Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!newsfeed.fsmpi.rwth-aachen.de!newsfeed.straub-nv.de!news-1.dfn.de!news.dfn.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Lloyd Parsons Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: Is this real Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 14:29:12 -0600 Lines: 36 Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8Bit X-Trace: individual.net wH+TvnOlid+B+XwURi5leQrB+ridcHNy7s4GDgfI8cR9peprDD Cancel-Lock: sha1:OOJQ0tW5CwqODWM9E3JaE8EAM3c= User-Agent: NewsgroupsRT/15 In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com comp.sys.mac.system:68318 On 12 Jan 2015 20:27:17 GMT, Jolly Roger wrote: > On 2015-01-12, Kurt Ullman wrote: >> >> Macs vulnerable to virtually undetectable virus that "can't be removed" >> Summary:A security researcher has discovered a way to infect Macs with >> malware virtually undetectable, that 'can't be removed,' and which can >> be installed using a modified Apple gigabit Ethernet Thunderbolt adapter. >> >> http://www.zdnet.com/article/macs-vulnerable-to-virtually-undetectable-vi >> rus-that-cant-be-removed/ >> >> As best I can tell, someone has to get hold of your Mac, open it up >> and do something to the thunderbolt adaptor, put everything back >> together and then do it to it. >> Seems even to me, to be hardly worth the time or effort and >> definitely not going to do any damage for 99.999999999% of us. > > Sure, it's real. It's also not Mac-specific. The researcher chose Macs > for the publicity. To be compromised, you have to allow a stranger to > plug a malicious Thunderbolt device into a Thunderbolt port on your > computer. This is similarly to the way you can be compromised if you > allow someone to plug a malicious USB device into the USB port on your > computer. And that's been known for many years now. The same smart > computing principle applies: Don't leave your computer where strangers > can have unsupervised physical access to it, and don't plug strange > USB/Thunderbolt things into your computer. ; ) > IOW, another of those 'proof of concept' thingies with no real impact on anyone other than the very stupid. My guess, it'll never see the light outside the 'lab' he did it in. -- Lloyd