Amaya Toman The once popular claim that Apple computers are free from viruses and other malicious software has changed quite a bit recently. The possibility of infecting Apple computers with a virus is real, even though macOS has not yet come close to rivaling Windows in this regard. Hackers are playing a thrilling game of "who's who" with Apple's developers, coming up with ever more ingenious ways to break through strong protections.
One of the most common defenses is the ubiquitous user warnings in the form of pop-ups. They appear on the computer's desktop from time to time and want to make sure from the user whether he really wants the given action to be performed. This is a relatively effective defense against unwanted, accidental or reckless clicks that could cause the installation of malicious software or allow access.
Magazine Ars Technica but it did report a former National Security Agency hacker—and macOS expert—who invented a way to bypass user warnings. He discovered that keystrokes can be converted to mouse actions in the macOS operating system interface. For example, it interprets the "mousedown" action in the same way as clicking "OK". In the end, the hacker only had to write a few lines of trivial code to bypass the user warning and allow the malware to do its job on the computer in the form of gaining access to location, contacts, calendar and other information, and without the user's knowledge.
"The ability to bypass countless security guidelines allows you to perform a variety of malicious actions," the hacker stated. "So this privacy and security protection can be easily overcome," he added. In the upcoming version of the macOS Mojave operating system, the bug should already be fixed. Finding out that seemingly well-thought-out security measures can be so easily bypassed doesn't give anyone peace of mind.
Does this sentence really make sense to the author? "The ability to respond with myriad security instructions allows you to perform a variety of malicious actions,"