Apple, Linux user? Read this - not as safe as you think

[juliesewell]

A "deadly serious" bug potentially affecting hundreds of millions of computers, servers and devices has been discovered.

The flaw has been found in a software component known as Bash, which is a part of many Linux systems as well as Apple's Mac operating system.

The bug, dubbed Shellshock, can be used to remotely take control of almost any system using Bash, researchers said.

Experts said it was more serious than the Heartbleed bug discovered in April.

Full story here: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29361794

[juliesewell]

And the threat is rapidly growing:

Web attacks build on Shellshock bug
A series of attacks on websites and servers using the serious Shellshock bug has been spotted.

Millions of servers use software vulnerable to the bug, which lets attackers run commands on that system.

So far, thousands of servers have been compromised via Shellshock and some have been used to bombard web firms with data, said experts.

The number of attacks and compromises was likely to grow as the code used to exploit the bug was shared.

The Shellshock bug was discovered in a tool known as Bash that is widely used by the Unix operating system and many of its variants, including Linux open source software and Apple's OSX.

More here on the BBC News website: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29375636

[mouse]

Hell !!! this is serious, here I sit smuggly using Linux knowing there to be little to no chance of these virus things. viruses are a problem for those silly people using windows.
Bash is resident on ALL my Linux distros I think.
Is bash used in Android too???

[juliesewell]

I'm an Android user - not heard about any problems.... but in this day and age, you never know.

[juliesewell]

Just seen this a short while ago on Twitter:

Unlike Heartbleed, which affected mainly servers, Shellshock leaves a whole host of systems vulnerable including Apple OSX systems and many internet of things devices with embedded code that’s based on Unix or Linux.

Professor Mike Jackson cyber security expert at the UK's Birmingham City University says, "Obviously everyone wants to know if they might be vulnerable to attack. If you are an Apple PC user then the immediate answer is 'Yes'. Apple's OS X operating system is Unix based and therefore vulnerable.

More from the article here: http://www.itproportal.com/2014/09/28/s ... z3EcwXFVq4