CHARLIE (ABAlmeida) Mac OS
Two well-known Mac hackers are updating a widely used hacking toolkit, making it easier to take control of a Macintosh computer.
Charlie (abalmeida) Mac Os Catalina
Over the past few days, the researchers have been quietly adding new software to the Metasploit toolkit, used by security researchers and criminals alike. Metasploit already supported Mac attacks, but until recently the Mac code hadn’t been as good as Metasploit’s Windows and Linux tools, said Dino Dai Zovi, an independent security researcher who talked about the new tools with his collaborator Charlie Miller at the CanSecWest conference. “Our goal was to make Mac OS X a first-class target for Metasploit.”
Explore the world of Mac. Check out MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini, and more. Visit the Apple site to learn, buy, and get support. Apple was the last leading operating system vendor to offer full disk encryption (in the recently released Mac OS X Lion). Apple is also typically the last among these vendors to patch software. Alan: When the NX bit was first introduced, it was supposed to dramatically reduce the amount of malware. Suppose the Alan Dang Web browser had a bug in the code that parses the URL.
Metasploit is an open-source toolkit that makes it easy for hackers to launch a barrage of attacks against a computer system.
Miller and Dai Zovi earned fame in previous years for hacking Macintosh computers at CanSecWest’s annual Pwn2Own hacking contest. On Wednesday, Miller, a researcher with Independent Security Evaluators, won $5,000 and a Mac laptop by using a previously unknown Safari vulnerability to hack into a Mac system.
The hack was done before contest organizers. In an interview, Miller said he had hoped to demonstrate it before an audience at CanSecWest, but was prevented from doing so because of Pwn2Own contest rules, which prohibit public discussion of bugs exploited in the contest.
Miller and Dai Zovi say their work is designed to bring attention to serious security problems in the Mac platform, which has largely avoided the wide-scale attacks that have plagued Windows for years. Dai Zovi said he considers the Mac safe, but not secure. “There’s a difference between safety and security,” he said. “It’s like leaving your door unlocked. … Leaving your door unlocked is always insecure, but it may or may not be safe.”
At the show, the researchers demonstrated several payload programs they have developed for Metasploit, including one called “Pic the Vic,” which can be used to snap a photograph of a Mac user who has been hacked, using the computer’s camera.
They have also ported a Windows tool, called Meterpreter, to the Mac. Meterpreter is a stealth tool that can be used to gain information from and import more software onto a hacked computer.
In the next few days they plan to add exploit code to Metasploit for a handful of previously patched Mac software bugs. Exploit code must be used to first hack into the computer before any payload software can be installed.
Charlie (abalmeida) Mac Os Download
Although there are still many more exploits available for Windows software than for Macs, the new payload code means there is now “more or less the same functionality if you want to target a Mac box or a Windows box,” Miller said.