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from the a-hack-a-day-keeps-the-apple-away dept.
New security features such as Gatekeeper and XProtect are simple to bypass and gaining persistence on a Mac isn't much of a challenge:
Gatekeeper is one of the key technologies that Apple uses to prevent malware from running on OS X machines. It gives users the ability to restrict which applications can run on their machines by choosiing to only allow apps from the Mac App Store. With that setting in play, only signed, legitimate apps should be able to run on the machine. But Patrick Wardle, director of research at Synack, said that getting around that restriction is trivial.
"Gatekeeper doesn't verify an extra content in the apps. So if I can find an Apple-approved app and get it to load external content, when the user runs it, it will bypass Gatekeeper," Wardle said in a talk at the RSA Conference [in San Francisco] Thursday. "It only verifies the app bundle."
Backing up Gatekeeper is XProtect, Apple's anti-malware system for OS X. Malware isn't a massive problem for OSX, but there definitely are some well-known families out there, with more being created all the time, Wardle said. Getting past XProtect turns out to be just as simple as bypassing Gatekeeper. Wardle found that by simply recompiling a known piece of OS X malware, which changes the hash, he could get the malware past XProtect and execute it on the machine. Even simpler, he could just change the name of the malware, which also lets it sneak in under the fence.
More coverage, including pretty graphics, on ZDNet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @03:06PM
Funny that this is modded offtopic too. Troll perhaps would be appropriate however because of this:
Just because someone is not so immersed in Silicon Valley brogrammer culture (yeah I said it, wadda you gonna do about it?) to know a specific crass slang does not denote unintelligence. If it were, everyone that isn't a brogrammer from the valley does not qualify as being intelligent; which is something very unintelligent to say.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @03:20PM
OS X is a product of Silicon Valley culture. One can't understand OS X without understanding Silicon Valley culture, and the people that make up this culture. It's impossible to discuss OS X without having a proper understanding of Silicon Valley culture. Anyone who doesn't understand Silicon Valley culture probably should not be engaging in this discussion about OS X.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @08:30PM
Cars are a product of Detroit. One can't understand cars without understanding Detroit culture and the people that make up this culture. It is impossible to discuss cars without having a proper understanding of Silicon Valley culture. Anyone who doesn't understand Detroit culture probably should not be engaged in discussions about cars.
Windows is a product of Redmond. One can't understand Windows without understanding Redmond culture...
English is a product of England. One can't understand English without understanding English culture...
Apples are a product of central Asia. One can't understand apples without...
Humans are a product of sub-Saharan Africa. One can't understand humans without...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2015, @02:03AM
You're right, it's impossible to talk about American automobiles without having an understanding of Detroit, its culture, and how it defined Americana for several decades. The American automobile was a cultural reflection of Detroit; a city of immense industrial capability. Ford's vehicles, for example, were a reflection of the culture of the city. Unless you know the city, its history, its people and its culture, you miss out on a full understanding of just what American automobiles really are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2015, @04:50PM
That clueless and uneducated in logic eh?