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back to article Asian political activists whacked in Mac backdoor hack attack

A security hole in Microsoft Office for Mac OS X is being exploited to hack and spy on Asian activists at odds with the Chinese government. In the past few days, spear-phishing emails - highly targeted booby-trapped messages - were sent to Apple users in the Uyghur community, which is an ethnic group of people mostly (but not …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another argument ..

    .. to use OpenOffice/LibreOffice instead of Microsoft's idea of *cough* productivity *cough*..

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    1. Graham 24
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      Re: Another argument ..

      Or another argument to patch software more frequently than once every 3 1/2 years.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Another argument ..

        Or another argument to patch software more frequently than once every 3 1/2 years.

        There is a buoyant market in zero days - it makes patching important, but not the all out protection against malware. Avoiding Microsoft and Adobe products, however, appears to be a good step to take..

        My apologies if that makes it appear I agree with Eadon :)

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    2. GBL Initialiser
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      Re: Another argument ..

      LibreOffice isn't immune to security issues http://www.libreoffice.org/advisories/

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      1. Joe Montana
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        WTF?

        Re: Another argument ..

        It's not about being immune, it's about being less vulnerable due to having diversity...

        If there's a monoculture then you know exactly what software your targets will be running, and what vulnerabilities that software has.

        Diversity is the main reason that drive by attacks against browsers have started targeting ubiquitous plugins (java, flash etc) rather than the browsers themselves.

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    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another argument ..

      I'm impressed with the downvotes. It suggests you're all OK with risking your platform through a Microsoft flaw that has been with us since, what, a decade or so?

      I guess you deserve the risk then..

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Inaccurate.

    This article is clearly inaccurate. Mac's don't get malware.

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    1. LoCatus
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      Re: Inaccurate.

      A Mac can become infected, if the user messes up and puts something from Microsoft on it. (The story proves that)

      Getting close to buying my first Mac as Microsoft is rapidly becoming the McDonald's of the computer world. Trying to do so many things, they can't do a single thing right.

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      1. Arctic fox
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        Trollface

        @LoCatus. I think if you really strain your intellect old chap you may spy the.........

        ............possibility that the AC was being satirical - if you can manage that type of heavy lifting that is.

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      2. Euripides Pants
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        Windows

        Re: Inaccurate.

        The OP is right - Macs do not get malware, they become "indisposed".

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Inaccurate.

      An OS vulnerability is different to an application vulnerability.

      Most OSes tend to attempt to stop bad things being installed or executed. But if the hack is via some tool you already have installed then how on earth is the OS going to guard against it?

      All software has bugs, lots of software does too.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Inaccurate.

        "All software has bugs, lots of software does too."

        And all bugs have software too.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
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        Coat

        Re: Inaccurate.

        "... how on earth is the OS going to guard against it?"

        A tighter user space usually helps.

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      3. JohnG
        Reply Icon

        Re: Inaccurate.

        "Most OSes tend to attempt to stop bad things being installed or executed. But if the hack is via some tool you already have installed then how on earth is the OS going to guard against it?"

        Why would an OS allow an application like MS Office the privilege escalation necessary to install some remote control/spying software?

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  3. GBL Initialiser
    Joke

    Well after years of precedent formed by people bashing Windows due to holes & instability caused by 3rd party software I think it's only fair to bash Mac OS X for the same reason.

    Quick, Robin, to the flame resistant* shelter!

    *Yes, resistant, you don't get me that easily, trolls ;)

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Not really fair.

      Much of the vulnerabilities in Windows were due to a culture of providing lots of features and power to software developers. But at the same time not thinking about how to restrict this power to those who would misuse it.

      ActiveX in the browser, active desktops and so on.

      OSX having been built on top of a Unix underpinning has had the security model escalation there from day one.

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      1. GBL Initialiser
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        I'll give you that one. Though I have never used Mac OS X so can't speak for its security model I have spent quite a lot of time using BSD and can't argue that it was way ahead of Windows (and even Linux, at least up to a few years ago) when it came to security.

        That said the Mac OS X and Unix (This was originally a Unix backdoor) security methods didn't seem to help in this instance, that may be more down to user error though.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      It may be worth pointing out that the OSX platform wasn't the issue - it was the mistake of installing Microsoft products on it. That proves conclusively that the virus problems on Windows are a Microsoft problem - the moment you port something from that environment on another platform you introduce the same risks there. I'm pretty sure that if there was an MS Office for Linux you'd have the problem there too.

      In general, it's fairly easy to keep a Mac clean: no Microsoft, no Adobe and keep a lid on online Java use.

      Now, try to keep a Windows box clean without taking it offline altogether..

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  4. Irk
    Facepalm

    "But the latest spear-phishing campaign attempts to exploit a Microsoft Office vulnerability that was fixed more than three years ago."

    So no fearmongering necessary for those who've updated their systems since 2009 or so.

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  5. albaleo

    the community

    "The community has long desired independence from Chinese rule."

    Any kind of evidence to back that up?

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    1. Robert Helpmann??
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      Childcatcher

      Re: the community

      "The community has long desired independence from Chinese rule."

      Any kind of evidence to back that up?

      Why yes: they are under Chinese rule. QED. (See also.)

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  6. Wzrd1 Silver badge

    Want to avoid the entire problem outlined in this story?

    If you get an interesting sounding file unexpectedly, either from an unknown party or from someone that you know, don't open the bloody thing.

    Though, a few high yield EMP devices over China would do the world a great good...

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Though, a few high yield EMP devices over China would do the world a great good...

      If, of course, you can believe the predominantly US media that that is where the problem resides..

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    2. Crazy Operations Guy
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      Mushroom

      Yeah, because Genocide fixes all the world's problems...

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