ERICBRIAN2002
Registered
Is there a way a pc user can hack a mac? and if so has it ever happened to any of you guys cause i might want to get a firewall protection from norton but should i?
mac and hack
- Thread starter ERICBRIAN2002
- Start date
Any one can 'hack' into any type of computer (within reason, of course). Macs are no exception and expecially now that we're on a UNIX core, it's probably easier. I wouldn't worry about it, odds are it will never happen. But if you do want some protection OS X has a built-in firewire. Do a search here for firewall and you'll find some posts explaining how to set it up.
ERICBRIAN2002
Registered
ok thanks heres another question is it easyier to hack a mac or a pc? and since u said any 1 can hack any 1 if i knew how i could just hack u right now?
I really don't know much about this subject .. from what I understand it's easier to hack a UNIX machine. Although, there are scripts that you can download that will basically hack a Windows machine for you. In order hack (or attack) someone, you need to have at minimum their IP address. I doubt you could find my IP address and even if you wanted to, I'm on my school's network right now so it wouldn't do you anygood. Not to mentioin, I'm AirPort at home that works like a router/firewall as well. (when I say 'you' I mean anyone).
Really, the only reason anyone would want to hack into a personal computer would be to get passwords by planting a worm (or whatever) or as form of an attack .. to shut your pc down. Hackers really don't know much (or care) about Macs. 95% of the people on the internet are Windows users so why bother with a Mac? Anyways, they usually try to get into servers, like UNIX servers for companies or schools, I guess they think thats more fun. I dunno.
But like I said, I really don't know much about this stuff nor do I worry about it. If they REALLY want to get into my computer, they'll find a way. Good luck.
Really, the only reason anyone would want to hack into a personal computer would be to get passwords by planting a worm (or whatever) or as form of an attack .. to shut your pc down. Hackers really don't know much (or care) about Macs. 95% of the people on the internet are Windows users so why bother with a Mac? Anyways, they usually try to get into servers, like UNIX servers for companies or schools, I guess they think thats more fun. I dunno.
But like I said, I really don't know much about this stuff nor do I worry about it. If they REALLY want to get into my computer, they'll find a way. Good luck.
I have DSL and my Mac is connected 99.99% of the time. I have Norton Peronal Firewall and there are at least 20-30 attempts/day to log in to my computer, file share or, most often, "unknown"...
Yesterday I got an email from some "security" software firm (for Windoze of course) stating that THEY were watching me. They proceeded to list my computer type (correctly) and then other info that was incorrect so I guess they weren't watching too closely... Anyway they used a bunch of scary words to try to get you to buy their (Windoze only) security software. Ugh.
It kinda pissed me off as I'm supposed to be set up for "stealth mode" meaning they shouldn't even know my computer is on any network. Oh well.
In short, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Configure the built in firewall or get some other firewall product.
Yesterday I got an email from some "security" software firm (for Windoze of course) stating that THEY were watching me. They proceeded to list my computer type (correctly) and then other info that was incorrect so I guess they weren't watching too closely... Anyway they used a bunch of scary words to try to get you to buy their (Windoze only) security software. Ugh.
It kinda pissed me off as I'm supposed to be set up for "stealth mode" meaning they shouldn't even know my computer is on any network. Oh well.
In short, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Configure the built in firewall or get some other firewall product.
OK a little explaination here.
Hackers are not what people picture..a real Hacker does Hacking fopr a simple reason....KNOWLEDGE..there are many king fo hackers.. but the real one is the one that does it to "know more" eirther about the machine itself and of its content...most of them believe that Knowledge will set you free...and adtually trade iformation to improve their "level"
Then there are Legion..legion are goup of hackers that usually attack and free in your machine a trojan horse containing a virus....they usually use the same virus and the same name for the file...they are kinda the serial killer of the net....then there are amateur hacker...that send virus all over the place cause they beelieve it s cool... other cause they re just mean.
Anyway ...a real hacker does not ahck into Perssonal computer... they actually as mentioned before hack UNIX box mostly universities and companies.. so i wqould not care about them... i would care about the "amateur ones" that can be easily stopped with any kind of firewall.
Concerning the "real hackers" ...well there is not much you can do....as you have a protection..they might find a way aroud...they re pro ..so they probably know how to use Backdoors.......Hope this help
Hackers are not what people picture..a real Hacker does Hacking fopr a simple reason....KNOWLEDGE..there are many king fo hackers.. but the real one is the one that does it to "know more" eirther about the machine itself and of its content...most of them believe that Knowledge will set you free...and adtually trade iformation to improve their "level"
Then there are Legion..legion are goup of hackers that usually attack and free in your machine a trojan horse containing a virus....they usually use the same virus and the same name for the file...they are kinda the serial killer of the net....then there are amateur hacker...that send virus all over the place cause they beelieve it s cool... other cause they re just mean.
Anyway ...a real hacker does not ahck into Perssonal computer... they actually as mentioned before hack UNIX box mostly universities and companies.. so i wqould not care about them... i would care about the "amateur ones" that can be easily stopped with any kind of firewall.
Concerning the "real hackers" ...well there is not much you can do....as you have a protection..they might find a way aroud...they re pro ..so they probably know how to use Backdoors.......Hope this help
chemistry_geek
Registered
There is a shareware utility on versiontracker called BrickHouse or something like that that allows you to configure your built-in firewall. I looked at it and it is very thorough, but I don't know what I'm doing so I didn't activate my firewall. The only reason I considered this was because I discovered in the OS X log files several attempts from oversea's hackers to gain access to my computer. All anonymous FTP requests were denied by my computer and they didn't get in, and the firewall wasn't even turned on. Just make sure you have all file sharing turned off in the System Preferences and you should be all right.
It's not so much that it's easier to Hack mac OS X than Mac OS 9, it's more like ... it's possible. Mac OS 9 was not based on IP, and you had to jump through hoops to get IP working. There wasn't much of a chance you'd "Accidentally" leave something open. It'd be like accidentally chopping down trees and building your own house.
Mac OS X has a lot of native IP stuff, and as such, there are a lot of possibilities about how communication usually contained on your computers might be intercepted by or replaced by communication over the internet. But (and it's a big but) Mac OS X has done a LOT of things right in terms of security. It's based on BSD, which is rock hard, and they dominantly kept the default off philosophy of security.
While Windows has ... essentially gone out of its way to enable bad things to happen on Soooo many levels. I could totally go off here, but I'll refrain. Windows is about as secure as a sponge is water tight.
In terms of difficulty to hack, from 0 through 10, 10 being really hard to hack (like steal information or take control) then Mac OS 9 was a 10, Mac X is a 9, Win NT and Win2k are a 5 or so, win XP I'm estimating about a 4 so far, Win 95 and 98, like a 3. RedHat fluxuates from release to release, I'd go from 5 to 9 there.
Now there's a different type of hack, not breaking into, just breaking, like crashing. I'm surfing the internet and then suddenly, I'm not. For that, Mac 9 is the easiest, followed shortly after by Win 95 and 98, XP next, then NT and 2k, RedHat is right there with NT and 2k. Then there's Mac OS X, and then real BSD. BSD is essentially proven secure and solid. I'm a big fan.
If you are afraid of being hacked, you can get any sort of firwall up, but mostly, just don't enable file sharing or remote access. I've had my stuff looked at by security firms, and my Mac X boxes have been bulletproof. If you want to be afraid of hackers, run Windows.
Mac OS X has a lot of native IP stuff, and as such, there are a lot of possibilities about how communication usually contained on your computers might be intercepted by or replaced by communication over the internet. But (and it's a big but) Mac OS X has done a LOT of things right in terms of security. It's based on BSD, which is rock hard, and they dominantly kept the default off philosophy of security.
While Windows has ... essentially gone out of its way to enable bad things to happen on Soooo many levels. I could totally go off here, but I'll refrain. Windows is about as secure as a sponge is water tight.
In terms of difficulty to hack, from 0 through 10, 10 being really hard to hack (like steal information or take control) then Mac OS 9 was a 10, Mac X is a 9, Win NT and Win2k are a 5 or so, win XP I'm estimating about a 4 so far, Win 95 and 98, like a 3. RedHat fluxuates from release to release, I'd go from 5 to 9 there.
Now there's a different type of hack, not breaking into, just breaking, like crashing. I'm surfing the internet and then suddenly, I'm not. For that, Mac 9 is the easiest, followed shortly after by Win 95 and 98, XP next, then NT and 2k, RedHat is right there with NT and 2k. Then there's Mac OS X, and then real BSD. BSD is essentially proven secure and solid. I'm a big fan.
If you are afraid of being hacked, you can get any sort of firwall up, but mostly, just don't enable file sharing or remote access. I've had my stuff looked at by security firms, and my Mac X boxes have been bulletproof. If you want to be afraid of hackers, run Windows.
Jadey
sosumi
You must have been fed that line a thousand times on slashdot. Some people like to break into a machine and say it's OK because they have honourable intentions. The law doesn't care what they're intentions are. The hackers that I know do it for one reason - to show off to other people that they've only ever met on the internet. They don't admit this is the reason, they use the knowledge line too. Maybe these are the "amateurs", but they occasionally get inside the machine nonetheless.
If they really want to knowledge, maybe they should visit the library, set up their own machines & try to hack into them, which is a valid way of getting better administration skills.
As for the windows/unix security argument... I have a friend who has almost every MS certification there is. He says if a Windows machine is on the internet, it's vulnerable. You could say this about many unix boxes too, but Apple (and most BSDs) ships their OS with many potential holes turned off. Many *nix distributions do not. This doesn't make them hack proof, but BBenve is right that it is easy to stop most people. With a very persistent/no life combination hacker though, their chances increase.
If they really want to knowledge, maybe they should visit the library, set up their own machines & try to hack into them, which is a valid way of getting better administration skills.
As for the windows/unix security argument... I have a friend who has almost every MS certification there is. He says if a Windows machine is on the internet, it's vulnerable. You could say this about many unix boxes too, but Apple (and most BSDs) ships their OS with many potential holes turned off. Many *nix distributions do not. This doesn't make them hack proof, but BBenve is right that it is easy to stop most people. With a very persistent/no life combination hacker though, their chances increase.
Obviously your friends are not real hackers... cause a real hacker DOES NOT show off... he knows uit is dangerous and it is not so stupid to advertize the thing... plus... hacking yor machine... you already have access to the info inside.. so you would not get any new information... as said the real hacker hack BIG company and server to gain access to the info inside...
Concering if it is legal or not.. i never saidd it is legal.. i just wanted to make the differnce between the "amateur one? that usually is the one that puts viruses.. and the "real hacker" that even if he does stuff illegally i admire him for his purpose......but yes you re right ..law is law..
To answer the main question.. Mac are no more difficult or easier to hack than a wiondows box...it just depend on the hacker... if and i UNDERLINE IF they really want to.. they re gonna get in.
Concering if it is legal or not.. i never saidd it is legal.. i just wanted to make the differnce between the "amateur one? that usually is the one that puts viruses.. and the "real hacker" that even if he does stuff illegally i admire him for his purpose......but yes you re right ..law is law..
To answer the main question.. Mac are no more difficult or easier to hack than a wiondows box...it just depend on the hacker... if and i UNDERLINE IF they really want to.. they re gonna get in.
ThE OutsiDer
Registered
I have VPC installed and also back orifice.. I wanna learn how to hack pc ppl.
bighairydog
tail-wagging member
<off topic post>
Pet hate of mine - people thinking Hackers break into computer systems. That'll be Crackers you're thinking of. Hackers are the pioneers behind computing as we know it, and the open source paradigm. Richard Stallman (co-wrote the GPL), Linus Torvalds (Linux), Tim Berners-lee (Hyperlinks), Eric S Raymond (FetchMail) - these people were hackers. Conversely, the characters in the film 'Hackers', were crackers. See the Hacker FAQ for details.
Wanting to be as cool as the old masters, ScR1pt K1Dd1es began loudly proclaiming themselves to be hackers, and using their breaking into systems as proof of this, and the media caught on.
</off topic post>
Cracking a machine is actually quite easy, as long as you don't care what machine you crack - you just find a security hole, and try IP's until you find one where the person whose computer is vulnerable.
Cracking a specific machine is harder, but can be done if you have a large enough list of potential holes you can exploit, then chances are theres one unplugged. The easiest way to crack an OSX machine is through poorly written code in web scripts (e.g. PHP / perl) running on the machine, or via an email. If you know how perl code is written, you can sometimes exploit it to cause a buffer overflow and execute commands arbitrarily, but the default setup of perl on OSX makes this hard.
Bernie
)
Pet hate of mine - people thinking Hackers break into computer systems. That'll be Crackers you're thinking of. Hackers are the pioneers behind computing as we know it, and the open source paradigm. Richard Stallman (co-wrote the GPL), Linus Torvalds (Linux), Tim Berners-lee (Hyperlinks), Eric S Raymond (FetchMail) - these people were hackers. Conversely, the characters in the film 'Hackers', were crackers. See the Hacker FAQ for details.
Wanting to be as cool as the old masters, ScR1pt K1Dd1es began loudly proclaiming themselves to be hackers, and using their breaking into systems as proof of this, and the media caught on.
</off topic post>
Cracking a machine is actually quite easy, as long as you don't care what machine you crack - you just find a security hole, and try IP's until you find one where the person whose computer is vulnerable.
Cracking a specific machine is harder, but can be done if you have a large enough list of potential holes you can exploit, then chances are theres one unplugged. The easiest way to crack an OSX machine is through poorly written code in web scripts (e.g. PHP / perl) running on the machine, or via an email. If you know how perl code is written, you can sometimes exploit it to cause a buffer overflow and execute commands arbitrarily, but the default setup of perl on OSX makes this hard.
Bernie
)Know your resources. Game rooms, warez rooms, and rooms showing pictures of Sarah Michelle Geller are bound to be filled with script bearing 12 year olds. These are now your friends. If you want to be taken seriously, you'll need to be able to type fast, with lots of typos, interspersing numbers for letters, Particularly vowels. You'll need to curse a lot, abbreviate and TLA everything you can, assume everyone knows what you mean. It'll make you seem cooler. RandoM CapiTalIzatiOn is also trendy in some parts.
Next, pick your delivery method. I'm a big fan of mass e-mailing nude celebrity photos myself, but to each his own ... you can attempt to hack in through known computer exploits, but I find that modern users are even poorer security guards than are their computers. This is the part of the infection process where you can most express your personal creativity.
Choose your platform. The Microsoft Virus Enabler Suite(tm) is superb for it's vertical integration of Windows and Office allowing high level scripting virus macros in Visual Basic, as well as nitty gritty assembler viruses if you need that kind of power, and plenty of communication between them. Hell, even Documents can be riddled with executable viruses. Rock on M$VES(tm)!!! Also, Windows has a penchant for mysterious disk activity, so you can pretty much run rampant and the user won't figure it out until it's all over.
And finally, your tool. While you could actually write your own, educating yourself in the ways of computers, logic, programmatic structures, syntactical conventions, and modern concepts like Model-View-Controller or Object-Oriented-Programming etc. Why would you? I think it's just easier to tell the 12 year olds with whom you are now friends how much you hate a person, describe the machine to them, and ask if they have tools. While your success rate from these malformed tools through ill-informed minor merchants is bound to be low, at least you didn't have to learn anything. They'll appreciate your disdain for authority, conformity, work, and your general lack productivity.
And while you're out to make mischief, I learned from the movie "fight club" that you can make napalm by mixing equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate. I think it's important that it's frozen. It probably makes it thicker.
Next, pick your delivery method. I'm a big fan of mass e-mailing nude celebrity photos myself, but to each his own ... you can attempt to hack in through known computer exploits, but I find that modern users are even poorer security guards than are their computers. This is the part of the infection process where you can most express your personal creativity.
Choose your platform. The Microsoft Virus Enabler Suite(tm) is superb for it's vertical integration of Windows and Office allowing high level scripting virus macros in Visual Basic, as well as nitty gritty assembler viruses if you need that kind of power, and plenty of communication between them. Hell, even Documents can be riddled with executable viruses. Rock on M$VES(tm)!!! Also, Windows has a penchant for mysterious disk activity, so you can pretty much run rampant and the user won't figure it out until it's all over.
And finally, your tool. While you could actually write your own, educating yourself in the ways of computers, logic, programmatic structures, syntactical conventions, and modern concepts like Model-View-Controller or Object-Oriented-Programming etc. Why would you? I think it's just easier to tell the 12 year olds with whom you are now friends how much you hate a person, describe the machine to them, and ask if they have tools. While your success rate from these malformed tools through ill-informed minor merchants is bound to be low, at least you didn't have to learn anything. They'll appreciate your disdain for authority, conformity, work, and your general lack productivity.
And while you're out to make mischief, I learned from the movie "fight club" that you can make napalm by mixing equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate. I think it's important that it's frozen. It probably makes it thicker.
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
As for the "honorable intentions" BS -- would you allow someone to break into your house at night without your permission, even if their reason was, "Oh, just checking to make sure you're safe!"
And another thing. Hackers are the good guys. This is a common misunderstanding. Hackers DO have good intentions. Hackers don't release virii. Hacker's don't do damage. Hackers help us to understand how and why CRACKERS get into our systems and do damage. Crackers figure out ways to reverse-engineer software. Crackers release virii into systems in order to gain access, whether they're looking for something specific or doing it just because they can.
Hackers got a bad reputation because it's scary to some people that someone can look over some code and tell them exactly what they did. It's scary to write a program and have someone else know more about that program than the author. But let's not confuse hackers (the people that help us implement stricter security policies -- write better programs -- feel more at ease) with the truly evil incarnation of hackers... crackers.
And another thing. Hackers are the good guys. This is a common misunderstanding. Hackers DO have good intentions. Hackers don't release virii. Hacker's don't do damage. Hackers help us to understand how and why CRACKERS get into our systems and do damage. Crackers figure out ways to reverse-engineer software. Crackers release virii into systems in order to gain access, whether they're looking for something specific or doing it just because they can.
Hackers got a bad reputation because it's scary to some people that someone can look over some code and tell them exactly what they did. It's scary to write a program and have someone else know more about that program than the author. But let's not confuse hackers (the people that help us implement stricter security policies -- write better programs -- feel more at ease) with the truly evil incarnation of hackers... crackers.