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MacBook 'hack' still stirring controversy

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Tom Krazit

There's still controversy brewing over the demonstration of a wireless-networking flaw using a MacBook at the Black Hat security conference.

At the Las Vegas event earlier this month, the researchers demonstrated how a flaw they found in a wireless driver could allow a hacker to gain control of a notebook, such as the MacBook they used during their presentation. But although they noted then that the flaw applied to a driver for a third-party wireless card, in an interview with the Washington Post's Brian Krebs, they said the flaw also applied to Apple's wireless drivers.

But the SecureWorks researchers have still not shown any proof that Apple Computer's wireless hardware and software is flawed, despite the claims that it was vulnerable, Lynn Fox, an Apple spokeswoman, said in a statement. "SecureWorks has not shared or demonstrated any code that is relevant to the hardware and software that we ship," she said.

SecureWorks has put up a notice on its site explaining that the demonstration of the exploit used a third-party add-in wireless card, not Apple's internal wireless chips. SecureWorks will not disclose which third-party wireless card they used until a patch is released, they said on their Web page.