MacBook Air Hacked in 120 Seconds Flat

MacBook Air Hacked in 120 Seconds Flat

A hacking contest that gave competitors access to secured Windows Vista, Ubuntu Linux and Apple OS X machines saw the Mac fall first.

The man who first hacked the iPhone has done it again on Apple’s latest golden child, the MacBook Air. The hot new notebook was the first to fall in a hacking contest held at the CanSecWest security conference, netting Charlie Miller his $10,000 prize in just two minutes.

The PWN2OWN contest featured a Sony Vaio running Ubuntu 7.10, a Fujitsu U810 running Windows Vista Ultimate SP1, and a MacBook Air Running OSX 10.5.2. The challenge for competitors: hack into one and win the computer, plus $10,000.

On the first day of the contest, hackers were only allowed to use network attacks, ending in a stalemate. However, when malicious Web sites and e-mails were opened up as a means for hacking on day two, Miller secured his victory in just two minutes using a Safari browser vulnerability.

Sticking with the good-spirited nature of the contest, Miller has been instructed not to share the vulnerability with others, and the contest sponsor, TippingPoint, has privately revealed it to Apple so the company can address it with a patch.

Showing 3 comments

  1. EricNorris at 10:01pm 12th August 2010 Lol, I remember that. I stumbled across this article while browsing and it just makes me giggle that MAC users think they are the most secure. http://TechReview.LIEconomy.com
  2. Tim at 2:43am 30th October 2008 Come on, tell us what we really want to know, how quickly did Vista fall and did it beat Linux? I know which one my money is with.
  3. Stan at 9:37pm 30th March 2008 OSX is the most secure OS my A$$!!

    Too funny, eat it Apple lovers.
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