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MacBook Air First To Be Compromised In Hacking Contest

Posted by Soulskill on from the potential-reality-tv-show dept.

Multiple readers have written to let us know that the MacBook Air was the first laptop to fall in the CanSecWest hacking contest. The successful hijacking took place only two minutes into the second day of the competition, after the rules had been relaxed to allow the visiting of websites and opening of emails. The TippingPoint blog reveals that the vulnerability was located within Safari, but they won't release specific details until Apple has had a chance to correct the problem. The winner, Charlie Miller, gets to keep the laptop and $10,000. We covered the contest last year, and the results were similar.

6 of 493 comments (clear)

  1. I think this section is relevant by rolfwind · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the first day of the contest when contestants were only allowed to attack the computers over the network, but on Thursday the rules were relaxed so that attackers could direct contest organizers using the computers to do things like visit Web sites or open e-mail messages.


    Pretty much says it all.
  2. I wouldn't be surprised.. by xSquaredAdmin · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ...if a lot of the folks were focusing solely on the new MacBook air, because it makes a much better headline: " Hacks MacBook Air" vs " Hacks HP Notebook". I'm sure that the other machines could have been exposed quickly as well if they were drawing as much attention as the Air.

    --
    Crushing dreams at the speed of sarcasm
  3. Re:Identical articles by Immerial · · Score: 1, Redundant

    So is it official that the Vista and Ubuntu machines have survived day 2??! Judging from the blog... it isn't:

    Update 5:45 PST - The contest is officially over for today. Check back tomorrow to see how the Vista and Ubuntu laptops fare.

    Do you have an inside scoop??

  4. Re:Get the Facts is a better tag. by CountBrass · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Let's face it: if the prize is the laptop you hack then everyone would be trying to hack the Mac: who the fuck wants the shame of walking away with a Dell under their arm?

    --
    Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
  5. Re:Users == the problem by Rickz0rz · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Simple. The Air is the new, expensive, 'everyone wants' item. It's a neat little piece of tech, and thus, the first target!

  6. Who would want a Vista notebook? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 0, Redundant
    All this has shown is that the hackers want the Macbook Air with OS-X instead of a notebook with Windows Vista Ultimate.

    Why would the hackers waste time trying to hack into a Vista notebook if the prize were to win that notebook? Now, if the prize had been a Macbook Air, even if the hackers owned the Vista notebook, then the outcome would surely be different.

    Bottom line: no one wants Vista, not even hackers.