That MacBook Wireless Hack
Just as nature abhors a vacuum, the cavernous—and empty—warehouse of Mac security exploits also exerts a powerful force whenever the door is opened with the possibility of finally welcoming an actual exploit. That giant sucking sound you hear on some Mac web sites was caused by news of an attack against a MacBook via its wireless card, but it sounds like the warehouse will remain empty. (Hey, close that door!)
I won’t rehash the details here. For those, John Gruber filed a lengthy analysis in his usual thorough and thoroughly-readable style. I read something last week about this at Sex, Drugs & Unix and didn't give it that much more thought, but then I was surprised by Crazy Apple Rumors’ report the other day: “Security Bitch Watch.” CARS is always funny, but rarely if ever has John Moltz riffed on an actual issue in the Mac community. That's not his purview. After all, CARS is “dedicated to the fabrication of Apple rumors that defy verifiability, grammatical convention or any basis in reality” with the emphasis on fabrication. In this case, however, John unleashed the full power of his masterful control of the vernacular on the miscreants. Fortunately he only uses his powers for good.
Although it would be foolish to pretend that the Mac is invulnerable (after all, security updates are released regularly), this episode gladdened my heart about the state of security on the Mac. Clearly, news of exploits real or imagined is so rare that when it arrives its hard to miss the villagers assembling with their pitchforks and torches. Things are so secure on the Mac that the only news is this possibly-rigged exploit, which if it pans out as such has nothing to do with Macs. Not that I’m smug or anything. My pitchfork is at the ready.