MacBook hit with wireless hack

[rpm]

http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=3791

 

[bwana]

How nice it would be if we had a forum (or subforum) to discuss this in

 

[JStrike]

Same hack also works against windows and linux laptops with wifi. It is a wifi exploit. Bit sensationalist

 

[charlbronn]

Also see this link: http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=003000002WEF

Seems like they were using 3rd party wireless card and not the card that comes with the Macbook! Seems a bit silly. How many people buy a notebook with wifi then change their wifi card? None....

 

[lilDeath]

Also see this link: http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=003000002WEF

Seems like they were using 3rd party wireless card and not the card that comes with the Macbook! Seems a bit silly. How many people buy a notebook with wifi then change their wifi card? None....

uhm, actually.... it is common IMO

 

[BobJones]

Scare tactics

Since I got two macs running wireless connections, I was pretty alarmed to read this story... at first.

Then it turns out that:
They showed a video of the hack... not the hack itself,
The hack doesn't work with the builtin apple airport cards (basically all new macs come with one)
The target machine needs to have the rootkit installed before the hack can be performed.

So, if your machine is already compromised, and you are using some 3rd party wifi card, you can get hacked into. Seems there's more to worry about from straight sniffing than this hack.

BTW - I'm with charlbronn that not many mac or centrino users will be using 3rd party wireless cards... I couldn't even find a expresscard/34 wifi card listed for sale. Why duplicate internal hardware, particularly on the macs which ship standard with wifi/g built-in?

 

[bwana]

uhm, actually.... it is common IMO

Common? I dont know any mac laptop users who have used a third party card since they started being included as standard.

I never allow my machines to access untrusted wap's anyway.

 

[bwana]

Turns out it was FUD after all

This video presentation at Black Hat demonstrates vulnerabilities found in wireless device drivers. Although an Apple MacBook was used as the demo platform, it was exploited through a third-party wireless device driver - not the original wireless device driver that ships with the MacBook. As part of a responsible disclosure policy, we are not disclosing the name of the third-party wireless device driver until a patch is available.