Comments on: Security Hole Announced

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 18:08:27 +0000

I think disclosing this vulnerability was the right thing to do. Maybe the next time someone reads a post on Digg.com about some cool app, he or she might think twice about entering the root passwd when checking it out.

By: JulesLt

JulesLt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 08:24:19 +0000

Actually, he suggests a very simple and good solution.

When you install you tell the system a piece of secret information (‘My Father’s middle name is’). The ONLY program that would know this would be the security server. Therefore anything pretending to be the security server wouldn’t be able to display the information.

By: Sean Sperte

Sean Sperte — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:32:50 +0000

I disagree. I don’t think publishing this for the world (including those who WRITE the “malicious software” he referenced) is “right”. It’s been my experience that this type of motivational tactic rarely generates the desired result.

As long as there are ignorant people there will be security “holes” like this one. As mentioned in the article, this sort of trap can be mimicked in a variety of ways. The solution does not come from Apple but from users being smart.

Needless to say, I’ll be much more cautious when giving my password to programs requesting it using this dialog. Problem fixed.