Hack The Sec-Leading Resource Of Linux Tutorial: Apple Mac Malware

Apple's Mac OS X Still Open to Malware, Thanks Gatekeeper

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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Apple's Mac OS X Still Open to Malware, Thanks Gatekeeper</u></b></span><br />
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Apple Mac Computers are considered to be much safer than Windows computers at keeping out the viruses and malware, but the new Exploit discovered by researchers again proves it indeed quite false.</div>
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Last year, The Hacker News reported a deadly simple exploit that completely bypassed one of the core security features in Mac OS X known as <b style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gatekeeper</b>.</div>
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Apple released a patch in November, but now the same security researcher who discovered the original Gatekeeper bypass vulnerability said he found an equally obvious workaround.</div>
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Patrick Wardle, ex-NSA staffer and head of research at security intelligence firm Synack, said the security patch released by Apple was "<b style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">incredibly weak</b>" and that the update was "<b style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">easy to bypass</b>" in minutes.</div>
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Gatekeeper's Failure Once Again</h3>
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Introduced in July of 2012, Gatekeeper is Apple's anti-malware feature designed to block untrusted, dodgy apps from running, keeping Mac OS X systems safe from malware.</div>
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However, the reality is slightly different, according to Wardle. Hackers can install malicious software on Mac computers, even when Gatekeeper is set to its most restrictive setting.</div>
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In September, Wardle realized that before allowing any apps to execute on an OS X machine, Gatekeeper performs a number of checks, such as:</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ensuring the app has been signed with an Apple-recognized developer certificate</li>
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But, what Gatekeeper fails to check is – whether the app already trusted by OS X runs or loads other files from the same folder.</div>
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However, in the name of a security patch, all Apple did was simply blacklist the signed apps Wardle was abusing to bypass Gatekeeper, rather than fixing the underlying problem.</div>
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How to Bypass Gatekeeper in OS X?</h3>
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This was not effective in preventing attacks. Wardle found a new Apple-signed file that allow him to do the same. Notably, the file was offered by the popular anti-virus firm Kaspersky Labs.</div>
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All Wardle has done is:</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Swapped out the legitimate <b style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Binary B</b> with a malicious one</li>
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Now, Binary B needs no digital certificate or Apple developer certificate to run, so it can be used to install anything the attacker wants, completely bypassing Gatekeeper.</div>
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Wardle notified Apple about his latest finding, and the company rolled out an update blocking the new files Wardle privately reported it, which is not a right approach. Apple should come up with a more comprehensive fix to address the issue.</div>
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How to Protect Yourself?</h3>
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In the meantime, Wardle suggested Mac users to only download software from the Mac App Store and be more careful while downloading apps from the internet.</div>
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Wardle will be presenting his findings at the<i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Shmoocon conference in Washington D.C </i>this weekend. He also released a complementary tool for Gatekeeper on Friday, a free tool dubbed<b style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://objective-see.com/products/ostiarius.html" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; color: #1177b8; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Ostiarius</a></b>, that checks all file executions and blocks untrusted, unsigned code originating from the Web. </div>
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Apple's Mac OS X Still Open to Malware, Thanks Gatekeeper

Apple's Mac OS X Still Open to Malware, Thanks Gatekeeper Apple Mac Computers are considered to be much safer than Windows computers ...

Thunderstrike 2: World's First Firmware Worm That Infects Mac Computers Without Detection Tuesday

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<a class="url entry-title" href="http://www.hackthesec.co.in/2015/08/thunderstrike-2-worlds-first-firmware.html" itemprop="url" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #3d5a99; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 28px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 48px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 3px 10px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Thunderstrike 2: World's First Firmware Worm That Infects Mac Computers Without Detection</a></h1>
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If you think Apple’s Mac computers are much more secure than Windows-powered systems, you need to think again. This isn’t true, and security researchers have finally proved it.</div>
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Two security researchers have developed a proof-of-concept computer worm for the first time that can spread automatically between MacBooks, without any need for them to be networked.</div>
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Dubbed <b style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><u style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thunderstrike 2</u></b>, the new proof-of-concept firmware attack is inspired by previously developed proof-of-concept firmware called Thunderstrike.</div>
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Thunderstrike Attack, developed by security engineer Trammell Hudson, actually took advantage of a<b style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">vulnerability in Thunderbolt Option ROM</i></b> that could be used to infect <i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Apple Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)</i> by allocating a malicious code into the boot ROM of an Apple computer through infected Thunderbolt devices.<br style="content: " "; display: block; margin: 20px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></div>
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Thunderstrike 2 Spreads Remotely</h3>
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<br style="content: " "; display: block; margin: 20px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Although the original Thunderstrike required an attacker to have physical access to your Mac computer to work, the new attack can be spread remotely.</div>
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Thunderstrike 2 can be delivered via phishing emails, malicious Web site, as well as through a peripheral connected to the Ethernet port or USB.</div>
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After downloaded on a computer, Thunderstrike 2 can infect Thunderbolt-connected accessories that use Option ROM. After that, the malware can automatically spread to any Mac that you plug the accessory into.</div>
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Thunderstrike 2 is developed by two security researcher Trammell Hudson and Xeno Kovah of firmware security consultancy Legbacore. The researchers also demonstrated their attack, which you can watch in the video given below.<br style="content: " "; display: block; margin: 20px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></div>
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 Infects Mac Computers Without Detection</h3>
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Given the vicious worm, Thunderstrike 2, targets and lives in the firmware and can even evade a whole system reboot, it’s a real pain for the Mac users.</div>
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"<i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thunderstrike 2 is really hard to detect, it’s really hard to get rid of, and it’s really hard to protect against something that’s running inside the firmware,</i>" Kovah <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/08/researchers-create-first-firmware-worm-attacks-macs/" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; color: #3d5a99; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">told</a> Wired.</blockquote>
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"<i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For most users that’s really a throw-your-machine-away kind of situation. Most people and organizations don’t have the wherewithal to physically open up their machine and electrically reprogram the chip.</i>"</blockquote>
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Many of the firmware vulnerabilities discovered by the researchers to develop Thunderstrike 2 are common to most EFI firmware. A total of six vulnerabilities affected PCs from Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and others.</div>
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Five firmware vulnerabilities also affected the Mac's firmware, and of those, Apple has fully patched one flaw, partially patched another, and failed to patch the rests.</div>
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The researchers plan to present their findings at the <i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Black Hat</i> and <i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Def Con security conferences</i> in Las Vegas this week.</div>
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