I notice a very interesting news release from
the beginning of August which states that Blackhats successfully (and it seems
quite effortlessly) managed to remotely exploit and install a rootkit on a
MacBook. Of course exploiting a machine
is in itself nothing extraordinary, what made this instance particularly
alarming is that the only weak point to be exploited was that its WiFi adaptor
was enabled! Just enabled, not even
associated with an access point! So what
allowed them to do this? Apparently the
vulnerability is in the way in which manufacturers drivers interface between
the hardware and operating system. It is
not only Macs which are affected, both Windows and Linux users are at risk
too! Although the exact method of
exploit wont be released until manufacturers have had a chance to update
drivers, the method of exploitation is apparently very simple and revolves
around the use of binary drivers. OpenBSD systems are not thought to be
vulnerable.