Mac hackers, crackers and security software

Intego's all-singing, all-dancing user interface from VirusBarrier X6.

Yet another entry into the flashy, powerful Mac antivirus arsenal is Intego VirusBarrier X6. And it does seem to be all those things.

You have to hand it to these companies – they really do seem to keep improving and releasing newer, better versions of their anti-virus tools for Macs. Despite many Mac users not bothering to install or run anti-malware software.

There can't be much money in Mac security software if no one's making Mac viruses. Even I only have this stuff installed to review, to be honest, or I wouldn't bother.

But while it may be tempting to scoff at these security efforts, we would all be laughing out the other sides of our faces (which I don't actually know how to do) if a nasty virus did manifest itself in our little cosy, comfortable Mac computing world.

So good on 'em.

Another Big Scary Thing for us Mac users is events like CanSecWest where celebrity hackers (how can there even be such people?) compete to crack iPhone, Safari, OS X etc. They do this in a few seconds, seemingly, and the world press goes "Ooh! Ah! Apple stuff is not safe!"

Then another year goes by without any viruses or malware and we all forget about it until the next one.

At the latest CanSecWest in Vancouver, the iPhone – of several devices – fell first, in a mere 20 seconds ... ooh! Ah ... but then you realise the hackers spent a couple of weeks figuring out a vulnerability in iPhone OS 3, then set up a booby-trapped web page that copied the SMS database from the handset.

Apple haters may like to read and gloat all about this here.

The site even has pictures of these fine human beings as they hack various devices.

Even worse is the very recent security nightmare due to a fairly lapse implementation of encryption in an iPhone app. A massive flaw in the way Quip created and published individual message links enabled hackers to access and download images sent by users of the free MMS service to each other.

Many of these may have been of their cute dog Muffy; many were not, however, pictures of their cute dogs. Really, really not pictures of their cute dogs.

The US99¢ app (I'm don't think it was ever in the NZ App Store) was designed for iPhone users to send messages to other mobile phones for free.

It worked by generating a URL appended with a five digit string of alphanumerics. The recipient follows the link or types it into their internet browser to view the picture in question.

Reddit 'net users worked out that if they just typed in random five alphanumeric characters that followed the pic.quiptxt.com link, they had access to hundreds and thousands of private messages.

Some Reddit users then set to work to create Quip specific scripts that would automatically enter the five alphanumeric characters and output, er, 'sensitive' images as a result.

Quip's creators took down their Amazon S3 storage account and all images stored with it, but this was after lots of downloading had gone on – worse, information found often contained message text, including names and Facebook links.

This wasn't a security lapse of iPhone per se, but of one particular app created by a little company with only three, now very embarrassed, I imagine, employees. Although you could make a case that Apple's approval process failed to flag the security issue.

For Macs, Apple finds avenues hackers could use to get into them. If they had Apple malware. Then Apple closes that avenue. Apple hasn't so far issued Security Updates to fight actual malware, but to close avenues that, if a hacker found those same avenues, and had malware ready to deploy, could be exploited.

Of course, the other argument is that hackers can't be bothered writing for Macs because it's such a small sector of the market. Even if that segment has doubled in the last five years, it's still not worth their while.

Whatever, that's cool: No viruses!

Nevertheless, there are those who like to play safe with their Macs, and there's a significant number of switchers (that's what we call those who have abandoned PCs for Macs) who just can't quite believe, after all their problems, that Macs are virus free. So they really seem to appreciate having a good prophylactic.

Intego is a big company with offices in the US, Japan and France. The firm makes software for PCs and Macs, including for Macs which run OS X and Windows.

Intego VB6 installs NetUpdate, a program that checks for updates to the programs and their support files (virus threat filters, content filters, etc.). This checks for updates of all Intego programs at the same time, and downloads and installs updates for any installed on your computer.

NetUpdate can carry out automatic checks at the frequency you choose, and you can launch manual checks.

With VirusBarrier installed, you get a menu at top right of your monitor (under a little castle icon) that gives you instant access to an impressive array of its toolset: Scan Settings (real time and archive scanning), Firewall (Firewall settings and defence against Trojans) and Surf, under which you get anti-phishing, ad banner and cookie filters, information hiding and a web threats on/off toggle. Then you get Privacy settings for anti-spyware and data vault, a Configurations shortcut, and at the bottom the ability to Open Logs, the VirusBarrier traffic monitor and the actual VB application.

A lot of the tools in VB X6 are great for system administrators, or for those geeks who love readouts showing data traffic etc. The interface is pretty cool, actually – it's all singin', dancin', glowin' 'n' pulsin'.

Once you boot it you get an interface with nine tabs along the top. The central Overview tab has the cool function of letting you scan your Mac, any mounted hard drives or USB drives and even a plugged-in iPhone, which is pretty cool.

Then there's Firewall (all Macs have had firewalls built in since OS X first appeared, but this is a little easier to configure).

Antivandal stops members of a 1500-year-old Iron Age Swedish tribe from getting into your Mac ... oh, facetious me. But that is who the Vandals were. Apparently (little graffiti has survived) they wrecked a lot of Roman bus stops and telephone boxes.

Actually, Antivandal is cool because you can block direct intrusion attempts that someone on your network might attempt – buffer overflow attacks, intrusion attempts, ping attacks, ping broadcast attacks, port scans and SYN flooding.

Under Surf you can turn on or off the fraudulent website protection. Good – Mac users are as likely as any other web users to be lured into fraudulent sites. You can add trusted sites, block ads, turn on a Cookie Filter and turn on Information Hiding, which tries to stop your Mac being identified out there on the 'net.

Intego Virus Barrier X6 and internet Security Barrier X6 is distributed by MacGear and is available from Apple retail stores including MagnumMac, Ubertec, SouthTec, Technology Centre and StudentIT. It costs NZ$89.95 or get the free trial first.

- Mark Webster