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Macbook Air Hacked in Under 2 Minutes
By: Jayesh Mansukhani   |   Mar 29,2008
One of the things that Apple has always prided itself over and promoted in no uncertain terms, has been the so-called 'robust security' offered by its OSX operating system. However this supposition of Apple's took a huge beating on Thursday when a team of researchers from Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) managed to hack a MacBook Air in just two minutes using a previously unknown security vulnerability in Apple’s own safari browser.


The people who did the 'hack' were ISE security researchers - Charlie Miller, Jake Honoroff, and Mark Daniel – who  were participating in the "PWN to OWN" competition at the CanSecWest security conference, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In this competition there were 3 laptops, with different OS’s offered for being hacked into. These included an Apple Macbook Air running OS X 10.5.2, a Sony Vaio VGN-TZ37CN running Ubuntu 7.10 and a Fujitsu U810 running Vista Ultimate SP1. Anyone who could successfully hack or exploit these machines would win a $10,000 price from famous security company Tipping Point.

The first to go was of course the Macbook, followed by Windows Vista. Ubuntu stood strong despite repeated attempts.

For further details on this hack, check out this post here on Tipping Point.
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the macbook air looks like the coolest computer ever and i realy want one can you pleese give me one for free thankyou
Matt @ Apr 19,2008
The test is for a researcher to find one previously undisclosed vulnerability on the day of the contest. Now we evaluate how much an OS is secure based on one vulnerability, ignoring all the rest. There is one vuln. in your OS on that particular day, therefore it's deemed to be insecure. New vulnerabilities are randomly discovered and patched every day, pick another date for the contest and you'll get another result.
snorr @ Apr 14,2008
Maybe it is because of the popularity of the macbook air and the fact that it is the latest trend which contributed to its defeat. they came prepared to hack and take the loot of Mac which is way too much with which you can buy the other two os's as well.
ubuntu is altogether another story. you may be interested to know that hackers dual boot windows xp/vista with ubuntu.
they chose windows for hacking and experimenting while they do their normal work with ubuntu.
delvin varghese @ Apr 05,2008
The term hacked is used too loosely.

What was hacked? How serious was the hack?

We don't really care if he managed to get the apple's screensaver to turn on.
bryan @ Apr 05,2008
This is not that surprising. As said before, Windows is hacked because it is so widely used you can use a kind of shotgun approach to hacking them and still hit allot of targets. Ubuntu probably was least likely to get hacked because not as many people use it (although it is what i use). I would say that the person that says that they need no anti virus software or don't need to take any security precautions because they own a Mac or run Linux is a complete idiot that has very little understanding of digital security issues.
David @ Apr 04,2008
"Ubuntu is a free ware, coping with philosophies of hackers: the digital world should be free! (I'm not a hacker, so please pardon me if this statement is incorrect). And that explains why hackers don't kill Ubuntu but keep developing it. " Actually just because an OS is freeware doesnt mean hackers dont try to hack it, but it is also open source which means anybody can go in and look for potential problems and then they can be fixed quickly unlike windows or OSX.
Ryan @ Apr 04,2008
I know why there are no known viruses for the mac; It's because the mac sucks so bad that no one even wants to give it negitive attention! f--- the mac, pc all the way.
Drew @ Apr 02,2008
lol shame you apple people, windows xp for the win!!!! BOOOYAH!!!
Emily @ Apr 02,2008
I think Ciel was right. Most hackers will hack a PC rather than a Mac because PCs are more widely used. Apple computers was very fortunate when hackers are not interested them. However, since the legends of Ipod, Itune, Leopard and now Mac air, Apple becomes more popular. They are now like windows back then, hackers like to check them out.

When Apple makes hackers turn their heads to Mac computers, I expect more flaws to be found in Mac. Apple computers will just be as unsecured as windows in the future.

Ubuntu is a free ware, coping with philosophies of hackers: the digital world should be free! (I'm not a hacker, so please pardon me if this statement is incorrect). And that explains why hackers don't kill Ubuntu but keep developing it.
Q @ Apr 01,2008
vista was hacked through flash, which isn't native to the OS so whatever.

.. but yea the story was carried in all media so guess u can say it was windows?
u people r dumb @ Mar 31,2008
way to go...open source..
vaibhav @ Mar 31,2008
I'm glad i use linux ^_^
Remy @ Mar 31,2008
The 'many eyes' approach seems to work then. Glad I use Ubuntu, have wiped away all traces of windows at home. Macs were always for smug elitists and while they look lovely, they're so expensive and altogether not that good. I could get better specs from my local computer store for half the price, and not be forced to use some retarded operating system that costs a couple of hundred quid. Go Linux!
Jon @ Mar 30,2008
The only reason Macs are 'secure' is because people writing viruses & hacking are looking for the best investment for their time. You write code for something to abuse a typical PC running windows and you have something that can attack 90% of home computers.

Its lack of effort, not great security.
Ciel @ Mar 30,2008
Would that have been any different if it was running a power pc chip?Just curious.
Tony @ Mar 30,2008
Now to set the slate clear and also to make a point let me inform you all that the mac was also hacked last year in the same competition and also the hacking convention as reported in the news site cnet.com.
mac or aple don't get the same publicity when they are hacked or compromised as their users are true men who don't admit that the shortcomings, just like proud parents of normal kids.
as can be found out by searching on the net you all can come to know that ever since osx macs have had more security lapses than even windows xp let alone vista.......
bye and ponder over it.
imagine the iphone being hacked in so small time as a precursor to your research.
Manish Sood @ Mar 29,2008
its a clear indication that vista and leopard os are over hyped and infact its the free ubuntu os thats secured...........now beat that !!
Hujefa Penwala @ Mar 29,2008
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