market with potential infection. The more OSX takes over market share, the more exposed to virus makers it will become.

 

Dont get me wrong, i love OSX and because of its lower market share i feel a sense of at ease that theres not nearly as many virus makers out there targeting us, however you never know when you could wake up to experience a nasty virus that overshadows any poor experience you've had on windows

 

Mac's are 99% secure until they aren't. We aren't saying they will always be 99% secure, but they are now. And OS9, 100% secure

 

He doesn't care about whether OSX is secure or not, he wants to know if someone could put a credit card number stealing script or similar in one of the OSX86 distros; if the distros are less secure than OSX.