MacBook Air Hacked in 120 Seconds Flat

By Nick Mokey Published March 27, 2008

MacBook Air Hacked in 120 Seconds Flat — Image used with permission by copyright holder

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.

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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.

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