Another Day With My PC

At the rate programs, especially operating systems, get hacked everyday, one might not really be amused at contests which aim to expose the vulnerabilities of an application.

A software engineer and a security researcher who participated in a similar competition at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver, Canada laid out a security glitch on Apple’s OS X by successful hacking a MacBook running on the said program.

Dino Dai Zovi created the exploit while Shane Macaulay handled the practical aspects of the hacking. They were able to get in to the system courtesy of some vulnerabilities in Safari. Macaulay won a laptop for his efforts, while Dai Zovi will be submitting his work on the Apple holes in a bid to win the $10,000 prize that is offered to anyone who can successfully hack an element of OS X.

It’s a good thing that Apple’s a sport and allowed this kind of competition to expose the weaknesses of its product. Many companies wouldn’t dare subject their software to such a test, especially amidst a losing campaign to wrest control of the industry that they’re in. The last thing that Apple needs is a reason for customers to further drift away from OS X and unconditionally embrace Microsoft’s Windows Vista.

I’m not a fan of OS X, but judging from the time and intricacy involved in developing the exploit, I think that the Apple OS is a fairly secured application. If you’ve been a Windows user since time immemorial, you’ll definitely agree that Bill Gates’ products are not that difficult to exploit. Patches after patches are continuously being released by Microsoft in order to stem the daily attacks that their OS is getting from hackers all over the world. It seems that the Redmond, Washington company doesn’t need to organize a competition anymore in order to inspire somebody to hack into their product.

So why did I just say that the OS X is still a good operating system despite the fact that Dai Zovi and Macaulay successfully crossed its moat? Well, for starters, the MacBook that was hacked did not have any security program in it. It only had the latest version of the OS X and all the necessary patches, but nothing more.

You might surmise, as I did, that the OS X would be virtually impregnable if its security functions or features are complemented by other system defenders, such as anti-spyware and antivirus programs. Indeed, I doubt it if Macaulay would’ve been able to bring home anything if the MacBook also had Symantec’s Norton Antivirus.

I’m not saying that hacking through a system that is protected by a third-party security suite is an impossible task. We all know that it’s definitely possible. Hackers have already put into shame some of the best antivirus and anti-spyware programs in the market.

I hope that software makers wouldn’t hesitate in sponsoring competitions that aim to dissect their products and expose any flaw that they may have overlooked. This would definitely contribute to a safer and more secured computing world.