Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based graphical interface operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc.
17
votes
3answers
533 views
What can an attacker do with Bluetooth and how should it be mitigated?
What are the security risks of Bluetooth and what technologies and best practices should be used to protect my device? What can an attacker do once a malicious device is paired with mine?
...
15
votes
5answers
1k views
How can I protect my computer from my potentially malicious colleagues?
So, I work in this small company (10 people) where we do stuff in programming, for various platforms. I started recently working there (2 months) right after I graduated. My work is not exactly ...
15
votes
1answer
2k views
Mac OS X from an IT Security Practitioners' Perspective?
What does the Mac OS X offer that it has been recently attracting users with IT security focus?
There are sites that specifically focus on "hacking" with OSX, such as machacking.net. Defcon has an ...
11
votes
5answers
683 views
Convenient cross-platform help on checking secure hashes like SHA-256
It is often helpful to be able to obtain a good cryptographic checksum of a file, e.g. the SHA-256 hash. This can be used to verify file integrity, so long as you have a reliable source for the hash.
...
9
votes
4answers
822 views
What firewall settings on a Macintosh are the most restrictive, while still permitting casual internet use?
I don't want this to be subjective, so I'll try to make the requirements as clear as possible.
On a Mac with Snow Leopard, how can I set up the firewall rulesets that allow ONLY:
Using the internet ...
8
votes
3answers
354 views
Reading keystrokes of other applications
Is it possible for other application running in the OS to read the keystrokes that my application uses?
What about mouse events and window handles?
Is there any security wall that the OS uses to ...
8
votes
1answer
316 views
How can I secure my log files?
I have a cool tool that displays my syslog and kernellog on my mac's desktop. This has me concerned about what is written in them - I'm staring to feel like they are creating a hole in my privacy. I ...
8
votes
3answers
864 views
What FDE (with hardware encrypted drives) for OS X works?
I'm trying to get all of our laptops doing FDE (as I'm sure lots of you are), and I've run into a problematic spot. Our Windows and Linux laptops are Dells, and they have some good BIOS integration ...
7
votes
3answers
261 views
Secure cleaning of deleted files
So I know how to secure delete files. But at our company, we have a laptop which had many important documents, which now have been deleted, but not in a secure way.
We can't perform a full format of ...
7
votes
4answers
603 views
Verify Mac firmware is not hacked…how to do?
I have a late model Mac computer. I allowed someone to plug in a USB drive, and my network activity changed afterwards.
Normally, Little Snitch will report every app that uses the internet. Every ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Rootkits on Mac OS X
Is there known existence of rootkits for Mac OS X, and can you please provide examples?
What software would you recommend to detect rootkits on OS/X?
From a software developer's perspective, can you ...
6
votes
4answers
278 views
Can you really change the password to a mac on reboot without knowing the old one?
I was looking for answers for a configuration issue on my laptop but then I got to reading the answers to this post. There was one that troubled me slightly (the last one by Lauri) which says how to ...
6
votes
6answers
2k views
How secure is FileVault 2 while the computer is in sleep mode?
How secure is Apples disk encryption FileVault 2 when someone has physical or network access while the computer in sleep mode or is running a screen saver? Are there ways to circumvent FileVault 2 ...
6
votes
3answers
586 views
Who (which process) is calling curl?
On my mac (Lion), I know that curl is bing used by some unknown process to communicate with a server.
Basically I installed little Snitch and find out that "somebody" is using curl periodically.
...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
Is it possible for a phishing link to install a major virus on a Mac?
My girlfriend recently had her university MS Exchange account hacked. The attacker took over her email account and started using it to send thousands of spam emails. After a while, her email account ...
5
votes
2answers
915 views
Need help identifying the OSX process that's generating strange network traffic
Since the past few days, I noticed that my router was a bit slow, and was restarting by itself at times. When looked at it's logs, they had entries like:
Friday Jul 13 13:09:02 2012 1 Blocked by DoS ...
5
votes
6answers
210 views
Safe to connect to external drive?
A customer provided an external drive (USB 2.0 and Firewire 800 connections), and wants me to copy files onto the drive. The drive is not new. I have no particular reason to suspect the customer ...
4
votes
4answers
372 views
What do you do to protect data on a Macbook in the event of theft/loss of the device?
What setup do you recommend to protect data on a MacBook in the event of theft/loss of the device?
I'm specifically interested in Macs here, rather than laptops generally, and in concrete ...
4
votes
1answer
177 views
xml library vulnerabilities, regarding post-exploitation
there was some arbitrary code execution that occurred on my os x 10.5 system.
this came as a result of opening an xls file with excel for mac.
the vnc type program that came with office for mac was ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
How to detect KeyLogger on Mac OS X ?
I have a Mac OS X computer and I want to know if it has installed a Keylogger or something that control what I'm doing: when I switch on/off the computer, what I install on it, etc.
How can I know ...
4
votes
1answer
226 views
SSL protocol issues on OS X and iOS
I have a PfSense box as a UTM, running snort among other things. I started noticing that when MacBooks and iPhones/iPods connect to my network, the snort log gets flooded with this message:
...
4
votes
1answer
40 views
PKI integration in MAC OS
I have setup an ejbca pki and integrated certificates in MAC OS for S/MIME signing and encrypting. I have also set up a CRL distribution point and put the CRL online available on an HTTP server.
...
3
votes
2answers
806 views
Is leaving the root user enabled in Mac OS X a security risk?
To those unfamiliar, the Mac OSX has the root account disabled by default. In order to enable the root user you have to go deep into System Preferences and authenticate yourself with an administrator ...
3
votes
1answer
287 views
Is there a viable open source antivirus for OS/X?
I am interested in finding an antivirus program for the Mac, but not one from Symantec, because I don't trust them.
I wonder if perhaps there is an open source solution for antivirus for OS/X?
Or ...
3
votes
1answer
155 views
How do I configure Terminal Server (and clients) for use over untrusted Wifi networks?
Suppose a client wants to directly connect to Terminal Server exposed to the Internet, without a VPN, ... what software & settings is needed to properly protect against WiFi based attacks? ...
3
votes
2answers
180 views
Chrome: Found a crash, is it a security vulnerability?
I have been able to make Google Chrome crash, and I was wondering if there are tools or heuristics to determine whether or not the crash is a security vulnerability.
How can I determine if a Chrome ...
3
votes
1answer
80 views
Do public keys make Kerberos more secure (RFC4556)?
We're using IPA to centralize our authentication and I found an option to add a public key for each user. After doing a little research I found this to be an extension to Kerberos 5, RFC4556.
From my ...
3
votes
1answer
232 views
Does setting a firmware password add security if FileVault 2 is enabled?
On an up-to-date OS X computer with FileVault 2 (whole-disk encryption, minus the recovery partition), is any security gained by setting a firmware password, as well?
3
votes
2answers
264 views
Does GateKeeper on OS X 10.8 offer any reasonable protection from exploits?
OS X 10.8 comes with GateKeeper, which basically has three settings:
Allow only apps from Mac App Store
Allow only apps from Mac App Store or that are signed with a valid Apple Developer certificate
...
3
votes
1answer
389 views
Mac sending hundreds of packets to gateway
I've got a user on my work network who brings her personal laptop (macbook) in for work. They've been having some horrendously slow network issues on everything past that hub, so I did some packet ...
2
votes
4answers
339 views
Apple ID Created With My Email Address
A little similar to this question. but rather than hack my email address someone has created an Apple ID with a gmail address that is similar to mine, but had dots '.' in it. For example if I have ...
2
votes
4answers
1k views
Reverse engineering (decompiling) an .exe file in OSX
I am a complete newby in the reverse engineering world, and being able to decompile .exe files in my OSX is being a pain.
Does anybody know a good decompiler of .exe for OSX, or any hint about where ...
2
votes
1answer
207 views
FireFox Download Source
While downloading the latest version of Firefox for Mac, i took a peek at the source. The names don't look legit but i am not that familiar with how CDNs work.
I hit download multiple times and ...
2
votes
2answers
474 views
LDAP Security problems?
I have installed many Active Directiory based networks and have applied various standard security templates based on best practices, however I have never really looked at LDAP on a deeper level and ...
2
votes
3answers
375 views
Apple FileVault — would Apple build a backdoor?
Could Apple build a backdoor into it's FileVault encryption technology? Is that a risk you take of using a closed-source encryption product in general? Would using something like TrueCrypt be more ...
2
votes
1answer
172 views
Is Dual Factor possible during boot with whole disk encryption on Mac FileVault 2
Mac FileVault 2 is the default disk encryption for newer Macs that occurs in the EFI pre-boot phase. The challenge here is that most smartcard drivers are loaded after the OS loads.
Is anyone aware ...
2
votes
2answers
167 views
2
votes
2answers
261 views
Apple Mac Security - What do I need to know?
As I've been working on Windows machines most of my life I know most of the best practices and apps to keep them secure.
When it comes to security on Apple macs I'm clueless as to where to start.
2
votes
1answer
269 views
Is there any way to list the contents of the iPhone/OSX Keychain and their security level?
I have a few apps that I purchased from the app store that probably store information in my keychain on OSX and on the iPhone.
Since it's possible for keychain items to be bound to a device (and ...
2
votes
1answer
277 views
VMWare Fusion Encryption and Snapshotting
VMWare Fusion 5 has an encryption feature that I have enabled, with what I would consider a hard-to-brute-force-crack password.
How secure is the data in this VM? If I shut down the VM each time ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
How to block all access to Akami deploy servers and Apple push servers?
I no longer blindly trust the numerous connections that occur at night and during the day that always go to "content" and "push" servers like:
a23-33-37-54.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com
...
1
vote
2answers
745 views
TCP / UDP port monitoring programs for mac?
Does anyone know of a free and effective port monitor for mac? Also, can a laymen, in relatively short order, learn to use such software to detect and thus prevent unauthorized remote access/control ...
1
vote
3answers
942 views
How to set password on applications in Mac OS to prevent an administrator to start them?
Is there any program that can set password on the app like mail or browser? I know about parent control, but I doesn't work with administrator account.
What I want is some program that blocks some ...
1
vote
2answers
44 views
Reseting my computer to uninstall LogKext
My friend downloaded LogKext on my computer, so I'm guessing he can see every keystroke, but I've reset my computer so that it's in a condition when I first opened from the box.
Can my friend still ...
1
vote
1answer
110 views
Did I get hit by the recent Java exploit?
Looks like the website iphonedevsdk was responsible for serving up the malware that's been causing some of the recent security exploits. According to my browser history, I visited that site back in ...
1
vote
3answers
586 views
How to secure data before returning Macbook Air?
I am returning my MacBook Air to Apple and want to know the best way to ensure my data is not recoverable from the flash storage. I currently have Filevault 2 enabled, however before I enabled it I ...
1
vote
1answer
876 views
SQL Injection tool (Mac OS X)
Do you know any software for searching (analyze) SQL injection (on website) from Snow Leopard ?
I have found some that can run from Linux or Windows.
I understand that most Linux (console) ...
1
vote
1answer
240 views
Why does the OpenSSH client on Mac OS X silently launch an ssh-agent for the user?
I'm confused by the difference in behavior of ssh clients I'm seeing on two different hosts. Just to be clear, this is the scenario:
"macbox" OS X using OpenSSH_5.2p1 ssh client
"sunbox" Solaris 10 ...
1
vote
1answer
626 views
Has my Mac been compromised? [closed]
I am running NOD32 on a Mac running Leopard 10.5.8. When I visited a website, NOD32 automatically detected it as a virus. For some reason I was taken to bing.com and I got a "page not found" error. ...
1
vote
1answer
5k views
kadmin problem: “Client not found in Kerberos database while initializing kadmin interface”
I'm having problems setting up Single Sign On on my Mac (Snow Leopard). My program was giving the error
accept_sec_context: Unspecified GSS failure. Minor code may provide more information: \
Key ...
